Demons have won 9 straight games
BURLINGTON – For only the second time in school history, both coming in the last three seasons, the Burlington boys and girls volleyball squads will play in the WIAA state tournament in the same season.
The Demon boys swept visiting Kenosha Bradford with ease, 25-16, 25-11, 25-18, a mere two hours after the Lady Demons knocked off Manitowoc Lincoln, 25-13, 25-20, 25-15, in a WIAA Division 1 state quarterfinal Thursday night at the Resch Center in Green Bay.
For their efforts, the Burlington boys advance to their fifth state tournament in the program’s 18 years. It’s the first appearance for first-year head coach Kayla Uhlenhake.
The former Demon volleyball standout couldn’t hold back her emotion after Thursday’s match and said she was on “cloud nine.”
“We made a huge statement this week,” she said in the Burlington High School gym approximately an hour after the big win. “We took out both sectional opponents in three games. We did a great job serving. Zach Morrow, Bryan Batchelor and Eli Miller were huge. Our chemistry is coming together in the past two weeks.”
Just seven weeks ago, on Sept. 18, Bradford handled Burlington in four games on the Demons’ home floor.
Since that match, the Demons (16-12-3) are 10-3 and have won 18 of their last 19 games.
A team that began the season with multiple off-the-court suspensions, a brand new varsity coach and key injuries to its top two hitters has turned into a well-oiled machine that’s peaking at the perfect time. The scary thing is the Demons may have only scratched the surface of their potential.
Tanner Swantz, who missed the first contest against Bradford, had a solid game on the left side with several big kills.
“We came together as a team and have gotten better throughout the season,” he said after the match. “We weren’t really serious at the beginning of the season. Coach Uhlenhake is a great coach and helped bring us together.”
Senior outside hitter Josh Ketterhagen imposed his will on the puzzled Bradford defense. Burlington did whatever it wanted on offense throughout the short match. Ketterhagen, who played hurt in the regular-season loss to Bradford, finished with 22 kills.
“Everyone knows their role on the team now,” said Eli Miller, who had three aces. “My role is to be a leader and get a roll going with my serves. We started the year with a little too much goofing around. Coach shut that down right away.”
Miller and senior Trent Cramer, who has become a regular at middle blocker in his first year playing volleyball, both said the team had a chip on its shoulder this postseason. The Demons were seeded second behind top-seeded Bradford. Also, Miller said the website Wisconsin Volleyball Talks claimed Westosha Central, a team the Demons swept in a sectional semifinal Tuesday, would take care of Burlington in the playoffs. Central eliminated Burlington in the playoffs three of the previous four seasons.
“We’re more of a family than other teams,” Miller added.
Batchelor had eight kills and three aces, and Jacob Drettwan tallied 36 assists.
“These last couple practices have been amazing,” Batchelor said. “We were a bit selfish earlier in the year, but now we’re a team. Coach Uhlenhake is a friend. It’s easy to talk to her. She’s kind of like another player.”
After dominating games one and two, the Demons jumped out to a big lead in game three. Bradford kept it competitive late, but Batchelor had a late run to put things away. Ketterhagen and Swantz provided dynamic hitting throughout the match, but the Red Devils had numerous errors both offensively and in the service game. Bradford was a far different squad than in the teams’ first meeting. Burlington keyed on the Red Devils’ big outside hitter and shut him down, which effectively stymied Bradford’s offense.
Drettwan felt like the Demons were among the state’s best teams all season.
“This time, Ketterhagen was 100 percent, and Swantz was back,” he said. “Our intensity was high, and we knew it was do or die. We didn’t want to end up like last year. We wanted to prove something to the state.”
Burlington opens the state tournament as one of Wisconsin’s top eight teams Friday evening at Wisconsin Lutheran College in Milwaukee.
The top four teams will be ranked. That leaves Milwaukee Marquette, New Berlin, Appleton North and Catholic Memorial as the teams most likely to earn the top four seeds. The remaining four teams, Burlington, Middleton, Arrowhead and Wauwatosa East, will be randomly drawn to face one of the top four squads.
In 2012, Burlington beat Catholic Memorial and Kettle Moraine before falling to Appleton North in the championship.
What will be Burlington’s fate next weekend?
“As the guys say, we gotta wreck it,” Uhlenhake said. “I look at how far we’ve come since the beginning of the season. We will need a huge defensive effort, and we may have to go elsewhere other than Josh. If we play with the intensity we’ve had the past two weeks, we’ll be successful.”
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