By Kelly O’Day
The Tomahawk girls finally met their match in the post-season, when they bumped up against eventual champion Catholic Memorial in Friday’s semi-finals of the WIAA State Meet.
Memorial captured a 25-15, 25-14, 25-17 triumph in UW-Green Bay’s Resch Center.
"Catholic Memorial is an excellent team, the best team we’ve seen all year, and a state champion," THS coach Jen Pfannerstill said. "I certainly think we could have hung with Memorial a little longer than we did, had we played our best ball, but that was just a very, very good team with a lot of weapons and all of the surrounding pieces to make them state champions.
"We are a very good team, who has improved a lot since last year. (The girls) took a step into the (THS) record books and made history (with its first state berth), but as focused and determined and talented as they are, we just ran into someone more talented, and more focused, and more determined. That happens in life."
Both teams struggled some early, but the Crusaders–the runner-up last year and state champions in 2006–got it together in time to pull out the three-set victory.
"As the match started, Catholic Memorial was having a little bit of trouble getting started; they weren’t passing extremely well, and neither were we, so it was a back and forth one point here, one point there side out sort of match," Pfannerstill said. "But, about half way through the match, they definitely started controlling the ball on their side of the net. We continued to struggle with serve receive, and not being in the correct defensive positions. We hadn’t struggled like that with serve receive all year, and while I know the girls want to say that they weren’t nervous, I really think they were.
"It’s just a really amazing, intimidating atmosphere on the court, and I know they were trying to adjust to that, while playing a really high caliber volleyball team, and those two things are hard to do at the same time."
Junior Kelli Browning, a 6’ 4" middle hitter, converted 13-of-19 spikes for points, and junior Kate Acker hit on 8-of-21.
Junior Kaitlin Doughty put down 9-of-26, and Sydney Lakatos scored 4-of-19. Kellan Flynn had 3 kills and 2 blocks, Kayli Ogstad had 5 blocks, and Kaylyn Olson made 17 assists. Doughty added 8 digs and 3 blocks, and Jenna Otterholt (10) and Lakatos (6) made digs.
Tomahawk finished with just 3 aces.
The 44-5 Hatchets will take this experience to heart while readying for next year’s return with a squad completely intact.
"We did learn, though, where we need to be, what we need to work on, and how we need to be disciplined all the time," Pfannerstill said. "What I mean by disciplined is that when we play teams that don’t challenge us quite as much, we still have to strive to be perfect in certain areas. We may not need to do that to win sometimes, but if we want to win at the times that really count, we have to be conditioned to be able to play at that level all of the time.
"That’s an important learning lesson for us, and a challenge that I think the girls are really ready to address next year."
Tomahawk can still bask in the glow of reaching the final four teams in the state in D2 this year, but had the schedule been different, the Hatchets could be hoisting the runner-up trophy. Memorial defeated Zavier in the final by virtually the same score a day after eliminating Tomahawk.
"When we watched them play Xavier on Saturday, it was kind of like an instant replay," Pfannerstill said. "Xavier struggled with serve receive, defense and getting their offense going, just like we had, and the scores were almost identical to ours. We just happened to run into the "buzz saw" first in the semifinals."
The Hatchets had unbelieveable support from the Tomahawk fans.
"I know they are feeling disappointed right now that they didn’t reach their ultimate goal, but they certainly made their mark on this program, and that’s something we will never forget," Pfannerstill said. "Walking out onto the floor and having all of our fans cheering for them was an amazing feeling. They all said, ‘Do you believe how many people are here,’ or ‘Is there anyone left in Tomahawk?’
"Thank you to all of the fans, media, and to all for the support we’ve received along the way. It’s been a fun ride."
Three Hatchets intently prepare for the ball in Friday’s state semi-final match with Catholic Memorial at UW-GB’s Resch Center. From left are juniors, Jenna Otterholt, Sydney Lakatos and Kaitlin Doughty.