By Jennifer Eisenbart
Sports Editor
The Burlington High School boys volleyball team came back down to Earth a little bit Saturday at the Shorewood Invite.
Entering the tournament as the No. 2-ranked team in the state, the Demons went 2-2, dropping contests to the No. 1 and No. 3 ranked teams in the state – Appleton North and Brookfield Central.
North went on to win the tournament, while Central passed BHS and moved to No. 2 in this week’s Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches Association poll. BHS dropped to No. 3.
Going into the tournament, BHS coach Tim Gesteland had expected a difficult time.
“We’ve been talking about being one of the best in the state,” he said. “Every team is going to bring their best against us.
“That was the best volleyball we’ve played in a long time,” he added. “But we were still 2-2 on the day. We knew it was going to be very good competition.”
The Demons opened pool play with a 25-17, 25-21 win over New Berlin United, but them dropped a 25-20, 25-19 decision to Brookfield Central.
Burlington had 21 errors in that match, which Gesteland said “definitely woke us up.” BHS responded by defeating host Shorewood 22-25, 25-12, 15-12.
In the crossover semifinals, though, the Demons lost 26-24, 25-23 to North in a match Gesteland thought his team could have won.
“We had leads, late in both sets,” the coach said. “I think we’ve got some strategies on what we can do to improve. I can’t wait until we play those guys again.”
Nolan Rueter paced the Demons with 35 kills on the day, while Carson Biedrzycki added 29 kills and 10 blocks. Zach Gesteland had 90 assists, while Nick Bartlett had 15 kills and 12 digs. Senior libero Garrett Schilling led the team with 45 digs.
The Demons were coming off an emotional 25-17, 25-18, 25-10 win at home Sept. 27 over Westosha Central. The two teams were close in the first game before BHS pulled out the win, and then strong serving from Barlett secured games two and three.
Bartlett finished the match with seven service aces, but had 10-point service runs in both the second and third games.
“That was the Bartlett match,” Tim Gesteland said. “Just his tough service kept them off balance … kept them out of system. Then they weren’t able to run anything high-potent.”
Biedrzycki and Rueter finished with 10 kills each, while Zach Gesteland added seven kills and 23 assists and Bartlett six kills to go with his seven aces.
Schilling had a team-best 16 digs.
-
-
-
-
-