By Mike Ramczyk
Sports Editor
The competition keeps ramping up, but the results stay the same.
The Burlington girls volleyball team won two more matches last week in easy fashion, justifying its No. 1 ranking in the state and further proving it will take a Herculean effort to knock off the Demons come November.
On Tuesday night, a game Waterford squad gave its rival all it could handle, but it was another sweep for the host Demons.
Burlington took care of business, winning 25-17, 25-19, 25-16, and improved to 6-0 in the Southern Lakes Confernence this season.
The Demons sit atop the standings, one game ahead of Union Grove, which crushed Westosha Central in three games Tuesday.
“The Wolverines played hard and scrappy tonight,” Burlington co-coach Teri Leach said Tuesday night via email. “I thought they challenged our hitters with their relentless defense.”
Burlington jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the first game, 7-0 in the second and 6-0 in the third, but the Wolveriners wouldn’t give in.
“We battled back and played them point for point,” Waterford Ashley Ingish said. “I was proud of their fight and their drive to get back into the game. But we need to learn to battle from the point 1.”
Alyssa Turzenski and Quinn Spieker both led the Demons with 12 kills.
Tay Lewis added nine kills.
Reba Thomsen had 27 assists. Teagan Taylor starred defensively with 22 digs. Robyn Robers pitched in 16 digs.
On Oct. 2 at Muskego, the Demons seemed in jeopardy of escaping with a win over the state’s No. 5-ranked team in Division 1.
After the Warriors took game one, 27-25, Burlington, the top-ranked team in the state, came out in game two with a fury not even a fire alarm could stop.
In the midst of Burlington’s 14-1 start to game two, a 10-minute fire alarm at Muskego had fans puzzled and forced players to leave the court temporarily.
When play resumed, the fire alarm continued for several minutes, but Muskego couldn’t extinguish the Demons’ flames.
Burlington went on to win game two, 25-5, and cruise to 25-13 and 25-14 scores in games three and four.
It was almost as if that game-one loss simply reminded Burlington how good it was, and the Demons flipped a switch. They did the same thing in a recent game against Westosha Central.
The Demons have a much-needed week off before hosting Wilmot Tuesday, Oct. 14.
Boys fifth at Shorewood
The Burlington boys volleyball squad showed it can beat some of the area’s top teams at Saturday’s Shorewood Invite.
Burlington came away with a key victory over Southeast Conference rival Westosha Central, 18-21, 21-16, 15-9.
“Our serving was the key in the third game,” coach Kayla Uhlenhake said. “We kept Westosha out of its system, which allowed us to stay in control.”
The win over Central coupled with a loss to Muskego, 21-19, 19-21, 16-14, earned the Demons second place in pool play.
In the silver bracket, Burlington lost to Wauwatosa West, 25-18, 23-25, 15-13, and beat Shorewood, 25-22, 25-23.
Josh Ketterhagen, who returned from injury Oct. 2, had 18 of his 64 kills against Shorewood.
Overall, Burlington is now 8-8-1. The Demons are 3-2 in the SEC.
Tanner Swantz led the Demons in Shorewood with 23 kills. Jacob Drettwan had 113 assists.
Zach DeRosier paced the squad with 22 digs.
On Oct. 2, Burlington took care of SEC foe Kenosha Tremper, 21-25, 25-15, 25-23, 25-22.
The Demons controlled games two and four but needed were down the entire game three before taking a 21-20 lead and finishing strong.
Ketterhagen had 16 kills in his first game back after sitting out with a leg injury.
Drettwan had 25 assists, and DeRosier added 16 digs.
Bryan Batchelor notched 11 kills and five solo blocks.
Trent Cramer added five solo blocks.
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