Shoopman dominates in redemption game
By Jason Arndt
Westosha Central High School’s Laura Shoopman and her girls volleyball team had a simple mission entering their Southern Lakes Conference showdown Tuesday at Burlington High School.
The mission, Shoopman said, was to come together and fight for every last point against the Demons.
“This game, when we were coming out, we wanted to put everything on the court,” said Shoopman, who had a game-high 17 kills for a .432 hitting percentage and added 10 digs. “We wanted to beat this team.”
Westosha Central’s mission started early, as the Falcons overwhelmed the Demons, defeating them in a three-game sweep, 25-18, 25-12, 26-24.
The Falcons’ sweep comes less than a month after they dropped a tournament contest to the Demons at the St. Thomas More Joust Invitational.
Unlike the Aug. 26 nonconference tilt, Burlington coach Teri Leach knew the Falcons would come prepared to play.
“We knew that they were a very strong team and that we needed to show up to play,” Leach said. “They were extremely aggressive and put us completely out of our rhythm.”
After winning the first set 25-18, Westosha Central then outscored the Demons by a 13-point margin at 25-12 in the second set.
The Demons, however, found their rhythm in the third game when they challenged the visiting Falcons, but eventually dropped the third set 26-24 despite holding a 24-23 edge.
“Even when we were able to get them out of system, Kennedy Muff had a great match and got them back into the system,” Leach said about the Falcons’ junior setter.
Muff notched a game-high 26 assists, two ahead of Demons’ sophomore setter Kaley Blake.
As Muff set the tone for the Falcons’ offense, Westosha Central coach Megan Awe credited timely positioning and hitting along the front row, notably middle hitters Ella Kaebisch and Kaitlyn Ellis.
Kaebisch, a junior, contributed six kills, two block kills and four aces. Ellis, a senior, pitched in two block kills.
“We have done a lot more focusing on getting our hitters to work more efficiently,” said Awe, whose team stays unbeaten in the SLC at 3-0 (8-9 overall). “We are really focused on getting our middles more involved, we are very hit happy, especially on the outside, everyone knows we are going to go Sierra or Shoopman.”
Lee finished with eight kills and 11 digs.
For the Demons, senior Abby Koenen contributed 11 of her team’s 25 kills. She also had a team-leading 13 digs.
Defensively, Burlington received 12 digs from senior Brooklyn Vandehei and 10 from freshman Sam Naber.
The Falcons had contributions from junior Twila Dovas (10 digs) and sophomore McKenna Hall (four aces, eight digs).
Although the Falcons came away with the sweep, Shoopman said the team has no plans for complacency.
“It feels good, but we still got a lot more work to do, and we have a lot more teams coming up,” she said.
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