MONTICELLO — Despite losing its first set since Sept. 10, Monticello (25-1, 12-0) advanced to the Sectional Semifinal with its 3-1 win over Burlington Catholic Central (19-20, 3-5 Metro Classic) on Saturday, Oct. 22.
The Ponies took the first set 25-13, dropped the second 20-25 and rebounded to take the game 25-11, 25-15.
To advance to the Regional Final, the No. 5-seeded Hilltoppers won a five-set duel with No. 4-seeded Fall River. Catholic Central lost the first set 21-25 but came back to take the next two sets 25-13, 25-19. Fall River won an extended fourth set 27-25, forcing a fifth set. The Hilltoppers prevailed, though, 15-11.
Monticello’s path to the Regional Final wasn’t as difficult.
MONTICELLO 3, ALBANY 0
MONTICELLO — The WIAA Regional Semifinal featured familiar foes in Albany (4-14, 3-8 Six Rivers East) and Monticello, with the Ponies prevailing for the third time this season. Monticello swept Albany in the previous two meetings, one at home, one away.
“We’ve played them three times this year, if you include our home tournament,” Monticello head coach Rebecca Gustafson said. “Although we never want to overlook anyone, I think we had confidence knowing we beat them three times in three sets. We know the players better; we know who to serve at. It’s always hard to beat a team three times, though.”
Albany proved up to the challenge in the first set, as the Comets jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Three of the points came on Monticello errors, while the fourth was an ace from Avary Briggs.
“We had a talk at practice about how we will have to step out of our comfort zone a bit, shed some skin and do some things we haven’t done all year to compete with Monticello,” head coach Scott Smice said. “That’s really what it amounted to, is that we were going to have to contend with a ranked team in the state.”
Monticello found its footing, though, going on an 11-1 scoring run. Ellie Gustafson’s tip found a hole in the Albany defense, and Kelsy Grant followed with two aces. In the stretch, Kennadee Johnson also served up three aces.
The Comets slowly worked their way back with a series of small runs. They were able to get within four with a four-point rally, highlighted by a double block from Alana Durtschi and Anna Ellinger.
The Ponies closed out the set 25-18, though, scoring the final two points on kills from Ellie Gustafson and Dalana Trumpy.
After a 2-2 tie to begin the second set, Monticello scored six straight points. Ellie Gustafson utilized both the spike and tip for three kills, while Trumpy blocked one at the net.
“We talked about how we weren’t playing our game,” Rebecca Gustafson said of the transition between the first and second set. “They were playing our game, which was serve tough. We decided that we weren’t going to let someone do that on our court. We were the higher seed on the home court. We needed to go out there and take control of the game. Period.”
A Comet timeout stalled the momentum only briefly, as Monticello went on another six-point run. This time, Jaden Zuber was the main contributor with three consecutive aces. The rally ended with kills from Ellie Gustafson and Macey Grant.
“It was great to get some kills tonight,” Grant said. “Especially since it’s not very often I get that many.”
Albany dropped the second set 9-25, ending on an attack error.
Monticello began the third set with Grant at the service line, scoring six straight points. In that run, she served up two aces. While Albany put together small scoring runs — three three-point rallies — Monticello had larger runs to win. Kelsy Grant finished the set 25-23 at the line with two aces.
Ellie Gustafson finished the night with 13 kills to lead the Ponies. Kelsy Grant contributed all around with five kills, five aces and one block. Zuber also served up five aces.
For Albany, Durtschi and Ellinger were the leaders in kills with four apiece. Ellinger and teammate Myah Johnson each had two blocks, while Briggs led with two aces.
Despite the loss, Albany finished its season on a high note, having won its opening regional match.
“It was the first time they’ve won a first-round regional game in 12 years,” Smice said. “They were excited about that. Unfortunately, we were in the same bracket with Monticello. Maybe if we had played another team that we didn’t know, things might have been different tonight.”
The entire Comet lineup will return next year, with an anticipated seven seniors.
“They’ve improved a lot,” Rebecca Gustafson said. “I don’t want to take anything away from them. This is the best we’ve seen them play. They came ready to play; their fans came ready to cheer. They were very aggressive. They’ve got all their girls coming back, so they will be tough next year.”
Monticello will host No. 2 seed New Berlin Heritage Christian (16-16, 3-4 Midwest Classic) in the Sectional Semifinal on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. The Patriots have swept every team they’ve faced in the playoffs.
“From here on out, there are no easy games,” Rebecca Gustafson said.
