ONALASKA — Top say the Onalaska high School volleyball team ready for its WIAA Division 1 regional championship match against fifth-seeded Middleton on Saturday would be an understatement.
Hilltoppers coach Jess Rohde will be able to watch film and find some things to correct because all coaches do, but her players used a scrappy and focused approach to beat the Cardinals 25-21, 25-20, 25-23 in a regional final on John Shelton Court.
That puts the fourth-seeded Hilltoppers (21-9) in a sectional semifinal Thursday at Holmen against either top-seeded Waunakee or eighth-seeded Central at 5 p.m.
The Hilltoppers were on their bock, defended well and worked an offensive flow that kept them in front for most of the three sets.
“Our block is finally early enough and over enough,” Rohde said. “They got a lot of touches on balls and slowed it down enough to keep them guessing on what we were going to do.
“And our serving was very aggressive today. I think we won the serve-pass game. Keeping them out of system and keeping us in system was huge.”
Rohde said she made a lineup change during the season and that the personnel involved is starting to perform the way she anticipated. Onalaska was swept by Middleton in last season’s regional final and won its second regional in the past three years.
“Everything is starting to click for them right now,” Rohde said. “Our pin hitters have become very good at mixing up their shots and done a really good job of keeping the other team guessing.
“Our middles are doing a great job of slowing down the ball, and defensively our serve-receive is much better.”
Junior Natalie Marso had nine kills and senior Makena McGarry eight to lead Onalaska’s attack on Saturday. McGarry also thinks the work of the hitters is improving as the season progresses.
“We’re really getting our setter-hitter connections down,” she said. “We have two brand new setters this year, but we’re getting it figured out, and that’s exciting.”
McGarry also had five of Onalaska’s blocks. Junior Kendall Carlson led the team with six.
“Our blocks were on today,” McGarry said, “and that’s what we were hoping would happen.”
Junior Lauren Pica had a team-high 13 assists, and freshman Isabella Eckstein had six and sophomore McKenzie Bauer five. Bauer also led the team with 11 digs.
The win over a Madison-area powerhouse was significant for the Hilltoppers. Middleton is a team that qualified for the Division 1 state tournament as recently as 2022 and has played in it six times.
“Middleton has been kind of an albatross since I started coaching,” Rohde said. “This is the first time I’ve beaten Middleton.
“This was a good one for us to establish that yes, we can compete with those good Madison schools.”
