Citizen Staff/James Wold
Waupun's Brandi Dolgner (20) and Libby Bresser (24) block Seymour's Whitney Eisenreich (13) during Thursday's sectional semifinal.
LITTLE CHUTE — While it’s true Waupun swept Seymour Thursday night, it might lend one to think that the Warriors had an easier time than they did.
The defending Division 2 volleyball titleholders needed every bit of their championship moxie to hold off the upset-minded Thunder. Seymour (37-7), ranked 10th by the Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches Association, held leads late in all three sets but dropped a 25-23, 25-20, 26-24 sectional semifinal to the top-ranked Warriors (42-7).
“We were that close playing with a powerhouse team,” Seymour coach Laura Trautmann said. “It’s one of the funnest matches I’ve ever been involved with.”
Waupun’s demanding nonconference slate of playing difficult tournaments paid dividends at Little Chute. Every time push came to shove, the Warriors had the answer.
“I think this team has a high panic point, if that makes any sense,” Waupun coach Keith Milkowski said. “I know I don’t panic and I think the kids don’t, either.
“When you’ve got Brandi (Dolgner) and Bridget (Nickel) who have played a thousand matches together and lots of big matches, they know how to respond.”
Rarely does Waupun’s all-state left side tandem gets upstaged but Seymour senior Melanie Behnke was superb. She finished with a match-high 19 kills and added 14 digs.
“Seymour’s a good, athletic team,” Milkowski said. “(Behnke) shredded us.”
Nickel and Dolgner were hardly chopped liver. They still posted double-doubles, with Nickel putting up 15 kills and 10 digs while Dolgner added 12 kills and 15 digs.
Seymour was able to unsettle the Warriors in serve receive by going for broke. It led to some service errors at inopportune times, but the Thunder got surprising mileage by attacking on serve.
“We had to serve aggressive and we had to be aggressive all the way around,” Trautmann said. “If we didn’t, we weren’t going to stay in this game.
“They’re really tall and blocking is one of our weakest parts. So we had to be aggressive.”
Seymour gave up the first three points of the match but quickly battled back into the match and held the lead until it was 19-18 in game one. A kill and three-point service run from Dolgner gave Waupun a vital cushion until Nickel crushed one from the right side to end it.
“They went for it,” Milkowski said of Seymour’s serve. “We had nine errors to just six aces, which is a poor ratio for us.”
Libby Bresser had one of her three aces while going on a five-point run to put Waupun up 15-7. The Thunder ripped off a six-point run to cut the gap and finally took an 18-17 lead late in game two.
Lydia Guell had an ace during her four-point service run, which included two kills from Dolgner. Waupun’s middle attack from Jenell Larsen and Bresser delivered in timely fashion for the Warriors all night.
With opponents camped out on Nickel and Dolgner, the slide is basically there anytime Waupun wants it, particularly if the middles stay aggressive. Larsen had six kills and Bresser added five, giving the Warriors 11 kills in 24 attacks from the middle with two errors.
“Our middles can never be aggressive or quick enough for me,” Milkowski said. “They kept the ball in play and Jenell had a great match.
“She hit some good slides and terminated some balls with attitude.”
Defensive specialists Devan Vossekuil delivered a succession of key digs as Waupun dug out of a five-point hole at the start of set three. Dolgner kept a point alive with a pancake dig that led to a point which startled the Thunder.
Seymour recovered and battled its way back to a 24-22 lead. Alexa Finstad served out the match, including a roll shot from the back row by Dolgner and a kill off a quick attack from Larsen.
“‘Axel’ served the game out tough,” Milkowski said. “That’s a big development for her.
She was good tonight.”
Finstad finished with 36 assists and six digs. Waupun faces fourth-ranked Appleton Xavier, who took the only meeting between the two teams this season, Saturday night at Wrightstown in a rematch of last year’s sectional final.
WAUPUN 3, SEYMOUR 0
Seymour 23 20 24 - 0
Waupun 25 25 26 - 3
SEYMOUR: Kills - Behnke 19, Hynnek 10, Effa 8. Aces - Hynnek 4. Digs - Trautmann 16, Behnke 14, Hynnek 13. Assists - Drephal 34.
WAUPUN: Kills - Nickel 15, Dolgner 12, Larsen 6, Bresser 5. Aces - Bresser 3. Assists - Finstad 36. Digs - Dolgner 15, Nickel 10, Guell 7, Finstad 6.