By Dan Truttschel
Sports Correspondent
After an 0-3 struggle the first day of the prestigious Sprawl Invitational last weekend, the Westosha Central girls volleyball team bounced back in fine fashion.
Central closed the two-day tournament at West Bend with a 2-2 record to finish 12th overall.
The Falcons defeated Milwaukee Pius 25-16, 25-19 and Germantown 18-25, 2519, 15-8 in action Saturday. Central dropped matches to Waupun, 20-25, 32-30, 8-15, and to seventh-ranked Arrowhead, 14-25, 24-26.
Leading the way Saturday were Maddie Brown with 32 kills, eight ace and 24 digs; Devin Gillespie with 22 kills; Kaeley Mueller with 17 kills; Abi Marquinski with 15 kills and five blocks; Danielle Stachura with 67 assists and 15 digs; and Sarah Blair with 32 digs.
The opening day didn’t go as well.
Central fell to fifth-ranked Muskego, 25-22, 19-25, 9-15; to ninth-ranked Germantown, 25-20, 22-25, 10-15; and to Menomonee Falls, 19-25, 23-25.
Statistical leaders were Brown with 31 kills and 23 digs; Stachura with seven aces; Mueller with 18 kills; Gillespie with 16 kills; and Blair with 35 digs.
Central opened play last week with a 25-11, 25-19, 25-21 Southern Lakes Conference win over Delavan-Darien. The victory improved the Falcons to 4-0 in the SLC.
The Falcons hosted top-ranked Burlington Tuesday night. Central will be back in action Saturday at its own invitational, beginning at 9 a.m.
Central strong at relays
Both the Westosha Central boys and girls cross country teams won Small Division titles Saturday in the Pete Nielsen Kettle Moraine Laser Relays.
In addition, Central’s boys won the overall title after they defeated the first-place Large Division squad. The Falcons finished with a combined time of 1:27:21.08.
Central’s Jacob Hebior finished first in 16:27.07, followed by teammate Shane McNealy, who was second in 16:34.95.
Also finishing in the top 50 were Lucas Leydens, 31st (18:01.82); Matthew Holloway, 33rd (18:03.53); Alexey Hufnagle, 41st (18:13.71); and Michael Yule, 43rd (18:16.35).
The Central girls posted a combined time of 1:46:03.11 to complete the sweep.
Melissa Capra was first in 19:30, followed by sister Meghan in 20:151. Other top finishers were Maria Sabourin, 29th (21:52.15); Mackenzie Maccaux, 30th (21:52.39); and Maddie Murphy 50th (22:27.96).
Tennis squads battle at conference
The Westosha Central girls tennis squad tied for fourth, while Wilmot was fifth at last week’s SLC Tournament.
Central was led by third-place finishers Brienna Bostanche at No. 1 singles, Katrina Bostanche at No. 2 and the No. 2 doubles team of Maria Salerno and Stephanie Dopuch. The No. 3 team of Kate Neave and Jessica Vela was third.
Wilmot had two fifth-place finishes, Lauren Brendel and Becca Boyle at No. 3 and 4 singles, respectively.
Wilmot boys soccer 1-2
Two second-half penalty kicks lifted the Wilmot boys soccer team to a 2-0 win over Westosha last week. Collecting goal were Adam Pacey and Connor Nopenz.
Wilmot fell 3-2 to Union Grove last Thursday and 1-0 to Indian Trails Friday. The Panthers now are 8-6-3 overall.
Panthers run in Illinois
The Wilmot boys cross country team was 13th and the girls 15th at Saturday’s James Taylor Invitational at Camp Henry Horner, Fox Lake, Ill.
Leading the boys was sophomore Ryan Ott, while the top female finisher was sophomore Sam Porter. Also scoring points on the boys’ side were Brock Muzzy, Matt Cieslak and Brad Eidson, while earning points for the girls were Haley Paasch, Rebecca Alter, Kasey Bouma and Abbie Alter.
Central falls to 1-5 overall
Visiting Burlington scored in every quarter and rolled past the Westosha Central football team 41-6 Friday night. The loss dropped the Falcons to 1-5 overall and 1-3 in the SLC.
Central’s lone touchdown came in the second quarter on a 3-yard run by Logan Hughes, who led the Falcons with 71 yards rushing on 22 carries.
Josiah McDermit added 63 yards on 11 carries and also passed for 77 yards in the loss.
Burlington posted 422 total yards (217 passing and 205 rushing). Central finished with 97 through the air and 134 on the ground.
The Falcons host Waterford Friday night at 7 p.m.