By Mike Ramczyk
Sports Editor
Saturday proved last year was no fluke for the Burlington boys volleyball squad.
Behind the powerful hitting of Nolan Rueter and Ben Geiger, the Demons went toe-to-toe with some of the state’s best and left with their best finish in school history at the 32-team Racine Invite.
In the championship match, Burlington gave Catholic Memorial, the state’s top-ranked team, all it could handle, but fell, 23-21, 21-19. Burlington head coach Tim Gesteland couldn’t have asked for a better tournament.
“It was like two heavyweights in the final fighting it out,” he said. “Rueter had a classic matchup with Chandler from Memorial. It was a very exciting final. Unfortunately, we lost.”
Rueter, as he has done night in and night out, justified his billing as one of the state’s best. He finished with 72 kills, eight block kills, seven aces and 13 digs.
The second-team all-state selection from 2012 gave a huge performance along with Geiger, Gesteland said.
But for Gesteland, it was a team effort.
“Jacob DeRosier set the ball very well,” he said. “He moved it to different zones throughout play to keep the defenses down. Bennett Conrardy, Zach Morrow and Eli Miller all had very good serve-receive numbers and digs. And Jon Martin, Austin Epping and Bryan Batchelor did a great job blocking and playing middle.”
Geiger tallied 40 kills to complement Rueter. Derosier finished with an eye-popping 116 assists, and Epping paced the club with nine block kills.
Conrardy led the team with 17 digs. Geiger added 10, and Morrow had nine.
Burlington, now 11-3 overall, keeps proving why the Demons are third in the state in this week’s Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches Association poll.
With 205 overall votes, Burlington isn’t far behind top-ranked Catholic Memorial’s 250. But Memorial gained 16 first-place votes, and Burlington only tallied one.
In the semifinals Saturday, Burlington toppled ninth-ranked Muskego, 21-18, 19-21, 15-11. Gesteland said Muskego is a scrappy team, and the game was dictated by defense.
The semifinals were a stark contrast to the quarterfinals, where Burlington downed fifth-ranked Germantown, 21-16, 14-21, 15-11.
“It was a great match with a very athletic team,” Gesteland said. “We made less mistakes than them.”
The Demons zipped through pool play, dispatching Shorewood, Racine St. Cat’s and Kimberly in straight sets. In a crossover match, top-seeded Burlington edged second-seeded Fond du Lac, 17-21, 21-15, 15-11.
“We were kind of an auto-pilot,” Gesteland said.
Burlington def. Kenosha Tremper, 25-21, 25-22, 25-14
On Sept. 16, Burlington started slow but cruised to victory in its Southeast Conference opener.
“We had a shaky start but we should improve from here,” Gesteland said.
Gesteland said Conrardy, Geiger and Morrow all played very good defense and had good serve-receive numbers.
John Martin led the team with six kills and seven blocks.
“John had a solid night for us,” Gesteland said.
Josh Ketterhagen and Rueter added six kills each.
Jake Drettwan led the boys with three aces. Conrardy totaled eight digs.
DeRosier contributed 15 assists to lead the team.
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