By Adam Krebs
editor@themonroetimes.com
WAUPUN — Brodhead volleyball coach Erin Kammerer tells her team everyday to enjoy the ride, because each time the Cardinals get to step on the court this spring season is a gift.
On April 13, the Cardinals opened the biggest gift of all: A 14-player pass to the state tournament.
“Our theme of the year was ‘Every time you’re in the gym, it’s a gift — you never know when it’s going to get taken from us. Every practice; every game — this could be your last time.’ I think they really embraced that and it paid off,” Kammerer said.
Brodhead was one of 115 schools in Wisconsin to opt out of the fall 2020 volleyball slate for the WIAA-approved alternative season this spring. Once the postseason began, the Cardinals, ranked No. 2 in Division 2 by the Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches Association, swept Evansville for a regional title. Three days later in a pair of sectional games April 13, Brodhead toppled Columbus 25-17, 25-10, 25-21 in the afternoon, and a few hours afterwards went toe-to-toe with top-ranked Laconia and won in a fifth-set tiebreaker, 23-25, 25-16, 25-19, 18-25, 15-11.
“It feels like a dream come true … (I’m) speechless,” sophomore setter Alexis Kammerer said. “We really work well as a team. We’re very competitive and we have that grit to go after it and get it; to dive after balls and work hard. I’m really proud of my team. It’s a special experience — it’s one-of-a-kind. I wouldn’t take anything for granted.”
As the final whistle blew, the Cardinals dove into a pile on the court while coach Erin Kammerer raised her arms above her head in celebration. Screams of joy turned into tears of joy as the players hugged each other and their coaches. After hoisting the sectional championship plaque in front of their traveling fans, Brodhead players were able to meet with their parents and friends on the court as Queen’s “We are the Champions” played on the overhead speakers.
“Tears fell — happy tears,” senior Sabrina Siegel said. “We really came together. It really shows how hard we had to work for it.”
Siegel called the feeling “amazing,” which was the common theme among the Cardinals afterwards.
“Amazing — you can’t even think about it. I’m so in shock about it right now,” said fellow senior Bailey Matthys. “We played amazing today as a team.”
“Oh my god, it feels so amazing — tears of happiness, tears of happiness. It’s such an amazing feeling to be where we’re at right now,” added sophomore Abbie Dix. “I’m speechless. It’s so amazing. It’s such a happy feeling.”
McKenna Young, a sophomore hitter, was also amaze. “It’s amazing. I love to share it with my teammates. It’s one of the best feelings I’ve ever had.”
The trip to the state tournament marks the third time in school history for the program. In 2008 and 2013, the Cardinals lost in the state semifinal. This year, Brodhead (11-3) will take on fifth-ranked Royall (19-2).
“I can’t be any more proud of them,” Erin Kammerer said. “Their willingness to get gritty, their teamwork — we came off of a practice where we didn’t have a good feel, and they came in still ready to go. I’m just so proud of them. The kids that didn’t get the opportunity to show it tonight made us who we are. The communication and team-ness of this, they just deserve what they got tonig
Brodhead 3,
Columbus 0
The sectional opened with a battle of Cardinals. Brodhead and Columbus not only share a nickname, but the school colors are red, black and white. Both teams entered the dimly-lit Waupun High School gymnasium donned in red jerseys with dark red trim.
Neither team could gain much traction over the other in the opening set, with the score never deviating by more than three points of separation until late in the frame. The teams were squared away at 13, but Brodhead held a 5-2 run to go up 18-15, which was too late of a momentum shift for Columbus coach Aileen Heller, who promptly called a timeout.
The short charge was instigated by the superb net play of Brodhead sophomore Abbie Dix, one of the state’s top hitters. When play resumed, Dix slammed another spike to the ground to make it 19-15. Alexis Kammerer followed with an ace. A failed Brodhead return on the next volley gave Columbus a sideout, which was erased immediately by another Dix kill to put her team ahead 21-16. When the first period came to a close, Brodhead did so on a 9-2 run.
Brodhead carried the momentum over into the second set, rattling off 9-straight points to open. Before Columbus could blink, Brodhead stretched its advantage even further to 20-6.
“After our first game, I just feel like we really connected. I feel like this has been a humungous goal that all of us wanted — we wanted to take our school to state. We haven’t won a state title in volleyball yet, and we want to be the team to take it there. And for our seniors, we want to make the best run for it,” sophomore hitter McKenna Young said.
Columbus sensed the end of the season was upon it, and reacted by playing with more passion and urgency than the first two sets. After falling behind 7-2, Columbus took 7 of the next 8 points — holding its first lead (9-8) since the same score in the opening set.
McKenna Young slammed home a kill for a sideout and to re-tie the game, and then Dix scored on a kill from the back row. Joining in on the fun was Madisyn Kail, who dropped three straight service aces to put Brodhead ahead 13-9. Columbus was never able to shrink its deficit to below two the rest of the match.
Dix finished the match with a kill, her 18th in the contest. She had just one hitting error, and added 3 blocks and 15 digs. Alexis Kammerer had 36 assists, 7 digs, 4 aces and 4 points thanks to some well-timed tips and push kills. Young added an ace, 4 kills, 3 blocks and 11 digs.
As a team, Brodhead had 9 aces and just 4 missed serves, leading to a 94.5% service rate.
