Norse netters edged by Pacelli in semifinal
Whitehall’s Kelsie Klomsten hit the ball over the net during her team’s regional win over Necedah last Tuesday. (Times photograph by Andrew Dannehy)
First-year coach April Foss said her Whitehall team played some of its best volleyball at the end of the season, but it wasn’t quite enough to pull off an upset in the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association regional semifinal.
The sixth-seeded Norse dominated the regional quarterfinal match against 11th-seeded Necedah last week Tuesday. Whitehall won two of the three sets by 10 points and came away with a sweep. On Thursday, Whitehall actually scored more total points than Stevens Point Pacelli and had a 2-1 lead, but the third seed came back and won the last two sets to advance in the tournament.
Whitehall finished the season with an even 14-14 record and went 6-4 in what has proven to be a difficult Dairyland Conference. Three DC teams are still playing in the tournament as Blair-Taylor and Cochrane-Fountain City will square off on Thursday while defending Division Five WIAA State Champion Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran will play Newman Catholic the same night.
NHS 11 18 15
WHS 25 25 25
It was all Whitehall from the start as the Norse took control early and cruised to the sweep.
The Norse cruised in the first set and took a big lead early in the second before the Cardinals made the final score closer. Whitehall finished the match with a 10-point win in the third set.
Bria Pank led Whitehall at the net with 15 kills and Paige Lisowski added seven. Kyla Lambeck finished with 31 set assists and 11 digs. Lisowski added eight digs.
Avvia Herman had a strong match at the service line, registering six aces.
WHS 25 25 25 21 13
SPP 11 27 15 25 15
The Norse had two convincing wins to take a 2-1 lead, but the Pacelli Cardinals were able to steal the match with a pair of close set wins.
Whitehall came out on fire and cruised to a 14-point win in the first set. The Cardinals regrouped and won a close second set, but Whitehall was in control again with a 10-point win. The Stevens Point private school wouldn’t go away, however. The Cardinals won the fourth set, 25-21, then eked out the fifth, 15-13.
The Norse attack at the net was balanced as Pank led the team with 13 kills while Lisowski, Kelsie Klomsten and Aryana Ausderau all had eight. Lambeck registered 37 assists and reached 1,000 career assists in the match.
Pank also had a strong night at the service line with four aces and Lisowski led the team with 15 digs.
