By Mike Ramczyk
Sports Editor
Players lost their voices. Eardrums popped. The Richter Scale may have been awaken with all the bleacher pounding.
Last Thursday’s sectional final between the Burlington and Westosha Central boys volleyball squads will go down as one of the most thrilling sporting events in school history.
The back-and-forth was enthralling coupled with what Burlington coach Tim Gesteland called the loudest gym he’s ever heard at a volleyball match.
Unfortunately for the Demons, a pulse-pounding fifth game, which was tied at 13-13 and allowed five match-point chances at victory, went awry with two critical points.
Tied 2-2 with the winner advancing to this weekend’s state tournament, the Falcons and Demons played to a 22-22 tie.
Nolan Rueter, who played his heart out in only his second game back from a severe ankle injury, attempted a spike but his body hit the net, giving Westosha a 23-22 lead.
Then, as it had done in the previous three games, the Falcons’ power was too much. Six-foot-eight powerhouse Glenn Karsten hammered home a potential kill, but Bennett Conrardy was in the right place for the dig.
However, the ball caromed right to a waiting Falcon at the net, and he tipped the ball just inches inside the out-of-bounds line for the winning point.
The 18-25, 25-17, 25-20, 18-25, 22-24 defeat had Burlington up 2-1 at one point. But the Falcons turned it on at the end.
Westosha will battle Milwaukee Marquette Friday night at 5 p.m. at Wisconsin Lutheran College in a state quarterfinal.
It’s Westosha’s third trip to state in the last four years. Burlington was the state runner-up in 2012.
A fifth game that was supposed to end at 15 lasted forever in the two-hour match.
“It’s sad the season’s over,” said Rueter, who had 30 kills. “I would’ve loved to have it end a different way, but we played our hearts out. There’s nothing else we could’ve done. It was a roller coaster in game five. They’re a quality team.”
Rueter dominated in game five, with his kills often putting Burlington in position to win the match.
“I’m feeling it,” Rueter said of his recent ankle injury. “You have to play through it. It was my last game. Gesteland has been my coach since I was 12. He’s like another dad to me. I will miss playing. My teammates are like brothers.”
When Rueter wasn’t slamming home points in game five, fellow senior Ben Geiger did his part. Down 6-3 in game five, the Demons stormed back to take a 12-9 lead. But Central tied things up at 13-13, and it went back-and-forth from there. Geiger finished with 10 kills and 15 digs, several of which came in the crucial final moments of game five.
“I don’t even remember anything,” Geiger said. “It was the craziest game I’ve ever played in. We were trying to get it to Nolan at the end. Westosha is a great team, and it just turned out that way. It was a tough game to lose. We had a great season, and I’m proud of my team.”
Gesteland said it was a phenomenal final game.
“One of us had to win, one of us had to lose,” he said. “What we had going really worked for us. We had too many errors at the end, and it was uncharacteristic. After 13-13, we had five forced errors, and four of them were on match point. It stings a little.”
Burlington finished 31-6 overall. Gesteland said the game plan worked, but Westosha’s big hitters came through.
“Their setter runs the show,” he said. “He’s one of the better athletes in the state. They kept it in system.”
Rueter added 15 digs. Jake Derosier led with 48 assists, and Conrardy tallied 12 digs.
“This was the most amazing high school volleyball crowd I’ve ever seen,” Gesteland added. “It was electric. The guys have overcome adversity, but they dug themselves too deep of a hole. They made this a memorable season. The seniors led well, on the court and in the classroom.”
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