Gust of momentum: Senior sparks fourth-set rally, finishes fifth-set win with kill to get Sauk Prairie within win of state tournament

By Dan Larson, Sauk Prairie Eagle

SPRING GREEN — The look of determination on Alex Gust’s face midway through the fourth set Thursday night was unmistakable, but it was nothing compared to the one of pure joy she sported in the end.

The senior hitter for the Sauk Prairie prep girls volleyball team delivered an emotional burst that sparked her team to a pivotal rally to get past Edgerton in the former.

And that allowed her to punctuate the effort with a finishing kill in the fifth that gave the Eagles a 3-2, WIAA Division 2 sectional semifinal win at River Valley High School.

The Eagles can advance to their first state tournament in school history with a win over Madison Edgewood in a sectional final Saturday night in McFarland.

"I was getting very angry," Gust said of her mood after the Eagles fell behind 2-1 after three games. "... A fire gets lit inside me when I get anrgy, and no one is going to touch the ball on the other side."

Edgerton sure couldn’t on Gust’s final kill, which landed squarely —and with enough zip to fuel the ensuing celebration — in the middle of its defense to give the Eagles a 15-10 win.

"It was the perfect move to put the ball in her hands," Sauk Prairie coach Eleanor Engelby said of Gust’s finishing kill. "She knows when the other team is down — she knows when they’re not ready — and she knows when to pound it to the floor."

Edgerton’s standout middle Bethany Wedvick and Sauk Prairie’s Alison Halweg both found the floor early in game five.

Wedvick, who notched a match-high 29 kills to go along with 27 by her twin sister, Katie, and Sauk Prairie’s Alison Halweg, who led the Eagles with 27, combined for nine of the first 11 points during an opening stretch that left the Eagles with a 6-5 lead.

But it might not have gotten to that point if not for Gust’s burst in game four. She got a pair of kills and helped on three blocks that resulted in points — including one that erased a five point deficit and tied the score at 14 — to highlight an 11-2 Eagles’ run that led to a 25-18 win.

"She came to the bench, and I said, ‘We need some energy, we need some fire,’" Engelby said of what she told Gust before the rally, when the Eagles trailed 13-8. "And she did. I mean, she went out there, she got them fired up and you could just tell on everyone’s face no one was going to give up in this match."

The Eagles needed it because they lacked momentum after losing game three, 25-16. That came after they rebounded from a 25-19 loss in game one by winning game two, 25-22.

Edgerton finished with the final four points, three coming from Bethany Wedvick, to win game one.

In game two, the two teams battled to 12 ties and traded the lead seven times — the final time when Lauren Halweg notched her only service ace of the match with a serve that skipped off the net and made it 22-21. Alison Halweg picked up two of the final three points, including the final one, both with kills.

But Edgrton’s Bethany and Katie Wedvick combined for six points during a 9-5 run midway through game three to create the necessary separation to win that game and give the Crimson Tide momentum for game four.

"We were trying to place ourselves in the path of the hit, instead of finding our blocks and getting where we needed to go," Engelby said of what keyed the Crimson Tides’ two wins.

They couldn’t hold it the momentum from game three, though. But Edgerton coach Jason Knott left impressed with both team’s performance.

"It was a phenomenal volleyball match,’ he said. "(Sauk Prairie) made the plays at the end. ... They definitely earned it tonight."

They did, and it left Gust struggling to come to grips with the excitement.

"I don’t even know how to describe it," she said. "You can’t just watch it, you have to experience it to feel that."

For more from this match, pick up a copy of the Nov. 4 edition of the Eagle, or visit the Eagle's Web site that day. And for a story from Sauk Prairie's sectional final match with Madison Edgewood on Saturday, visit the Eage's Web site on Sunday.

Edgerton       25   22  25  18  10   —   2

Sauk Prairie  19   25  16   25 15   —   3

EDGERTON: (leaders): Kills — B. Wedvick 29, K. Wedvick 27. Blocks — Snell 6, B. Wedvick 4. Digs — Langer 26, Wileman 19. Aces — Schmidt, Langer 1. Assists — Schmidt 47.

SAUK PRAIRIE: Kills — Alison Halweg 27, Lacey Puls 19, Brittany Hahn 11, Alex Gust 11. Blocks — Gust, Puls 1.5, A. Halweg, L Halweg 1. Digs — Hahn 47, Aimee Thrune 32, A. Halweg 29, Brooke Larson 29, Puls 23, L. Halweg 20. Aces — Caroline Gust 4, L. Halweg 1. Assists — L. Halweg 60.