Regional reign repeat:

There was no question which team was going home with a Division 2 regional volleyball plaque Saturday night in Grafton.

The Black Hawks bowled over New Berlin Eisenhower, 25-20, 25-11, 25-17.

The Lions only held a lead three times in the middle of the third set, and each was only by one point.

Grafton star outside hitter junior Paige Proefrock was again star quality, leading the team with 10 kills and five aces. She had 11 digs and received 10 serves without an error. During the second set, Proefrock served 10 straight points to push the Black Hawks’ lead to 14-4, a stretch that included three aces.

When the score got tight in the third set, the Hawks dug deep and didn’t let the Lions back into the match, ending with a 9-1 run.

“We came together as a team and finished,” Proefrock said. “We’ve been working a lot on finishing. In Slinger, they came back from 19-24. So we’ve been working on finishing a lot.”

“We struggled with that at the start of the season. We’ve really grown to trust each other and keep on fighting,” senior defensive specialist Khiah King said.

“I think we just kept our energy up, kept the intensity up,” junior middle hitter Grace Tilley said. “They fought back pretty hard; we fought back harder.”

First-year coach Ashley Wilson said the team has been working on its killer instinct.

“It’s been cultivated. We know that the third set has been a little bit of a struggle,” she said. “Two sets doesn’t win a volleyball match. Three sets does, or four sets or five sets. We prepare for longer nights and hope that it gets shorter on our side.”

It’s the second straight regional title for the Hawks and their third in the last 10 years. It’s the first under Wilson, who was an assistant coach last season.

Splitting a couple of five-set matches in the North Shore Conference helped prepare the Hawks for a deep postseason run.

“It really helps to play in that conference because a lot of schools are bigger than us. It’s good competition that helps at this time of the year,” junior libero Abby Barthelemy said.

Wilson said she went out of her way to find more challenging competition.

“We made our schedule on purpose to play hard teams at the beginning of the season just to get used to playing those people,” she said.

Freshman Brooke Vanden Berg had eight kills, Tilley had five and junior Avery  Pierce and freshman Addison Lempke each had four. Tilley served four aces. Sophomore Abigail Marti had five blocks. Barthelemy had 13 digs. Junior Paige Arentz had 14 assists and junior Ava Dotson had 12. King had 14 serve-receives with two errors, Vanden Berg had nine with no errors and Barthelemy had eight with no errors.

The Hawks have gotten contributions from multiple players of different ages and have built team camaraderie.

“We really just had to work on making like a big old friend group, honestly. Just having everyone included,” Dotson said.

Vanden Berg said the team welcomed her as a freshman.

“The team is all really supportive. They all trust me. We all trust each other,” she said.

“I feel like it’s very important to bring in the freshmen and give them a lot of encouragement,” Arentz said. “It’s just so fun playing with and making new friends at school at different levels.”

That was a process, Wilson said.

“It took some time, especially at the beginning of the season. It was working through different roles on the team. Everybody’s stepped into those roles now at this point in the season, so we’re playing really good collective team volleyball right now,” she said.

Grafton earned a spot in the regional final after sweeping Cudahy at home on Oct. 21. Scores were 25-4, 25-5, 25-10.

Proefrock had 13 kills, eight aces and 11 serve-receives without an error. Pierce had seven kills. Arentz had 17 assists and Dotson had 14. Barthelemy had 10 digs.

The No. 2-seeded Hawks play at No. 1 New Berlin West on Thursday, Oct. 30. The winner plays at 5 p.m. in Whitefish Bay on Saturday, Nov. 1, against the winner of the match between No. 1 Pius XI Catholic and No. 2 Shorewood.

“State is the goal at the end of the season. That was it from the very first team meeting. Whatever it takes to get there,” Wilson said.