Volleyball team already looking better than last year

Paul Jungbauer started to turn the Port Washington High School volleyball program around last season, and this year the team is already ahead of the 2020 pace.

The Pirates last weekend went 5-0 and  won the Milwaukee Lutheran Invite on Saturday, which Jungbauer said is the first time a Port team has won a tournament in at least a decade.

“We are definitely ahead of where we finished last year’s season with some of the things we are able to do offensively. Defensively, we are adjusting to what the opponent is doing,” Jungbauer said.

They didn’t face the same quality of teams as in the Milwaukee Sting Tournament the week before when Port finished ninth of 18 teams but, Jungbauer said, winning a tournament while being able to play different lineups gives the team a boost physically and mentally.

“The competition wasn’t as strong as the Sting tournament, but our girls still had to execute and they did so accordingly and still played some very solid volleyball,” he said.

Port was only pushed to a third game once in the tournament, in the first of two matches against South Milwaukee. The Pirates won, 25-6, 21-25, 15-12.

On the day, Jennacy Wille had 27 kills. Sydney Hoeft had 59 assists, and Julia Schmit had 39.

Port will rely on a more balanced offense this season, Jungbauer said, after heavily leaning on Wille and Carolyn Lippe on the outside last year.

Wille is back for her junior season after making the North Shore Conference second team last year, the first Pirate to do so since 2014. She was 10th in the NSC in kills.

Lippe, a sophomore, will be part of the attack this season, along with middle blockers Elyse Karrels, a sophomore, and senior Rebecca Sepanic, who is from the area and recently moved back from Texas, Jungbauer said.

Junior Sydney Hoeft and senior Julia Schmit are handling setting duties in Jungbauer’s 6-2 offense.

Senior Kayla Johnson is back at right side hitter after missing last year due to injury.

Seniors Elli Langlois and Amira Szczepanski are the liberos.

“I’ve got a good group of experienced seniors this year,” Jungabuer said.

Last year’s seniors, Hailey Sullivan and Kelly Fischer, graduated.

With young talent still developing, “Our program is in good shape for the next couple of years here,” Jungbauer said.

Port was 1-8 in the NSC last season but upset Grafton (3-7) in the first round of the playoffs before being swept by Slinger.

The Pirates are 8-6 this year and 0-1 in the NSC after Whitefish Bay won a five-set match in Port on Thursday, 25-22, 22-25, 25-19, 22-25, 15-10.

Port was swept by the Blue Dukes last season.

“Going the full five sets was definitely a step forward for us,” he said.

One highlight was the middle blockers. Karrels had 12 block-kills and Sepanic had seven. Port as a team had 36 last season.

“Their timing is good,” Jungbauer said of his 5-feet, 10-inch tall middles.

Wille had 12 kills, Lippe had eight and Karrels had seven. Szczepanski had 21 digs — earning the praise of the Blue Dukes’ coach and Jungbauer. Wille had 18, Lippe had 13 and Hoeft had eight.

Hoeft had 17 assists, and Schmit had 14.

For the Blue Dukes, star Zoe Behrendt had 31 kills but on 81 attempts.

“Our girls did a really good job making things tough on her,” Jungbauer said.

One challenge Jungbauer has noticed is playing without masks, oddly enough.

“Playing with masks on last year did our girls a disservice. It hid a lot of their emotions,” Jungbauer said.

“Now, at times we’re battling our facial expressions. They spread throughout entire team. In close matches, close sets, we’ve got to find ways to be able to pick each other up.”

But Jungbauer appreciates the emotions coming from the stands.

“It was really good to have fans in the stands again. It brings back the high school sports atmosphere,” he said.

The team has set goals for the season — to finish above .500 in the NSC and win 20 matches.

“I think both of those goals are very realistic for this group,” Jungbauer said.

Port plays at West Bend East (5-0) on Thursday and hosts Nicolet (3-3) at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 14.

Grafton falls to West Bend West

Grafton’s team continued a trend of not playing well against West Bend West last Thursday.

The Black Hawks lost on the road, 25-11, 25-21, 25-22.

“I think the girls were a little awestruck,” coach Chad Tuszkiewicz said, adding the seniors hadn’t done well against the Spartans for the last three years.

After a first-set blowout, the Hawks came back to battle in the second two.

“We rebounded well. We just had way too many unforced errors,” Tuszkiewicz said.

The Hawks made 47 errors.

Leah Maciejewski led the team with 10 kills, and Lauren Malchow had nine. Abby Proefroeck had seven.

Lauren Stockhausen had 16 assists and Dani Thompson had 10.

Proefrock had 11 digs and Gabi Haldeman had 10.

Stockhausen and Camille Mirek each had three blocks.

“They both played very well at the net,” Tuszkiewicz said.

The Hawks, 0-1 in the North Shore Conference and 1-1 overall, play at Cedarburg at 7 p.m. Thursday, at a Fond du Lac tournament on Saturday and host Whitefish Bay at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 14.