OSHKOSH — The Monticello Ponies (27-1, 12-0 Six Rivers East) earned its second consecutive trip to the WIAA D4 state tournament with a kill from sophomore Dalana Trumpy. Earlier in the week — Oct. 26 — was the one-year anniversary of the disappearance of Melissa Trumpy, Dalana’s mother. Headed into the game, Dalana dedicated the game to her mother.
“I miss you every single day,” Dalana wrote on social media. “Tonight, I am doing it for you. You have always told me how far I will get in my sports, and I am starting to show you that.” After the game, she posted again. “That last point was for her.”
Despite the happy ending, Monticello didn’t look like it’d win based on the first few points of the game. Green Bay N.E.W. Lutheran (27-17, 6-2 Packerland) jumped out to a four-point lead with two blocks and a couple of Ponies errors.
“The first game was very scary; I didn’t know what to expect,” freshman Kennadee Johnson said. “Then we found our game, and played how we normally played. We started playing together and got more comfortable.”
The team effort finally started to pay off at 8-16. From that point on, Monticello scored two to three points for every one of Lutheran.
Ellie Gustafson led the offense, with five kills down the stretch. Her tip tied the set at 23 all, but the Blazers scored the last two points of the game for the win. The Ponies didn’t go down easy, as the last point was the longest rally of the set.
“It was a bit of a reality check that first game,” head coach Rebecca Gustafson said. “I wasn’t quite sure how we’d bounce back, but they came out on fire in the second set.”
Monticello gave Lutheran a taste of its own medicine in the second set, as the Ponies scored the first four points. Macey Grant served up two aces, Gustafson had a kill and the Blazers committed an error.
The play prompted a timeout from head coach Michael Schmidt, but his team was still rattled. They committed three more errors on sets for Monticello to take a 7-0 lead. The Blazers’ first point came from an attack error by the Ponies. Lutheran’s first offensive point was a kill by Emma Laatsch to make it 8-2.
The Ponies extended their lead to 12 with a seven-point rally. After two Blazers errors, Trumpy recorded a block in the middle, and Gustafson served up an ace.
Schmidt used his second and final timeout at 15-4, but Gustafson remained strong at the service line. She smashed two more aces for an 18-4 lead.
Lutheran got within nine points by taking advantage of Monticello errors, but the deficit was too great. Kelsy Grant won a battle at the net, Gustafson found a hole in the defense with a tip, and Macey Grant capped the set 25-12 with an ace.
“I knew watching film that they had a lot of holes,” Rebecca Gustafson said. “We are a smart team. We didn’t have to just pound every ball. That’s how we got here, too. We hit the ball hard to get them on their heels and then we tip in the open spots.”
Monticello took an early lead in set three, too. Gustafson led the way with three kills, accompanied by a kill from Trumpy and solo block by Jaden Zuber.
Lutheran slowly worked its way back into the set with Ponies errors and tips, prompting a timeout by Rebecca Gustafson. The Blazers maintained momentum, though, tying the set at 13 and eventually taking a 15-13 lead.
With a tip from Kelsy Grant and an attack error, Monticello tied the set up at 18 and 19 all. Macey Grant gave the Ponies the lead once again with a kill and service ace.
Poised to take the third set, Monticello dropped the next two points on a double hit and Blazer kill. Out of a Ponies timeout, Lutheran took a 25-24 lead with hard serving. Overconfident — or nervous — the next serve went out to tie the game at 25 all. Another error gave Monticello the lead, and Trumpy secured the 27-25 win with a kill.
“We were a lot scrappier,” Johnson said. “We didn’t want to let up. We told ourselves that we had it.”
After back-and-forth play early in the fourth set, Monticello took an 8-3 lead and never looked back. Trumpy was key in that stretch, with three kills — one tip, one block and one spike.
The largest rally of the game for the Ponies — seven points — began with a service error and ended on a Ellie Gustafson kill. Monticello had just three offensive points in that stretch, with the others courtesy of Blazers’ errors.
On match point, Kelsy Grant set up Trumpy twice, with the second time being the charm. Once the ball found the floor, Kelsy Grant scooped Trumpy up in her arms for a big hug to celebrate the 25-12 win.
