Lady Falcons take silver at top tourney

By Dan Truttschel/Sports Correspondent

Playing with a sense of ur-gency is something that Wes-tosha Central girls volleyball coach Charlie Berg hasn’t seen from his team enough through the first half of 2013.

But after last weekend’s effort at the Lynn LaPorte Sprawl in West Bend, the Falcons may have turned the corner.

Central put together a solid two-day record of 5-2 to win the silver bracket championship in what many call the real state tournament.

“It was a weekend where I saw everybody come together and really understand the im-portance of their contribution to the team,” Berg said.

“We grew a lot. (The Sprawl) is better than a state tournament, really, because you have everybody in the top 25 in the state. That’s what this tournament brings out. It’s a great tournament with a lot of parity.”

The Falcons finished the event with a 3-1 record Satur-day.

Central opened with a 27-25, 25-11 win over Catholic Memorial, followed by a 21-25, 18-25 loss to top-ranked Menomonee Falls.

“We made some hitting errors (against Falls) that we’re going to address this week,” Berg said. “We have to hit against bigger blockers and swing harder at times.”

But the Falcons bounced back strong, as they defeated second-ranked Neenah (25-21, 23-25, 15-11) and Kettle Moraine Lutheran (25-15, 25-16). Neenah entered play last week ranked second in Division 1, while Kettle Moraine was ranked second in Division 2.

Neenah beat Central in three sets earlier this year, but the Falcons returned the favor Saturday.

“I was really pleased with our performance (against Neenah),” Berg said.  “We had a lot of fight in our team that match. I saw a lot of emotion (and) things I’ve been waiting to see all year as far as the urgency.”

Berg said his team’s strong effort against Neenah was sparked by the play of Taylor Bergles and Megan Ziesman.

“They played extremely well,” he said. “I wanted to create a little more excitement (on the floor), and I think I did that.”

Statistical leaders Saturday included Danielle Rampart with 76 kills, including 18 against Neenah); Maddie Brown with 38 kills; Maria Rasch and Ziesman with a combined 23 blocks; Hailie Hart with 72 digs; and Ashley Jehlicka with 62 digs and 89 assists.

Falcons win two Friday

Central, ranked fourth in Division 1, opened play Friday with a 2-1 record. The Falcons defeated Kenosha Tremper (25-27, 25-11, 15-3) and DePere (25-7, 25-14), but fell to sixth-ranked Divine Savior Holy Angels (20-25, 22-25).

It took the Falcons a little bit to get going in the opener against Tremper, Berg said.

“We started really slow,” he said. “I’m not sure what it was. But we had a lot of serv-ing errors and poor play. It was kind of a nervous start, but I think we settled in (after that).”

The match with DSHA was a back-and-forth affair throughout, Berg said.

“It’s always a barn burner with us two teams,” he said. “We ended up kind of fading at the end of both sets. We lost with some tip shots we didn’t handle, lost a couple serves and got aced a couple times.”

Statistical leaders Friday included Brown with 15 kills; Jehlicka with 30 assists; Rasch with six blocks; Ziesman with five blocks; and Stachura with 22 assists.

Prior to the tournament, the Falcons hosted Delavan-Darien earlier in the week and cruised to a 25-10, 25-8, 25-5 Southern Lakes Conference win.

Rampart had six kills, fol-lowed by Hart with eight digs and Jehlicka and Stachura with a combined 24 assists.

Central was back in action Tuesday night at rival Wilmot. Results were unavailable by press time.

This week marks the first time in a month the Falcons don’t have a tough weekend tournament – and after that long of a grind, that’s just fine with Berg.

“I think it’s OK,” he said. “It’s been a long four weeks. The kids are a little tired, and I’m a little myself. This week-end gives us a chance to rejuvenate some things.”

The calendar flipped to October this week, which means the matches will increase in importance soon.

“We have to be starting to play our best volleyball week in and week out right now,” Berg said. “We have to be really stepping up the ladder and playing consistently well right now. That’s pretty much our goal right now.”

 

 


Posted

in

by

Tags: