First-year coach knew his volleyball squad was special
By Andrew Horschak
Correspondent
The Catholic Central High School girls volleyball team made a favorable first impression on Wayne Schultz.
When the successful longtime coach was hired to lead the Hilltoppers at the end of the 2017-18 school year, it didn’t take him long to realize that good things were in store for the 2018 season.
“When I took the job, I had no idea what we had at Catholic Central,” admitted Schultz, who stepped down as the Westosha Central boys coach after the 2017 season. “I didn’t know if we were good, bad – if we won 20 matches or lost 20 matches.
“I met the kids on the last official day of school. Right then I could tell that we were going to have a really special season. The kids were asking me questions about when they could get in the gym and the weight room. They wanted to get to work the day I got hired.
“Then I got them to my camp in the middle of July and I could see they were very talented. In the preseason at the start of practice, they were sponges. They listened to everything I said and they worked hard. They were a coach’s dream.”
The dream team culminated the season by sweeping defending champion and top-ranked Clayton, 25-17, 28-26, 25-22, in the WIAA Division 4 state championship on Nov. 3 at the Resch Center in Green Bay. Catholic Central won its final 22 matches to finish with an overall record of 39-7.
It was the first state title since 2012 for the program, which lost 23 of its 28 matches only two years ago.
As a result of the impressive turnaround, the Hilltoppers have been selected as the Southern Lakes Newspapers Western Racine County Team of the Year.
To read the complete story see the Jan. 3 edition of the Burlington Standard Press.
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