GREEN BAY — The Holmen High School volleyball team didn’t tackle its WIAA Division 1 state quarterfinal match against top-seeded Milwaukee DSHA without understandings its situation.
The Vikings were going to be introduced to another level of the game by a team with at least three future Division I players, one that was starting a quest for its third consecutive state title.
Holmen managed to suspend reality briefly when the match began, but the Dashers quickly recovered and never relinquished control in a 25-8, 25-9, 25-11 victory at the Resch Center on Thursday.
“They are a true six-rotation team that doesn’t have just one hitter out there, they have three,” Holmen coach Nicky Rose said. “And they have three who have pace on the ball.”
Junior Brenna Schmidt had six kills and junior Charley Casey five for the Vikings (24-10), who received 10 digs from junior Macy Kline and nine assists from junior Makenna McHugh.
Schmidt had two kills early to give Holmen a 4-3 lead in the first set, but the Dashers scored the next seven points and led the rest of the match. The Vikings tied the score a couple of times early in the third set, but DSHA managed to quickly pull away to finish the match in about an hour.
“We’ve been playing our best volleyball because we played together,” Rose said. “They learned how to play together, and they’ve been good at keeping the ball in play.
“That strength that we’ve had doesn’t beat Divine.”
DSHA (45-1) was led by senior and University of Wisconsin commit Madison Quest, who had 21 kills and pummeled shots straight down over the net as easily as they planted them on the back line.
“Good teams hit that ball with velocity,” Rose said of the deep shots.
With Quest at 6-foot-3 and Callie Carr at 6-1, the Vikings had trouble matching up at the net. The Dashers had little trouble hitting over blocks and placing the ball as Holmen scrambled to receive.
Quest finished the match with just 36 attempts for a .528 attack percentage. The Dashers had a .456 attack percentage overall, compared to Holmen’s .011.
