Athens falls at state

Team loses in five sets in the semifinal

By Casey Krautkramer

Tanille Hartwig, Athens volleyball head coach, on Friday summed up her team’s 3-2 WIAA Division 4 state tournament semifinal loss to Monticello in the postgame press conference when she said, “It was a perfect example of how momentum can swing in volleyball games.”

Athens lost a close first set, 25-22, to Monticello at the Resch Center in Green Bay. The Bluejays battled back to win the next two sets, 25-13 and 2725, against the Ponies, for a 2-1 match advantage.

The Bluejays had all the momentum going for them and they only needed to win one more set to take the match and advance into Saturday’s state championship against Chippewa Falls McDonell, which easily beat Wonewoc-Center 3-0 on the other state semifinal volleyball court. Monticello put a wrench into the plan, however, by winning the last two sets, 25-21 and 15-9, against Athens to take the match.

Coach Hartwig embraced the team’s two seniors, libero Savannah Epping and defensive specialist Celina Ellenbecker, after the team’s state tourna- ment semifinals defeat to Monticello. She credited the team’s success this season to Ellenbecker and Epping dong a great job digging volleyballs on defense.

“Savannah and Celina were our go to girls in the back row,” Coach Hartwig said. “They are typically the girls who are frustrating the other team because they are picking up balls the other team doesn’t expect to be picked up. As a hitter, there is nothing more frustrating than feeling like you had a good hit and then seeing it pop back up. Those two have been that weapon for us all season long.”

“We do have an amazing offensive line but our offensive line wouldn’t be anything without our defenders picking those balls up. After our hitters get a nice set and a kill, they turn around and thank them for that pass because it started everything.”

Athens scored five straight points in the second set to take a 13-9 lead. Junior middle hitter Sophia Coker served the volleyball on the team’s last four consecutive points. She had an ace serve during the sequence of points. Sophomore right side hitter Danica Diethelm’s service ace gave the Bluejays an 18-8 advantage against the Ponies. Athens eventually won the match, 25-13, on Sophia Coker’s kill on the pass from junior outside hitter Addison Lavicka.

The Bluejays continued their momentum into the third set. Faithful Bluejay fans like Juli Gauerke-Peter, an Athens alum who is the middle/ high school principal, appeared tense in the bleachers during the set because it was so close until the very end.

Athens and Monticello engaged in a back-and-forth battle. The Bluejays tied the third set at 23 points apiece on the Ponies’ attack error. Monticello regained the lead on Diethelm’s service error. Lavicka’s kill on a pass from junior outside hitter Jazelle Hartwig tied the score at 24 points apiece. The Bluejays then took a 25-24 lead on the Ponies’ attack error. Monticello tied the set at 25 points each on Lavicka’s service error.

Athens, however, scored the final two points in the third set on back-toback kills by Jazelle Hartwig on passes from Lavicka as Athens prevailed with a 27-25 victory.

Monticello’s defenders began picking up Jazelle Hartwig and Lavicka’s big kill attempts during the remainder of the match, which was a problem for Athens. Monticello scored five straight points to win the fourth set, 25-21, and force a decisive fifth set to determine which team would advance into the state championship.

Lavicka commented in the postgame press conference on how the momentum in the match swung in Monticello’s favor. “I think it was definitely when they started digging our balls,” she said. “They were just picking everything up and they did very good on that part.”

Monticello won the coin toss to receive the volleyball first in the fifth set, which head coach Rebecca Gustafson said was very important to her team winning the set and match.

“Winning the coin toss was huge because we got to serve the ball first,” she said. “When we start out with Macey (Grant) serving, that’s our best rotation because she has such a nice serve.”

Macey Grant was serving when Monticello scored the first three points in the fifth set. The Ponies later won the fifth set, 15-9, on Ellie Gustafson’s kill.

Coach Gustafson said her team made back-to-back Division 4 state tournament appearances because of its great serving. Monticello lost to Wabeno-Laona in the 2021 Division 4 state tournament semifinal match.

“We aren’t a big blocking team so we have to be aggressive on the serve or we eat the ball on defense,” she said. “I think serving is what got us to state two years in a row and that’s what won us the game against Athens. We did play really good defense too against Athens.”

Athens by far had more fans at the Resch Center than any of the four other towns competing in WIAA Division 4 state semifinal matches on Friday morning. Jazelle Hartwig explained why the huge fan support for the Bluejays was so important to her and her teammates.

“They’ve always been there for us and we definitely do feed off of that because we love our community and the support we get,” she said.

Her head coach and mother agreed. “They shut down school and brought a couple of buses over and that’s an awesome thing about being a part of a small community,” Tanille Hartwig said. “It’s not just the team and school that goes to state, but the whole town kind of shuts down to follow and support you, so we are very blessed.”

Lavicka led Athens with 18 kills and Jazelle Hartwig added 17 against Monticello. Lavicka also paced the Bluejays with 19 set assists and Jazelle Hartwig had 16. Diethelm and Ellenbecker led Athens with two ace serves each. Lavicka paced the squad with two solo blocks while Sophia Coker led the team with six block assists. Epping led Athens with 24 digs.

Athens concludes its 2022 volleyball season with a 33-8 match record. Chippewa Falls McDonell beat Monticello, 3-1, in Saturday’s Division 4 state championship to win back-to-back state titles. The Macks end this season with a 41-12 match record while the Ponies fall to 31-2.

STATE SEMIFINALS BLOCK PARTY- Athens volleyball players Sydney Coker (16) and Sy’ Rih Hartwig (3) rise up for a block against Monticello’s Ellie Gustafson.STAFF PHOTO/CASEY KRAUTKRAMER