Unofficially, Trumpy ended the night with seven kills and two blocks. Ellie Gustafson led the offense with 26 kills along with four aces. Macey Grant also had four aces, paired with four kills.
Just as they did last year in Hilbert, the Ponies proved that there is no such thing as home-court advantage.
“I don’t think that there’s home court advantage,” Kelsy Grant said after the team’s win on Thursday. “Obviously its going to be loud no matter where you go. We can show that it’s our court somewhere else.”
MONTICELLO 3, HERITAGE CHRISTIAN 0
MONTICELLO — Monticello defeated No. 2 seeded Heritage Christian (24-19, 5-5 Midwest Classic) three sets to none to earn a spot in the sectional final.
The Ponies started off hot, as a Patriot serve receive went long to Ellie Gustafson. Poised and ready, Ellie Gustafson blocked the ball for the first point of the set. Macey Grant followed it up with a service ace. Monticello extended its lead to 6-1 with four straight errors from Heritage Christian.
“We were serving tough,” Rebecca Gustafson said of the early lead. “I thought we served rockets tonight.”
Another rally gave the Ponies an eight-point lead. After a Patriot service error, Zuber recorded a kill, followed by an ace from Ellie Gustafson and a block from Trumpy.
After a block, Heritage Christian sent Hannah Marchan to the service line, which caused some havoc for Monticello. Marchan served up four consecutive aces, prompting a Ponies timeout. The Patriot rally continued, though, with an error, kill and a fifth ace from Marchan.
“I feel like her serves dropped,” K. Grant said. “We got stuck and were in our heads. Her serving was very good, but it was our mental toughness on that one, and we needed to get out of it.”
The run ended with a service error by Marchan, which sparked a run for the Ponies. E. Gustafson smashed two kills and M. Grant chipped in with an ace.
Monticello closed out the first set 25-18 with a kill from M. Grant and ace by Zuber.
After a 2-2 tie, the Ponies went on a seven-point run for the 9-2 lead. Johnson was at the line during the stretch, and served up two aces despite a Heritage Christian timeout.
Lindsey McIlveen scored three straight points for the Patriots, but the Ponies erased the effort with four consecutive points of their own.
Monticello finished the set 25-15 with a series of rallies. Trumpy recorded two aces for an 11-point lead, while Ellie Gustafson spiked the final point.
Unwilling to watch its season slip away, Heritage Christian played tough in the third set. They grabbed the first point with a kill from Jenna Noordyk, and — after trailing 4-2 — tied the set with an ace from Alexandra Meyer.
The Patriots took the lead after a six all tie, but it didn’t last long. Monticello regained the lead with a block by Kelsy Grant and extended it to 13-9 with a pair of aces from Trumpy.
Kelsy Grant recorded the last two points of the set on a drop shot kill and block to give the Ponies the win.
Unofficially, Ellie Gustafson led the offense with 18 kills. She, along with Trumpy and Kelsy Grant put up two blocks each. Trumpy also had a team-leading five aces.
UP NEXT
Monticello earned the No. 3 seed in the state tournament and will play No. 2 seeded Athens (32-5, 5-0 Marawood North) at 9 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 4 in the semifinals. No. 1 seeded McDonell Central Catholic will also play at 9 a.m. against No. 4 seeded Wonewoc-Center in the other semifinal game.
Athens has not dropped a single set in the WIAA playoffs, defeating Wabeno/Laona 25-17, 25-17, 25-17 to earn their trip to state.
The Fighting Bluejays are led offensively by Jazelle Hartwig and Addison Levicka. According to WisSports, Hartwig has 31 kills on 67 attempts for a .418 hitting percentage, while Levicka has 25 kills on 76 attempts for a .211 hitting percentage. The pair also leads in assists with 38 and 21, respectively.
“I don’t know if it’s really hit me yet,” Rebecca Gustafson said of the sectional win. “It feels like we just won another game. Like, send in the next private school. It’s pretty exciting. We’re going to keep it light and enjoy the preparation, practices and celebrations.”
