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Posted October 26, 2007

Prep volleyball: Royals bid comes up short

By Mark Massoglia
Daily Tribune Staff
mark.massoglia@cwnews.net

WAUSAU -- Just by competing in the sectional semifinals Assumption accomplished what no other Royals volleyball team had done in school history.

The Royals' bid to play in their first ever WIAA sectional final came up short as they lost a tough four-game match, 26-24, 23-25, 25-21, 25-20, to Niagara on Thursday night at Wausau West High School in Division 4 action.

The Badgers (23-3) will face Green Bay NEW Lutheran, a 25-13, 25-19, 25-13 winner over Wausaukee for the sectional championship Saturday at 7 p.m. at Wausau East. Assumption ends its season with an 18-17 mark.

"Last weekend at Port Edwards was the best volleyball I've ever been a part of and we were hoping to bring that momentum to this match," a teary-eyed Liz Sigler said. "We would have liked to end the season on a win, it just didn't work out that way."

After two games the match was tied up at 1-1 with neither team keeping the momentum very long.

The game's two big hitters -- both wearing No. 9 -- junior Jamie Vandenberg for Niagara and Assumption's Sigler, were the focal points of each teams' offense.

Vandenberg finished with 29 kills, 23 digs, while Sigler had 16 kills and 12 digs.

"We gave No. 9 (Vandenberg) too many opportunities to hit," Assumption coach Shannon Shaw said. "It was back and forth the whole match and we finished with quite a flurry. We had a great regional and if a few bounces go our way maybe we'd be playing Saturday. I'm really proud of the girls. They accomplished a lot this year and should be proud of what they did."

In games three and four, the Royals forged early leads, but the Badgers found a way to sneak back into the games, largely due to Vandenberg. When she was on the bench, however, Ashley Lundin and Jenny Jarvis picked up the attacking duties, finishing with 16 and eight kills, respectively.

The Badgers also ran a new offense for the first time all season and it worked well enough to move on.

"We ran a 5-1 for the first time all season and made my second setter a libero," Carol St. Arnauld said. "It worked so I think I'm done tweaking our team."

Liz Butler, who had three days to learn the libero position, finished with a team-high 52 digs.

Brianna Zychowski had 44 assists and 12 digs for the Badgers, while Chelsea Teafoe added seven kills and seven digs.

Jada Straub had 20 assists, 19 digs and three service aces for the Royals, while Kelly Smith finished with 12 digs and nine assists and Kelsey Peterson 11 digs, eight kills and six aces.

"Once we realized that if we trust each other we could do well we really played good volleyball," Sigler said. "I had so much fun playing with these girls."