By Dana Ehrmann
Sports Correspondent
The Catholic Central Lady Toppers are your new Metro Classic Conference volleyball champions.
They clinched the conference title with a win against The Prairie School on Thursday, Oct. 5.
Catholic Central played from behind early after dropping the first set, 19-25.
But they picked up the next three for the victory, 25-21, 25-19, 25-20.
Senior Anna Hackbarth and freshman Sammie Seib led the way with 24 digs and 21 kills, respectively.
Head Coach Bailey Racky said Hackbarth has “made some fantastic defensive plays that have saved us.”
And about Seib, the coach said she’s “coming up big for us offensively.” She added, “She just sees the court well.”
Back on Tuesday, Oct. 3, the Lady Toppers handled Racine St. Catherine’s easily, winning the match after sets of 25-11, 25-19 and 25-22.
Once again, Sammie Seib was a key player, contributing 13 kills and 12 digs in the contest.
Catholic Central is 24-8 and undefeated in the Metro Classic Conference. Their conference title is the first since 2008, when Assistant Coach Kelli Smith was a high school student herself.
“It’s awesome,” said Coach Racky. “The team has worked very hard this season to earn this. Everyone on the team has a role, and they give their best to that role every match.”
Humility has been a key to success thus far; the coach noted that winning the conference title was never really discussed at practice. Instead, the Lady Toppers simply put their heads down and worked hard.
That’s what they will continue to do, moving into the playoffs, and they will have a great cheering section to support them.
“The school has been great,” Racky said. “We’ve had so many fans and alumni at our matches recently, so it is nice to see the community has our back.”
Runners earn season best
The girls of the Catholic Central cross country team had a season’s best meet on Thursday, Oct. 5, though both the girls and boys ran JV.
At the Wolverine Invite at Waterford High School, each female runner set a new personal record time for the season.
Junior Rachel Czerwinski crossed the line in 25th place out of 107 runners with a time of 24:17.
Junior Ellie Nevin was close behind in 30th with a time of 24:25.
“Rachel, being a rookie cross country runner, continues to show steady improvement and has Ellie pushing her in meets and practices,” said Head Coach Rick Koceja.
For the boys, senior John Pum finished in 17th place out of 156 runners. His time was 19:07.
Sophomore Sam Henderson was the next Catholic Central finisher. He ran his race in 19:19, good for 21st.
The next meet for the Toppers is the Metro Classic Conference Meet on Saturday, Oct. 14 at UW-Parkside.
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