LA CROSSE — The Central High School volleyball team wasn’t about to let an opportunity of this magnitude slip through its fingers Tuesday night.
As coach Haley Williams surveyed her players prior to a fifth set against Onalaska, she didn’t see what she expected. Despite a veteran group of players, Williams expected to see some nerves.
“They really wanted this,” Williams said. “I did expect nerves, but they came out strong, let (Onalaska) make some errors, and they never gave up.”
The RiverHawks (7-1, 2-0 MVC) allowed the Hilltoppers (3-6, 1-1) to come back from a 5-0 deficit and take a 10-9 lead in the fifth set but collected themselves to put the finishing touches on a 25-19, 25-10, 10-25, 24-26, 15-12 victory in front of a raucous crowd at the Mark Sutton Memorial Gymnasium.
Standing up to Onalaska after it won the third and fourth sets was a big step for Central, which finds itself with a 2-0 conference record for the first time since 2014.
“In the first two sets, we did just about everything right, and it was good to see,” said Williams, whose team plays at Holmen (5-3, 2-0) on Thursday. “But they also battled back when things weren’t going their way and showed grit, which was awesome.”
The Hilltoppers played without injured seniors Natalie Marso (knee) and Kendall Carlson (ankle) — two important cogs in their machine who were injured at an invitational in Janesville last weekend — but dominated the third set and won the fourth after it was tied at 18, 19, 20, 21 and 24.
Onalaska also found itself in a 5-0 hole in the fifth set and took a 10-9 lead before the RiverHawks finished them off.
“You’ve got to put the ball down against them,” Central senior Ellie Gillitzer said of the Hilltoppers. “They are really scrappy. Even on some of our most amazing hits and tips, they got (the ball) up.
“We had to just keep being ready to hit and not be afraid to swing.”
Senior Mady Young has a team-high 15 kills and added 10 digs for Central. Gillitzer had 29 assists, 21 digs, eight kills and two blocks.
Senior Evelyn McCoy posted a team-high seven blocks to go with five kills for the RiverHawks.
Junior Elodie Most had a team-high 11 kills and two blocks for Onalaska, and junior teammate Zoey Olesevich had 10.
Sophomore Bella Eckstein had 18 assists and 11 digs, while McKenzie Bauer led the team with 21 digs.
Holmen 3, Aquinas 1
LA CROSSE — The Vikings (5-3, 2-0) beat the Blugolds (3-6, 0-2) 25-16, 22-25, 25-22, 25-18 at the Reinhart Athletic Complex.
Senior Moira Linse had a team-high 15 kills, seven digs, four service aces and 1.5 blocks for Holmen, which also received 10 kills apiece from juniors Linley Regan and Paige Olson. Olson also had 17 digs.
Senior Kaia Casberg led the Vikings with 19 kills and recorded three aces, while junior Aspyn Archer had 27 assists and 11 digs and senior Claire Stevenson 14 assists and seven digs.
Junior Evelyn Berns had a team-high nine kills and was second for Aquinas in digs with 16.
Senior Adi Bezemek had 26 assists, 10 digs, three kills and three aces, and senior Aubrey Coyne contributed 20 digs and two aces.
SCORES
West Salem def. Arcadis 25-12, 25-17, 25-15
Winona Cotter/Hope Lutheran def. La Crescent-Hokah 14-25, 25-13, 25-12, 25-21
