AUGUSTA — The mood changed in a blink of an eye. Black Hawk had rallied from down two sets in its WIAA Division 4 sectional final to force a winner-take-all fifth set. The Warriors had rallied once again, faced with match point at 14-10 strung off three straight points, forcing Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran to use its final timeout.

But the Lancers swung at a return volley and pushed the ball deep into the back row. Black Hawk’s senior leader, Bailey Butler, sprawled backwards to keep the play alive. The ball caromed off her hand even further backwards, and senior libero Erika Schultz attempted to leap over Butler and reach the wayward sphere. No dice — point, set and match to ECIL.

“It was heartbreaking,” said Butler. “It sucks, but we put everything we could on that court. We really just worked hard. Our underclassmen really stepped it up on the court, and you could tell. I really just thank them for that.”

It was the first time since 2000 that Black Hawk had reached the sectional final, but the Warriors left the court in tears of sorrow instead of tears of pain, falling 13-25, 23-25, 25-17, 25-10, 13-15 at Augusta High School Oct. 31.

“I think we did start off too slow, and there is nothing we can do to take that back now,” Black Hawk coach Rachel Wolff said.

Three of the five frames were hardly contentious. The Lancers dominated the opening set with their strong net play, all while the Warriors made an uncharacteristic nine unforced errors. The second set didn’t start off much better, with ECIL jumping out to a 13-7 lead.

“I wish things were different, and at least halfway through that second set. But then we did show that we could play with them and came back in that third and fourth and got those convincingly — they did get a few runs on us, but I thought we got those fairly convincingly,” Black Hawk coach Rachel Wolff said.

Wolff called her second timeout of the set with her team falling behind 20-10. Needing a spark, Butler simply took over. The future UW-Green Bay basketball player scored her first kill of the set on a tip to get the pivotal side-out. Raylin Peterson then had back-to-back point-scoring blocks, and Butler came through with spike kills on both of the next two volleys. The 5-0 run forced Lancers coach Joe Lau to call a timeout. 

“I know that everyone just put their heart out on the court — I did, too. I just tried to win it,” Butler said.

A miscommunication in the Black Hawk defense allowed for a side-out, but Butler gained possession right back with another kill. She then tipped in points on the next two volleys, and ECIL had back-to-back deep returns out of bounds to allow the score to make it 21-20. Tatum Baumgartner’s next serve appeared to hit the line in the back row, but the call was “out,” causing for some disgruntled murmuring from the Warrior faithful.

Instead of tying the set at 21, the Warriors fell back behind by two with three points to go. Both teams split the next two serves, and Black Hawk later tied it at 23, forcing yet another Lancers timeout.

When play resumed, the Lancers scored on a kills, then a block by a Lancers player appeared to hit the net pole for an out-of-bounds point to the Warriors. The refs huddled and declared the pole was not hit in the sequence, allowing the point — and set — to go to ECIL.

“They (ECIL) had some nice hitters and dug just crazy. We put some things at them, too, and they just passed it up,” Wolff said. “I was hoping that our experience and our composure would get us over that hump.”

The momentum of the 13-5 Warriors run in the second period carried over. Black Hawk opened the third on an 11-1 run, putting the Lancers on their heels. The lead reached as high as 15-2 before a 6-point Lancers run made it interesting. The Warriors rebounded and before long were up 20-11.

The fourth period was again all about the Warriors. The two teams were knotted up at 5 when Black Hawk went on an 8-0 hot streak, keyed by a Butler tip kill and block. The Warriors closed the set on a 20-5 burst.

“She is one of the smartest players — she reads the court so, so well. But then, to add that to the athleticism she has, I just don’t know why I got so lucky to have her on my team,” Wolff said.

ECIL hadn’t lost a set all season prior to the sectional final and appeared to be stunned. However, the fifth set goes to 15 instead of 25, meaning early hot streaks can decide the entire outcome.

The Lancers started by scoring on four of the first five serves. Black Hawk rallied again and took a 7-5 lead after another Peterson block. However, the Lancers scored on each of the next four serves and never trailed again.

“Especially when we were down 0-2, we knew that we had to get a lead; a good start. That’s what we did, but in the fifth set we just couldn’t pull it off in time,” Butler said. She finished the last match of her career with 25 kills, 25 digs and a block. She was also a perfect 10-for-10 from the service line.

