Burlington High School, Uncategorized

Payback time: Burlington volleyball leapfrogs Racine St. Cat’s into 1st place

Demons haven’t lost in three weeks

David Paul (from left), Malik Tiedt, Trey Krause, Andy Ellingham, Sam Lois and Tyler Duesing are on a serious roll right now. Burlington improved to 18-3-2 overall and 4-1 in the SLC with three-set sweeps over Racine Park Monday and Union Grove Oct. 4. (Mike Ramczyk/SLN)

 

By Mike Ramczyk

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Break up the Burlington boys varsity volleyball team.

An outside force, one that may only exist in our imaginations, is the only thing that can stop the Demons right now.

OK, that’s being a bit far-fetched, but over the last three weeks, Burlington has played near-flawless volleyball, and its quest for back-to-back Southern Lakes Conference titles seems likely.

“We are playing at a very high level right now and feel we can compete with just about anyone,” said head coach Mike Jones.

That sentiment is well justified after the run the Demons have enjoyed.

Two days after sweeping SLC-leading Racine St. Cat’s, in Racine, Burlington left no doubt it’s the league’s top team by dismantling the Angels, who swept the Demons in early September, to win the Shorewood Invite.

Burlington is 16-3-2 overall and 3-1 in the SLC, with the tiebreaker over St. Cat’s (3-1).

The Demons only went to three games in one match, a 2-1 win over Whitefish Bay, and swept Neenah, Shorewood, Dominican and Waukesha South before beating the Angels, 25-22, 25-15, for the championship.

After Thursday’s domination of St. Cat’s on the north side of Racine, David Paul described a team with limitless energy.

The junior setter tallied 97 assists in six matches Saturday, which set up 48 kills from Malik Tiedt.

“We were more comfortable against St. Cat’s this time,” Paul said last Thursday. “Our hitters are insane. Tyler (Duesing), Malik, Andy Ellingham, Sam Lois, all of our hitters can adjust even when I don’t get the ball to the right spots.”

“They’ve definitely gotten better. This year, they pick up on when and how to adjust. I like to feed the hitters.”

For Jones, the redemption victory in Racine felt good.

“We came out flat in the first game, and since that day, we haven’t played like that again,” Jones said. “We’ve been firing on all cylinders. Our hitters are attacking everything. Right now, we’re serving and passing well, and everything is really good.”

 

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