October 27, 2022 at 11:22 a.m.
Eagles gear up for Highland after taking Regionals
Not only did the Golden Eagles knock out number one seeded Seneca, they also picked up their first WIAA Regional championship plaque since 1999. The Eagles did it with a night of gut checks and holding off any attempt the Indians made in comeback mode.
The Eagles took the match winning three sets to one. They came into the regional finals as the number four seed.
Golden Eagles coach Martina Reuter felt her team played at its top level.
"What an exciting match to be a part of and I am so proud of the work my team has put in to get here," she said.
The win sends the Eagles to Highland tonight to take on the Cardinals who beat Belmont for their Regional crown. The Cardinals are seeded second.
For those going to the sectional semi-final match in person, tickets are presale only.
Coach Reuter described the action between the two teams.
"We were the 4 seed coming into this game and that may have hit our confidence in game one as well as a few reffing calls that got into our heads a bit," Reuter said.
"We started down 5-0 in game two and were down 17-11 and came back to tie it up 17-17. We started hitting more aggressively and moving the ball around to all of our hitters and running a faster offense which caught their blockers off guard and started getting more kills.
"Our servers started serving more aggressively and getting Seneca out of system made a huge difference for us," the coach added.
"Shelbi Marx led our team with 13 kills. She is a senior and has been on Varsity for four years, she shined on Saturday night. Shelbi also had 14 digs and 1 block."
"Taylee Thousand and Kaylie Oimoen both had 4 aces as well as both having a positive serving percentage
"Daisy Hanson went on a run in the second set when we were down 17-11 and tied us back at 17-17. Daisy also had 11 kills on the night and three aces.
"Taylee Thousand led our team with two blocks as well as having six kills.
"Senior middle blocker Mya Baker had five kills and one block.
"Bella Sullivan led our team in assists with 22 and she also had two aces and three kills.
"Senior right side hitter Elle Pechan had 1 block, and 3 kills on 6 hitting attempts.
"Libero Anessa Schmitz had 35 serve receive attempts as well as 12 digs.
"Defensive Specialist Brynn Ploessl had 11 serve receive attempts and 11 digs.
"Kaylie Oimoen had 10 digs and 15 assists."
Viewing tonigh's match.....
"We are not done yet,," Reuter said.
