NEW GLARUS — Belleville is in a program rebuilding mode this season after graduating some of the program’s top players over the past few seasons, while New Glarus is hitting its peak. But the rivalry still exists, and while the Glarner Knights finished with a 3-game sweep on Sept. 13, the Wildcats did not go quietly.
“It’s really exciting, even though they aren’t our hardest competition all year, they are still our rival and this is a rivalry game. I feel like we did good,” said Grace Nommensen, New Glarus senior and reigning Capitol South Player of the Year.
Despite the potential distractions of Senior Night, the Knights opened strong, going up 10-2 in the first set, and eventually 20-5 before winning 25-7.
“Sometimes it can be a distraction, but over the last few years with COVID we’ve had to piggy-back things together because we were always afraid of being canceled for a week or two if we had a case,” New Glarus coach Kayla Zimmerman said. “Then we just kind of bunched everything together into one night, and it’s just become our norm. I don’t think it’s quite as distracting as it could have been.”
The second set was much of the same, as New Glarus went up by ten points at 16-6 and held on to win 25-15.
In the third set, Belleville fought back, jumping out to a 6-0 lead to open the frame.
The Knights refocused and rallied to take an 8-7 lead. The two teams went back and forth over the next 15 points, with Belleville briefly gaining a 1-point lead at 15-14. From there, the Knights closed it out.
“We really wanted to give our seniors an opportunity to play tonight, so some kids were in positions they don’t typically play, or playing next to people that aren’t usually their defensive neighbors,” Zimmerman said of some of the third period struggles. “It just took a little tweaking, a little bit to reset and figure it out.”
New Glarus sits at 2-1 in conference, tied with Marshall, while Waterloo remains unbeaten at 3-0. Belleville falls to 0-3 in league play. The Knights were scheduled to travel to Wisconsin Heights on Sept. 15, then play at Marshall Sept. 20 and at Waterloo on Sept. 27.
“Tonight was kind of the realization” that this is my senior year, said Nommensen. “But this is not the last game yet.”
Last year the Knights took a major step forward, knocking off Cuba City in the playoffs before losing to Brodhead in the regional final. With the basketball team reaching the sectional final, Knights players worked hard in training all offseason, which included playing in summer tournaments together, something the program hasn’t done in the past. “Girls sports here in New Glarus have kind of come to the forefront, and it’s kind of empowered the girls on the courts, on the field and in the classroom. They deserve all the accolades.”
Zimmerman said she feels her team is ahead of schedule from a year ago, which is thanks in part to the continued offseason training.
“I think we came into this season feeling like we are a little ahead of where we normally would be. We still have some humps to get over, and some things we have to figure out, but for the most part we are doing OK.”
Nommensen agreed. “I think we’re way ahead of where we were last year, but we have very high goals for ourselves this year, which includes regionals. We’re really working at that. I think we really need to just come in and play our game and not play scared, which is what we’ve done in the past.”
