Silver Eagles come up just short

Nathan Ihde/Times Press

It was 6:15 p.m. on Thursday night and we were passing the Don Q Inn on State Roda 23 when it hit me. It had been nine years since I felt the way I did at that moment. I was taken back to a red Chevy pickup truck full of sixteen year old boys as we cruised somewhere, anywhere to cheer our Reedsburg Beaver teams. This Halloween Eve I wasn't inside a red truck full of young boys chasing our soccer girlfriends or Clayton Hanson and the basketball Beavers deep into the playoffs, but rather a white minivan with Weston varsity basketball coach Lauretta Pickel chasing down the red hot Weston Silver Eagle volleyball team.

Potosi had been perfect throughout the playoffs ending the seasons of Benton, Pecatonica and Southwestern in three straight games, winning several by double digits. From their posture coming in to the gym and the week-long talk through the WIAA grapevine, it seemed they expected to pass through the Eagles at the sectional opener in Shullsburg and breeze on towards the championship in Cashton to face the winner of the Spring Valley and Royal matchup.

After game one it seemed maybe Potosi was right.

Weston got a heavy dose of the Chieftain hitters including senior standout Danielle Flesch as the Eagles were trounced 25-8. The Eagles dug deep in game two getting back to their plan of keeping the ball away from Flesch only to find out that Chieftains Alison Tobin, Katie Reynolds and Brianna Reising could swat the ball as well.

It became a familiar to and fro with several score-tying side outs and wild rallies. Kayla Schmitt came up big for Weston with several tough digs from Potosi's horde of high-flying hitters while Kristin Jasper and Heidi Solchenberger went to work setting Hilary Frey, Lindsey  Solchenberger and Lindsay Escher. Kills were hard to come by,  sometimes taking three, even four attempts for the Eagles to put the  ball on the floor, but they kept on, working and fighting for every point.

It was junior middle hitter Brianna Reising who almost extinguished  Weston's spark with three consecutive spikes as hard and fast as were seen all night bringing the score to 15-16 in favor of Weston. Lindsey Solchenberger answered with a dig to continue an exciting  rally and on the return it was Jasper with a fine set that  Solchenberger would send like an arrow past the gaze of several burnt Chieftains to the corner of their backcourt. Heidi Solchenberger delivered an ace, Schmitt a tip and the entire team rallied in a flurry of sets, passes and kill attempts to top  Potosi in game two 25-22 to the roar of a jubilant Weston crowd and a  stunned Potosi bench that has so very rarely had to consider the prospect of a game four.

Game three quickly grew into frenzy. With Potosi on top 10-8 Weston scrambled to keep a rally alive as the Chieftain hitters pounded the  ball time after time. Lindsey Solchenberger set up Frey who was partially blocked and Potosi recovered. Heidi Solchenberger camped under a back row pass from Escher setting up Schmitt who was blocked by Chieftain senior Theresia Elskamp. Lindsey Solchenberger was immediately set up for a spike dug by Potosi, the Chelsea Drea sent  one downward and Weston was dug again. Back and forth it went before  Flesch finally found a hole in the Eagle defense. Elskamp served an  ace, Potosi displayed some more fine hitting and Frey watched two  potential blocks sail out of bounds as Potosi stiffened, winning game three 25-17. Game four was an all out dog fight. Back and forth the teams traded  points, stomping their feet on the floor and calling out the cheers they've done so many times. In another long-lived rally late in the  game Weston finally gained enough balance and position for Jasper to set up Lindsey Solchenberger for a potential kill that was brilliantly dug by the Potosi back row. The following relay from Escher to Heidi  Solchenberger to Frey, however, was too much as Weston inched ahead 20-18.

Reising would bring the Chieftains back delivering a spear to Weston's floor and a touch pass into open territory knotting the score as tight as the bellies of the fans. The front line for Potosi came out tough, Flesch slamming one down and the Chieftains then stymieing Schmitt at  the net to go up 22-20. In a flash it was Jasper to Lindsey  Solchenberger for a powerful side out, and then sister Heidi delivered  an ace, and another! "Ah-whoo!" cried the Weston student section as the gymnasium erupted, every last attendant of the game gripped with high school playoff fever.

A net ball put the Eagles up 24-22 and the crowd grew wilder still as the game rolled toward match point. Potosi would score another side out, but Chelsea Drea killed their chances at a comeback with a hard spike, and there stood the mighty Potosi Chieftains, wavering, slipping, walking in uncharted territory, scared and ready to fall.

Game five began with a wild rally that sent the ball to the heating ducts of the gym ceiling. Weston stormed out of it on the strength of a spike from Escher to go ahead 3-1. The game turned into a fracas, the crowd, a portrait of gaping jaws and crossed fingers. Knees and  elbows banged the floor as the Silver eagles fought valiantly defending their floor from the heavy arsenal of Potosi. Frey stepped up delivering several of her 16 points and the senior Solchenberger visited all corners of the court running down the volleyball as it made its way back and forth over the net for some of the most exciting volleyball this season.

In the end it was Danielle Flesch and her Chieftain teammates showing  some guts of their own as the rallied on tired legs to take game five  and the match 15-9. It was only the third time second ranked Potosi has gone more than three games all season and only the first they have gone the complete five. Coach Jolene Murray, her eyes huge and glazed and still dazed from the brilliance of the battle, admitted the surprise and perhaps shock delivered by the Eagles that caught her and the Chieftains off guard. "We were surprised. Especially after that first game."

No tears were shed by Weston and heads were held high and throughout  a crowd amazed by a fantastic display of both heart and talent there was at least one person not surprised at all by Weston's gutty performance. "We had our errors, but we shut down Flesch for the most part tonight and I'm proud of the battle our girls gave Potosi," commented Weston coach Erin Gaulke. "They played their hearts out tonight."

For senior Lindsey Solchenberger it may be the last time she plays volleyball for the Silver Eagles, but the smiling competitor left the  gym looking basketball coach Lauretta Pickel in the eye and saying "Open gym on  Monday coach. Be ready." 

As the volleyball season winds down and a  brand new year of basketball begins to heat up, look for this group of girls to be deep in the playoffs come March.