SHULLSBURG — A narrow first set favoring the No. 4 seeded Miners (22-5) gave way to a 3-0 (25-21, 25-9, and 25-6) loss for No. 13 seed Black Hawk (2-20) in the opening round of the WIAA Division 4 Regionals on Tuesday.
“The way we played the first set, I was super happy with that,” Warriors’ head coach Rachel Wolff said. “Then the wheels kind of fell off the bus and things just didn’t go our way.”
Black Hawk scored on the first rally of its tournament-opening match as Veronica Cheatham tallied a kill off a set by Mya Milz, but Shullsburg rallied to take the lead.
At an 11-5 split favoring the Miners where two of the Warriors’ scores came by way of Shullsburg errors, Wolff called a timeout.
Three rallies after the break, Black Hawk broke the Miners’ streak with a cross-court attack by Milz that flew off Elsie Ennis’ arms on the dig attempt.
Allyse Troemel followed up with a spike in the middle of the court that rebounded out of the court off Evvie Ennis’ arms.
An attacking error by Maddy Lange set the Warriors back, 14-7.
Offensive errors were a large reason Shullsburg didn’t run the score up, but another part of it was the effort by Cheatham, as she scored a kill from the center court assisted by Makayla Kammes.
Troemel took an opportunity to match a Miner score with a set by Milz, keeping Black Hawk within six points, 16-10.
A serving error by Milz put Shullsburg up by seven points, which was matched on a kill along the backline by Hailey Wellnitz.
A Miner attacking error and a kill by Cheatham in the middle of Shullsburg’s court inched the Warriors to just four points down.
More errors reared their head as a missed rotation got Black Hawk to a three point deficit, 17-14.
The following rally, Kendra Haldiman called for the set at the left side of the cour by Wellnitz at the front middle.
She floated the ball to Haldiman at the net, and she spiked the ball to the back-middle of the Miner court to a diving Olivia Brown who couldn’t keep the ball in the air.
Down just two points now, the Warriors were fighting hard for the comeback and fired up.
Things came to a head as Troemel returned a spike by Taylor Russell.
The ball bounced off Troemel’s arms hard enough to reach Shullsburg’s court again.
Stella Spillane met the ball at Shullsburg’s front court, but hit the ball into the net, bringing Black Hawk within one point, 17-16.
Hamm called a timeout, sending the Warriors into a frenzy.
Black Hawk was getting a Miners squad consistently in the top-10 in the state on their heels.
An attacking error from Spillane tied the game for the first time since the opening rallies.
Shullsburg rallied for a score to keep a narrow one point lead before the Warriors tied up the game again at 18.
Cheatham spiked on a set by Wellnitz that crashed off the top of Elsie Ennis’ arms, who was about to collide with Brown in the back court.
Haldiman got Black Hawk its first lead in 35 rallies with a kill at the net on a ball that swung around Spillane.
Three rallies later in favor of the Miners — one on error by Cheatham and the other two via kills — and Wolff called a timeout.
A netted serve by Taylor Russell brought the game back to a one-point deficit for the Warriors, 21-20.
Camden Russell separated Shullsburg with a pair of points — a cross-court kill, and a kill along the left sideline.
Lange ensured Black Hawk remained until the very end, as she and Milz met a spike by Camden Russell at the net for the block.
A netted serve by Haldiman and an ace by Camden Russell put the first set away.
“We played Black Hawk earlier in the season,” Miners’ head coach Russell Hamm said. “They played tonight just like they did then, they could run points on us, but as long as we control our side, (we’d be fine).”
Set two went with little fanfare as Shullsburg opened with a 9-3 run that prompted a Black Hawk timeout. The Warriors’ three points came largely on Miner errors.
The break did little to stop a Shullsburg squad on a mission, who went on another run —this time 10-2 — that ended in a Black Hawk timeout.
The Miners went 6-4 to close the second set.
They opened the third set with their first set-opening score of the night, and ran two more points on the board before the Warriors’ first.
A grounded serve by Jamie Hoppman a few rallies later gave Black Hawk a 5-2 deficit.
Shullsburg added three more points to the board that garnered a timeout from the Warriors.
“We settled in, and after the first set I did a little change on our rotation,” Hamm said. “That just kept on getting us points over the last two sets, and it was a big game-changer for us.”
The Miners closed the set on a 17-4 run capped by a grounded serve from Black Hawk.
“They were hitting at us, and we were constantly on defense,” Wolff said. “[That] makes it really hard to score, but overall, I liked what we did over the course of the season and I got a bunch of girls in (the locker room) that just really played their heart out. I can’t ask for anything more than that.”
