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One of the top football coaches in the nation, Lou Holz, may have said it best.
"Winners embrace hard work. They love the discipline of it, the trade-off they're making to win. Losers, on the other hand, see it as punishment. And that's the difference."
Iowa-Grant's volleyball team has lived that quote and Saturday it paid off. All the Panthers did was win three matches against very good competition, get some inspired play from their players and finish off Cuba City to claim their first ever WIAA Division 3 Regional title since 1999.
The Vikings handed losses to Boscobel, Darlington and Cuba City to earn the right to move on to Sectionals and face Wisconsin Heights on the home turf of the Vanguards tonight (Thursday) at 7 p.m.
The winner of that match moves to New Glarus Saturday at 7 pm to face the winner of the Lourdes Academy vs Marshall match, also held Thursday.
Panthers coach Marla Simon, a recent inductee into the Iowa-Grant Volleyball Hall of Fame, says the girls deserve the honor.
"It is truly amazing and awesome," she exclaimed. "I feel our kids are so deserving of this. So many of them have put many years into their volleyball and this is quite the pay-out."
The run started Tuesday with a 3-1 win as they turned back Boscobel 25-7, 25-8, 21-25, 25-14.
"Despite dropping a set, we really dominated Boscobel with some excellent serving," Simon said. "Maranda McCarthy had two big service runs with a 17 point run from 6 to 24 in the first set. She almost served us out, "
The Panthers had another run in set two serving from 7 to 21, which was a 14 point run, again by McCarthy.
"She also ended up with 10 aces," Simon said. "It was pretty incredible for a player to do this in two different sets. As a team we only missed 3 serves.
"We had strong hitting from out outside hitters, Emma Liddicoat and Katie Olson with Taylor Liddicoat leading the offense with 39 assists," said Simon.
Stat leaders vs Boscobel
Kills - Emma Liddicoat (13), Katie Olson (10), Jess Pluemer (8 )
Blocks - Jess Pluemer (4)
Aces - Maranda McCarthy (10), Taylor Liddicoat (4)
Digs - Maranda McCarthy (7), Taylor Liddicoat (5)
Assists - Taylor Liddicoat (39)
The Panthers advanced to the Regional finals with a semi-final win over a tough Darlington squad.
Scores were 25-22, 21-25, 25 -22, 25-13 for a 3-1 outcome.
"This was great win, especially since losing to them just a week ago," said Simon. "I felt our biggest difference was much stronger net play and our defense behind the block was great."
Simon was pleased with the digs turned in by McCarthy and Emma Liddicoat.
"Emma led us in the third set with eight kills and Katie with four," Simon commented. "Freshman Olivia Liddicoat factored in with a couple of big swings in sets three and four along with some nice play to keep many balls alive."
Simon also credited Taylor Liddicoat, McCarthy and Emma Liddicoat with serving well.
"This win was went a long way toward just really building confidence as a team," Simon said.
Stat Leaders vs Darlington
Kills - Emma (17), Katie (11), Jess (5), and Elana (5)
Blocks - Olivia Liddicoat (3)
Aces - Taylor (4), Maranda (4)
Digs - Maranda (16), Emma (10)
Assists - Taylor (48)
The win over the Cubans Saturday was huge as it secured the illusive Regional title and avenged two season losses.
Scores were 14-25, 25-19, 25-19, 25-20.
"Dropping the first set, definitely was not the way we wanted to start," Simon said. "We were not passing well and were unable to get any offense going. But, the girls are becoming stronger and not getting so rattled, and in the second set we started to fight back."
The Panthers were down 5-10 when Katie Olson served seven straight points for a 17-15 lead. Both teams traded volleys until Taylor Liddicoat went on a service run with four straight points to put the Panthers up 18-14.
After that it was Emma Liddicoat and Pluemer with six and four kills respectively to help in the decision.
"In the third set we had strong serving by our freshman, Olivia Liddicoat, as she served seven straight points to put us up 12-5, with three of them aces" Simon said. Olivia Liddicoat added three kills to her performance.
"We never lost the lead in that set," commented Simon.
The final set saw the Panthers get down 4-11, then 9-15, but Taylor Liddicoat led a comeback.
"She got a few points to get us closer 12-15 then Emma got three more points to tie," Simon said
The Panthers were down 19-20 when Olson got the serve and served out of the match for the win.
"These kids just really dug in and never gave up," said Simon. "We only missed four serves on the night with Katie Olson and Taylor Liddicoat missing none on 20 attempts and 15 attempts respectively."
"This was such a great win for our program, beating Cuba City at home in a regional championship," said Simon. "I am not sure if that has ever happened before."
Stat leaders vs Cuba City
Kills - Emma (19), Katie (11), & Olivia Liddicoat (7) (freshman)
Blocks - Jess P. (4)
Aces - Olivia L. (4), Emma (3)
Digs - Emma (13), Maranda (10), & Katie (6 )
Assists - Taylor (38)