The battle for a state berth came down to the top two ranked teams in the entire state in Division 2 at Central Wisconsin Christian High School on the other side of town. Laconia entered unbeaten in 11 matches, and dropped Poynette in the small gym at CWC just hours earlier.
The Spartans brought along a heavy fan presence, at about twice the size of Brodhead, including a raucous student section six rows deep.
“Laconia is the best team we’ve faced this year. They are impressive. Their block was like a wall,” Erin Kammerer said. “But the grittiness of my kids, and I think we excel once we see it, have the experience under it — once we see it a couple of times they seem to know how to transition. They learn on the run, which has been our advantage all year, since the season has been so fast.”
While Brodhead can unleash Dix, who stands 6-feet-tall, Laconia had four hitters to choose from just one inch shorter. The length at the net caused problems for the Cardinals early on, but coach Kammerer saw something her squad could take advantage of to stay in the match for the long haul.
“About halfway through I said, ‘If you can pass on, you will win — they will not stop you. But if we’ve got to keep continuing to pull off, we can can’t get around that block.’ But they worked through it,” Erin Kammerer said.
Laconia opened with a 4-0 run, but the Cardinals were able to work their way back into it and tie the first set at 8-8. A quick 5-0 bust by the Spartans had Kammerer call for a timeout to settle down her squad. The 5-point deficit lasted until 18-13, at which point the Cardinals rallied themselves to tie it up at 18. The miniature run rocked the Spartan players and fans back onto their heels a bit, even though Laconia was able to grind out the slim victory in the first period.
The second set was similar to the Columbus matchup, as Brodhead staked itself to a 5-0 lead and causing Spartans coach Kaitlyn Wiese to burn an early timeout. Fifteen serves later, the Cardinals found themselves ahead 14-6. Laconia couldn’t find a rhythm, while Dix and Young were taking advantage of the net, and the Cardinals back row just kept feeding the ball forward with control.
“I can’t say enough about my bigs in the middle, and my outsides are consistent, which gives us that huge advantage. And, honestly, Alexis runs the ball well. She’s got good tempo and knows how to feed the hot hand — she ran the court well today. And my passers, they got the ball on, and that’s where it became fun,” Erin Kammerer said.
The third set was even through the first 16 points, but an 11-2 run by Brodhead silenced the Laconia crowd. The Spartans twice got back to within five points, but the damage was done, and the Cardinals were just a set away from state.
Wiese used the 3-minute break to remind her players it was make-or-break time. The Spartans responded with an 11-3 run out of the gates, which included three aces from Taylor Davies. A quick 4-point burst by Brodhead briefly made it 11-7, but Laconia ran off a 5-point counterattack, leading to Erin Kammerer calling a timeout. Before long, Laconia led 22-15, and those in the crowd reluctantly accepted that the match would go to a winner-take-all fifth set.
The key in any set is to jump out to an early lead, and that goes double for the fifth set, which only goes to 15 points, instead of 25.
Brodhead took care of that aspect, scoring the first five points of the frame thanks to three kills from Dix and an ace from Young. The Spartans, again burning an early timeout, responded with a 5-point run of their own to tie the score. Dix had a kill and a block as part of another short 3-point run, but Laconia rebounded once more, equaling the score at 9-9.
Erin Kammerer took a timeout herself at that point, and doubled down to her players on playing their game and staying focuses. The Cardinals responded immediately and closed the set — and the match — on a 6-2 run.
“(Coach Kammerer said to) leave it all on the court and play as a team. Play gritty; go for it — you never know if it’s going to be our last time or not, so just play as a team,” Dix said. “We kept working as a team — pushing, being gritty, playing with swagger. I love this team.”
Katy Radavich and Olivia Mahone each had 14 kills for Laconia, while Jayda Janeczko added 10.
Dix finished with 21 kills and just one hitting error. She added 5 blocks, 14 digs, 2 assists and 3 aces. Alexis Kammerer finished with 41 assists, 13 digs, 6 push kills and 3 aces. Young also had 3 aces, plus 10 kills, 6 blocks and 12 digs. Kail and Onni Oliver each had two aces, while Kail finished the night with 21 digs and Oliver 11 digs. Addie Yates added 4 blocks.
The Cardinals combined to dig 99 balls in the match, and finished with 13 aces and 11 missed serves (89.6% service rate). Brodhead also had 43 kills to just 9 hitting errors and had 12 blocks that went for points.
“(Laconia is) an amazing team, and they put up really great fight — it was really fun playing with them. I am just really proud of us for pulling through,” Young said. “It was definitely tiring today, but it’s all worth it. We knew that after today, whatever we had, we had to know that we did our best. So, leaving the court whether we won or lost, we’d be happy with our game. Today we just played really well as a team.”
Up next
Brodhead drew the No. 1 seed in the state tournament, and scored a 7 p.m. game at Beaver Dam against Royall. The winner will play either Washburn (16-0) or St. Mary’s Springs (12-1) at 1 p.m. April 17 at Kaukauna High School.
State semifinal results from April 15 were unavailable by press time.
Despite the quick season, Young said getting one more day worth of practice, and one more match, is all the Cardinals could ask for.
“It means everything to us. Corona has put a damper on everything and we didn’t know if we were going to have a season or not. Then when we had a season, we weren’t aware of the postseason. Then we were given this gift and we have to make the best out of it — and that’s what we’re doing right now,” Young said.
