Since we haven't taken down our most recent poll yet, it's no secret who our readers think will win this sectional. And it's not that surprising, either. After all, West Bend East went all the way to the division one state final last year. But the Road to the Resch is never an easy one and there are plenty of teams looking to put a major roadblock in the Suns' path.Contenders: Beaver Dam, Fond du Lac, Hortonville, Menasha, Neenah, Oshkosh North, Oshkosh West, Sheboygan North, Sheboygan South, Slinger, Stevens Point, West Bend East, West Bend West and Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln.
Top Finishers Last Year: West Bend East was runner-up in division one, having beaten Neenah in the sectional final. Menasha made it to a sectional semifinal.
Random Notes: The good news is that West Bend East lost just one '08 from the team that went so far last year. The bad news is that the senior in question, Hayley Leinss, racked up 531 kills and 630 digs last fall. Nevertheless, WBE will field a strong team that includes senior setter Morgan Liebetrau, who was all-tournament at the Resch last year, as well as senior Stephanie Wilde (202 kills) and Melanie Bailiff (318 kills). Look for big things from sophomore middle Heidi Spies as well.
Beaver Dam has a number of players who will make a key contribution, including senior libero Kelli Kasha, sophomore outside Caitlyn McIntyre, senior outside Emily Goebert and senior middle Abby Gregory. Interesting side note: Kelli Kasha's Capital 17 Elite team and Emily Goebert's Club Breakout team tied for third in the 17 club division at the JVDA championships.
Fond du Lac features super sophomore outside Kayla Pickart, who was part of the Badger Girls High Performance team that took first at the 2008 HP Championships in Tucson over the summer. Senior outside Aleisha Bagin will bring her big swing back to West Bend West for one more year. Becky Schmidt of Slinger was second team all-Little Ten last season. Hortonville has a new coach, Leah Rosenblum.
Oshkosh West received several votes in our poll, but we haven't been able to find too much out about them other than their record last year (35-10), which was obviously quite impressive. Any help would be appreciated.
Our Prediction: West Bend East over Beaver Dam in five. (Repeat of Note for Sectional Three: We're assuming sectionals like this one which aren't currently divided into regionals won't be divided into regionals at seeding time. If we're mistaken, so will be this prediction.)
Next Up: Girls Division One Sectional Five
1 comment:
Fond du lac will be very young, but experianced, with several club players on roster. Varsity is made up of 1 sr., 4 jr., 6 soph, and 2 freshman.
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