BRODHEAD — Lake Mills won the annual Brodhead Invitational Sept. 7, with the host Cardinals taking second in the 12-team tournament. New Glarus placed fifth, winning the Silver Bracket, while Argyle won the Bronze Bracket.
Monticello was sixth, Monroe eighth, Juda 11th and Albany 12th.
Brodhead went 4-0 in pool play, sweeping Monroe and Albany. The Cheesemakers won both sets against Albany to reach the Silver Bracket.
Lake Mills won all four sets in its pool, with New Glarus and Argyle splitting their match. Monticello and Mineral Point each went 3-1 in pool play and split their head-to-head matchup. Both teams swept Evansville. Juda was 1-3 in its pool, splitting with Turner and getting swept by Dodgeville.
In bracket play, Brodhead topped New Glarus 25-16, 25-21 and then bumped Mineral Point 25-13, 25-14. Lake Mills topped Monroe 25-17, 25-11, and then dropped Dodgeville. Lake Mills defeated Brodhead in the championship 25-19, 25-21.
“Although not as many wins as we had hoped for, we certainly did some great things throughout the day,” Monroe coach Heidi Witt said. “We definitely owned the net in many of the matches, especially against Lake Mills who had a very tall front line.”
Monroe was led by Cassi Gersbach, who had 28 kills. Katie Hayes finished with nine kills, while Makayla Harrow had eight kills and Lydia Butler 7 kills on the day. Harrow had five blocks and Gersbach had two. Lily Frehner finished with 68 assists and 25 digs on the day. Alyse Maurer had 23 digs. Katie Hayes had nine aces, while Bri Seagreaves finished with four.
“We missed a few serves at key points, which needs to get better. Taking your time behind the endline is so important,” Witt said.
The Cheesemakers played everybody on their varsity roster and brought up three junior varsity players to gain experience. “They were used to playing with the varsity at our summer volleyball camp so everyone welcomed them with open arms and they did a nice job. They just need to play with us more often,” Witt said.
Dodgeville bested Mineral point in the third-place match. New Glarus beat Monticello in an intense fifth-place match 19-25, 25-22, 15-11, while Turner ousted Monroe, 25-22, 25-20. Argyle defeated Evansville 25-14, 26-24 and Juda beat Albany 25-21, 27-26.
Maggie Godfrey led Argyle with 21 kills, 15 aces and six blocks. Grace Ganshert had 15 kills, Megan Johnson dished out 50 assists and Claudia Miller and Tori Lantz finished with 27 and 19 digs on the day.
Sept. 5
Watertown 3, Monroe 0
MONROE — The Cheesemakers lost to defending conference champion Watertown in straight sets 25-7. 25-14, 25-23.
“We wish we could have started the night with set 3,” Witt said. “We continued to make adjustments to their solid play and it finally started paying off in that 3rd set. We were digging up tips that they were getting us on all night. Hits were finding their side of the court without a defender. The key was trusting the adjustments we were asking the girls to make. I am proud of how the girls played in that third set.”
Gersbach had six kills, two blocks and five digs. Lydia Butler had four kills and two aces. Lily Frehner finished with eight assists and an ace.
“To know that you can play with a high caliber team like Watertown and get that close to taking a set is a win in my book. Not on the scoreboard but it sure does help your confidence,” Witt said.
Juda 3, Pecatonica 2
JUDA — The Panthers improved to 2-0 in conference play with a tight win over Pecatonica, 25-9, 17-25, 25-18, 24-26, 26-14.
Jocelyn Rufer had nine kills and two blocks for Juda, while Taylor Golackson finished with eight kills, 32 digs and six aces. Maddie Smith had four aces, Montana Steinmann finished with 36 digs and Triniti Elmer added 31 digs.
Marshall 3, New Glarus 2
NEW GLARUS — Kiana Hellenbrand had 16 kills and 18 digs to lead Marshal, which beat the Knights in a Capitol South Conference match 20-25, 25-18, 25-20, 20-25, 15-11.
Alexah Mellenberger had 11 kills and seven digs for New Glarus, while teammate Grace Nommensen had 31 assists and Lola Gillaspie nine kills.
Argyle 3, Albany 1
ALBANY — Maggie Godfrey had 10 kills and three blocks as the Orioles won 25-12, 25-20, 19-25, 25-13.
Grace Ganshert added eight kills and 12 digs for Argyle, Megan Johnson finished with 29 assists and Claudia Miller notched seven aces.
Brianna Dahl had seven kills and three blocks for Albany, while teammate Kaitlyn Dunphy had three aces and six assists and Mady Conway had nine digs.
