Pirates dig deep for Glacier Trails Tourney title

They got nipped in five sets during the regular season, but the conference tournament was different.

The Port Washington High School girls’ volleyball team exacted revenge on Kettle Moraine Lutheran in the finals of the Glacier Trails Conference tourney on Saturday at Sheboygan South. The Pirates won, 17-25, 25-20, 15-10.

“I think that moment will always kind of stick with this team throughout the postseason,” senior Sierra Hoeft said.

“Taking down a known powerhouse in our conference was such a thrilling experience,” senior Summer Wille said. “Securing that win proved to ourselves that we are capable of so many greater things and that we decide our fate with the amount of effort and hard work we put in.”

Scarlett Van Harpen had 10 kills and Wille had six.  Van Harpen had four  blocks. Emersyn Loose had 15 digs, and Wille had 10. Hoeft had 13 assists. Myla Giese had 14 serve-receives without an error.

The Pirates bounced back after losing the first set.

“Once the momentum started going on our side of the net, we realized that if we focus on our play and play Port volleyball, we can do anything we commit to,” Hoeft said.

To get to the title match, Port swept West Bend East, 25-21, 25-20; Kewaskum, 35-14, 31-29; and beat West Bend West, 23-25, 25-20, 15-9.

KML still won the conference. Defending champ Port finished second.

The Pirates got a 3 seed in the Division tournament and on Thursday, Oct. 22, host the winner of the match between No. 11 Whitewater and No. 3 West Bend East on Tuesday, Oct. 20.

The winner of that match plays on Saturday, possibly against Grafton.

Grafton loses top player to injury

Grafton’s Paige Proefrock, who has more than 1,000 career kills and was named to the all-state team last season, went down with a knee injury after a kill during a home sweep over Menomonee Falls on Oct. 8. Proefrock is out for the rest of the season.

The Black Hawks lost to Cedarburg at home on Oct. 13 for the North Shore Conference title, 25-22, 25-22, 24-26, 25-13.

Sophomores Brooklyn Vanden Berg and Addison Lempke each had 12 kills. Grace Tilley had eight. Abby Barthelemy had 22 digs. Paige Arentz had 14, Vanden Berg had 13 and Andrea Quiles had 12. Arentz had 21 assists, and Ava Dotson had 14.

Grafton finished 5-1 in the NSC. Cedarburg was 6-0.

The Hawks bounced back at home on Saturday with a sweep over West De Pere, 25-16, 25-18, 25-22.

Lempke had 16 kills, and Vanden Berg had nine. Barthelemy and Quiles each had 10 digs. Arentz had nine. Dotson and Arentz each had 15 digs.

The Hawks are a deep team that will rely on that in the postseason without Proefrock, but they’ve got more motivation to get back to the state title match after winning silver last season.

“It’s really important for us to play for Paige. We all love her so much. We all want to win for Paige,” Vanden Berg said.

“There’s no replacement for Paige, but we can do things Paige does best,” Tilley said. “For example, giving 100% effort and being very aggressive when attacking. We are focusing on that.”

Barthelemy said the team was sad when Proefrock got hurt.

“It shows how much we all look up to her and we all want to play for her. Everybody’s stepping up, and it’s really showing and helping,” she said.

Coach Ashley Wilson is working to find the new best lineup to make a playoff run.

“We know we want to play for her. Our goal has not changed. Paige doesn’t want us to change our goal, and our team doesn’t either,” she said. “We’ve been able to really step up in new spots and have people take over just a little bit more responsibility so we can cover some of that. I’m still really impressed with how this team has handled that.”

Grafton, 26-7, got a 2 seed and on Thursday, Oct. 22, hosts the winner of the Tuesday, Oct. 20, match between No. 10 Brown Deer and No. 7 Jefferson on Tuesday. The Hawks could host rival Port on Saturday in a regional final.

“It’s just all team now,” Lempke said. “Everybody has to pick it up a little bit more, and we’re going a great job of doing that.”