By Jennifer Eisenbart
Sports Editor
The Lady Toppers showed the state that not all the action in state volleyball Saturday was taking place in West Bend.
While many of the state’s top Division 1 and 2 teams were in West Bend East for the Lynn LaPorte Sprawl, the Lady Toppers were showing a strong field at the UW-Oshkosh Showdown that someone needs to pay attention to them as well.
Catholic Central made it all the way to the finals of the tournament – beating WIAA Division 3 No. 2 Oostburg in the quarterfinals – before falling to Green Bay Notre Dame 25-22, 21-25, 15-8 in the championship game.
Catholic Central coach MaeMae Oberhofer called the two-day tournament performance by her squad its best of the year.
“This weekend is the best overall, consistent and mentally tough volleyball we have played all year,” Oberhofer said.
CCHS swept through pool play Friday by beating Athens 25-8, 25-15, Cedar Grove-Belgium 25-6, 25-9; Rhinelander 25-9, 21-25, 15-9; and Oshkosh North 25-18, 25-16.
That put the Lady Toppers in the gold pool Saturday.
“The team really stepped it up once we reached the gold pool, since we were playing without one of our defensive specialists,” said Oberhofer, who praised Britte Schneider, Maggie Smith and Ali Wiemer for their back-row play. Ali Hocking, a back-row standout, missed Saturday’s tournament because of a basketball obligation.
“Everyone had to step up and fill the gaps and they did a great job doing it,” Oberhofer added.
Catholic Central then beat Oostburg 25-10, 25-23 in the quarters and West Allis Hale 25019, 25-13 before falling to Notre Dame.
Sophomore Megan Wadsworth paced Catholic Central with 43 kills, while Smith added 34. Amanda Koenen pitched in 28 kills and Abbey Tweet 27.
In addition, Koenen had a team-high 10 solo blocks and three block assists, while Wadsworth had nine solo blocks and five blocks assists, Smith four solo blocks and six block assists and Kelly Gould three solo blocks and eight block assists.
Gould also drew praise from Oberhofer for her setting, with 132 assists and a good job setting the ball to all her hitters.
“Kelly Gould is doing an excellent job distributing the ball to our hitting corps,” Oberhofer said.
Libero Bekah Shellberg finished with 70 digs, while Wiemer added 34, Schneider 33 and Gould 25. Shellberg also had a team-high 11 aces.
On Oct. 6, Elkhorn will play host to its “Pink Out The Gym” game in a non-conference match against Catholic Central High School. The varsity match is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
All who attend are asked to wear pink for the Sideout Foundation, which supports the sport and volleyball’s continued involvement in the fight against breast cancer. Learn more at http://www.side-out.org/
Pink t-shirts can be pre-ordered from any volleyball member for $10. Pink memory cards are available for $2 and will be placed on a memory wall.
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