CONTENDERSBeloit Memorial, Burlington, Madison Memorial, Madison West, Middleton, Mukwonago, Westosha Central
2008 RECAP
Middleton defeated Burlington in three. Westosha Central and Mukwonago were the other sectional semifinalists.
2009 RANDOM NOTES
- Beloit Memorial The Knights lose Marshall Davis in the middle, as well as a setter and right side from last year's team. This will, of course, force them to rely on youth to move them forward. An early test will occur at the Neenah Invite on September 12.
- Burlington The Demons have a top-flight player in honorable mention all-state senior libero Mike Porcaro. He'll be digging those hits straight to senior setter Kevin Robers, who, in turn, will often be sending the ball straight to senior outside Cody Peterson.
- Madison Memorial First-year coach Josh Reinieking will have a young team with very little varsity experience, having lost all-conference Big Eight setter Anderson-Goldsworthy.
- Middleton Returning conference champions, perennial state contender and a consistent top 10 team in Wisconsin, the Cardinals will once again be a force under the leadership of last year's Wisconsin coach of the year, Ben White. Even though they lost four of six starters to graduation, they return plenty of firepower, including 6'7" senior Michael Owen (second team all-state with 205 kills in 2008). Michael can -- and probably will -- be called upon to play any front row position. Another key contributor will be senior middle and third-year starter Will Kraus (116 kills in 2008). Nick Wong returns from a back injury to set and Brad Denruiter will take over at libero.
- Mukwonago Even though they graduated first-team Classic Eight all-conference outside Jordan Mannin, the Indians return junior setter Shawn Vick and 6'6" senior middle Logan Krueger.
- Westosha Central If anyone's going to give Middleton a run for its money, we're guessing it will be the Falcons. They'll be led by senior outside Jim Schultz (HM all-state and first team all-conference with 299 kills and 46 aces in 2008), senior middle Matt Feivor (second team all-conference with 241 kills and 31 total blocks last season) and junior setter Dayton Erickson (second team all-conference and 612 assists last season). Also look for key contributions from senior opposite Tyler Barnstable. They'll be in a number of tough tournaments, including the Racine Invite, Kettle Moraine Invite, Red Raider Invite and Shorewood Invite.
Westosha Central over Middleton in five (and yes, like yesterday, we're much more confident about the match going five than we are in our predicted outcome).
Tomorrow: Boys Sectional Five
3 comments:
Mukwonago graduated first team all conference outside Jordan Manning but they return starting junior setter Shawn Vick and big man 6'6" Senior MH Logan Krueger
Middleton is going to be way to tough for Westosha Central to beat in the Sectional Final.
They've placed 2nd, 3rd, and 2nd at the summer tournaments and likely will place at the upcoming Racine Invite.
Can't wait for the season to start. Predictions and rankings have their place, but they should always be taken with a grain of salt and they're no substitute for a good old best-of-five.
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