Blugolds, ranked No. 3 in Division 3, two wins from state tourney berth
There’s still time to jump on the bandwagon.
Aquinas High School’s volleyball team would be more than happy to have you over at 7 p.m. tonight, as it hosts Eau Claire Regis in a rematch of last year’s section semifinals.
Two wins from a first-ever WIAA state tournament berth – Aquinas did win the WISSA state tourney in 1984 – the Blugolds (29-4), ranked third in Division 3, want this one more than anything.
“It’s going to be absolutely electric,” Aquinas coach Bri Ebenhoe said. “Our student section has been phenomenal and our fan base has just been growing and growing all season. It’s going to be a packed house and a ton of fun.”
Though the Ramblers (21-12-3) swept Aquinas in the semis last year on their way to becoming state runners-up, the teams have met since – early in the season, real early.
“It was the first tournament, on the first Saturday of the season, so we were both very new teams trying to figure things out,” Ebenhoe said. “As much as you want to take that understanding that, ‘Yeah, we’ve beaten them before,’ we’re going to be very different teams when we meet up (tonight).”
While Ebenhoe won’t put any stock in that 2-1 victory against Regis, she had a pretty good notion to assume her team was going to be good even before that match.
The Blugolds were coming off a 24-8 season (two of those losses 2-0 and 3-0 sweeps to Regis) and lost just one player to graduation – their right-side hitter. They came in with six seniors and things have been good. Real good.
Aquinas has five players with over 100 kills – its setter, 5-foot-9 Danielle Dolan has 83 – and two players with over 200 kills, including 5-6 senior Courtney Conway (267).
With an attack like that, Dolan’s either making her hitters look really good with perfect sets or vice versa (no, it couldn’t be both, could it?).
“It is a little out of the ordinary to be able to share the ball so well amongst so many hitters,” Ebenhoe said. “Our setter Danielle Dolan is just living the life because she can just throw the ball to any hitter and expect the kill.”
At this point, after getting to the section semifinals four of the past six seasons – getting to the section finals in 2013 – the Blugolds don’t care how they get to state, so long as they get to state. They’ll trust Dolan’s decision making to get the ball to whomever puts them in the best position to win.
“If somebody’s hot, we’re going to feed them,” Ebenhoe said. “We have so many players that are just capable of going off on any given night or any given play, that it’s so exciting to watch.”
OTHER SECTION SEMIFINALS
DIVISION 2
West Salem (19-7) vs. Merrill (27-9-2) at Mosinee
DIVISION 4
Bangor (13-7) vs. Cashton (18-5) at Sparta