Peterson, a sophomore had 10 blocks and five kills. Macie Stauffacher, the team’s senior setter, was a perfect 25-for-25 at the service line with 21 assists. Senior Makayla Mau had 10 kills, 12 digs and a block, while sophomore Tara Wellnitz had six kills and five blocks. Schultz, a senior, had 13 digs and an assist from the back row.

“I just hoped we could get out to a decent lead in that fifth set — and it didn’t work out that way. These kids put in a heck of an effort, and I’m just so very proud of them,” Wolff said. “I can’t ask anything more of those girls — they gave me a wonderful season. I hope it was as wonderful for them as it was for me.”

Oct. 29, Sectional Semifinal

Black Hawk 3, La Farge 0

SOUTH WAYNE — For the first 20 serves of the night, both teams were simply feeling out what the other was doing. 

Black Hawk hadn’t played an opponent outside of the Six Rivers East all season, and watching film can only do so much.

“We watched a lot of film in Mrs. Wolff’s room and just tried to take away what they did,” Wellnitz said.

Early in the first set La Farge surprised the Warriors with a center attack. It didn’t take long for Wellnitz to figure out the strategy. Black Hawk’s middle blocker rose up for a stuffing at the net that sparked a 15-6 run that closed out the set. The second and third frames went in similar fashion as Black Hawk earned the sweep, 25-16, 25-13, 25-14.

“They hit a lot middle,” Wellnitz said. “I feel that really helped us because I didn’t have to go out to the outside to get those blocks — just straight up.”

Wellnitz finished with seven blocks, as the Warriors’ defense looked just as good as its offense.

“Tara really stepped up. (La Farge) just threw two different looks at us and both of our middle blockers just needed to be ready,” Wolff said. “The girls were ready.”

Butler finished the night with 19 kills and seven digs, while Mau had nine kills and five aces. Stauffacher collected 15 assists, while Baumgartner dished out 13 more.

“I think our energy really changed because we just really wanted to win this one and we wanted to get it done fast and as well as we could. We got most of our serves in tonight, which really helped us out,” Stauffacher said. “When you play with a group of girls that go back to as far back as you can remember, that connection is always there and we can trust each other.”

The Warriors had just two missed serves on the night, with each coming late in sets when the final points were more of a formality than a high-pressured situation.

Stauffacher, the team’s No. 1 server, said she’s nervous in every match for that first serve, but that she calms down quickly.

“All of the pressure is on you — you’re starting off the game and creating the mood that’s on the court. I’m definitely nervous, but I get that first one in and I’m good from there,” Stauffacher said.

The end of a wild season

Black Hawk’s run to the sectional final — just the second time in school history — came during a season chalk full of uncertainty. The COVID-19 pandemic caused the WIAA to shrink the length of the season, and the Six Rivers opted to play conference-only matches to ensure limiting spread of the virus.

Not every team was immune, however. The Warriors found themselves a side-effects victim of coronavirus. With just over two weeks left in the five-week season, Black Hawk had to go virtual, forcing the team into a 14-day quarantine and putting the season on the brink. 

“I just can’t say enough about them. It’s hard to put into words, because they are just pretty special kids to me. They’re like my family, and, you know, I’ll get on them, but they are just pretty special kids,” Wolff said.

The volleyballs started bouncing again just three days before the postseason started. In those few days, Black Hawk captured its third straight conference title and fended off conference rivals Argyle and Monticello in the regional rounds of the tournament.

It was the seniors that led the team by example, Wolff said. Their composure and leadership made the postseason run possible.

“They have been teaching, and teaching, and teaching for quite some time now — and this year was no different. I am certain that those kids saw the leadership that these kids brought. The composure that these kids brought; and the athleticism that these kids brought. They are not going to want to let that down for themselves, for our seniors, and not for our school district,” Wolff said.

The coach added that the rawness of the heartbreaking defeat will hurt some of the girls for a while. However, in the end, she said that her players will understand the rarity of their accomplishments.

Reaching the sectional final is not going to happen every year, Wolff said. 

“For us it took 20 to get back here. They will understand their accomplishments, but right now it’s pretty raw. It hurts quite a bit. They won’t see that tonight, and maybe not even next week. But someday they will see that they just worked hard, and that’s what it’s about. And again — we’re thankful that we got to play tonight. We just put it all out there,” Wolff said.