DSHA comes from behind to win second straight volleyball title in five-set rematch with Oconomowoc

ASHWAUBENON — Eyes were full of tears on the postgame news conference podium inside the Resch Center for Oconomowoc girls volleyball coach Michelle Bruss and her quartet of seniors, Anna Bjork, Bays Keller, Olivia Kwiatkowski and Lilly Wagner, who couldn't stop smiling on her worst day.

About six minutes later on the same podium, the sense of relief along with some smiles and laughs crept across the faces of Divine Savior Holy Angels coach Caitie Ratkowski, Madison Quest, Sophia Wendlick and Caroline Harris, with a giant gold ball sitting on the table to their left.

The rematch lived up to the hype and the repeat was completed.

Top-seeded DSHA (47-1) defeated No. 2 Oconomowoc (41-4) in a five-set rematch of last year's classic five-setter to win their second straight Division 1 state title, 25-14, 20-25, 25-27, 25-22, 15-8.

"I thought our girls did a great job," the Dashers' Ratkowski said. "We knew it was gonna be a battle. We knew Oconomowoc has a great team and a lot of talented players. We were ready to come out and fight and we did just that. We had some ups and downs in that match, but I think in that fourth set, we decided to put our feet down and that we were gonna take this match and the girls took over."

After fending off an Oconomowoc comeback after jumping to a 2-0 lead in last year's title match, it was the Dashers who had to dig down deep and find that championship mettle.

The defending champions did take another early lead by winning the opening set, which was sparked by seven kills from Quest, a Wisconsin recruit. Second-seeded Oconomowoc answered quickly in the second set, racing to a 5-0 advantage and taking nine of the first 12 points before a 7-0 run put the Dashers in front. Facing a 16-14 deficit and a potential 0-2 hole like last year, the Raccoons responded once more.

Oconomowoc took five of the next seven points for a 21-18 advantage they wouldn't relinquish on the back of a couple attack errors by DSHA and a kill from the Notre Dame recruit Bjork, who led the Raccoons with 18 kills for the match.

"I think we started getting some hands on some balls that allowed us to get our hitters going," Bruss said. "Once we started getting touches on Sophia (Wendlick) and (Madison) Quest, we were able to move a little bit faster offensively and kept them out of system at that point. Our defense really stepped up in that second set and did a great job."

Momentum seemed to be swinging Oconomowoc's way with another 5-0 run to start the third and a 7-2 lead before DSHA counterpunched to go ahead 10-9. The Dashers held a 20-16 lead after a Bjork service error, but the Raccoons landed the next 1-2 punch.

Oconomowoc chipped away to trim the Dashers lead to 23-21 on a rare Wagner kill and after a DSHA timeout, went back to ol' reliable Bjork in the middle for a pair of big kills to tie it. Two attack errors and an Kwiatkowski kill-block sequence later, the Raccoons were one set away from redemption.

"I think after the first set, it kinda motivated us to step it up the next one because we were not gonna let them beat us like that again," Bjork said. "We just kinda started doing what we can do. We knew we could stop Madison (Quest). We knew we could stop Sophia (Wendlick). We just had to believe we could. Once we did that, we started getting touches. We started getting blocks and it motivated us even further."

But as the old saying goes, or at least a paraphrased version of it: "To be the champion, you gotta beat the champion."

Facing a 2-1 deficit and their crown potentially residing in a new trophy case, the Dashers fought back with the heart of a champion.

Oconomowoc held an 11-7 lead in the fourth set, but a 4-0 run from a Jordan Czajkowski ace and one of Wendlick's 22 kills forced a Raccoon timeout at 11-11. The teams went back and forth, but at 15-15, the Dashers made their move. DSHA took five of the next seven points for a 20-17 advantage off three Raccoon errors and a pair of Wendlick kills to help lead them to a fifth and final set.

"I think we kinda looked at each other and we told each other, 'We are gonna go out there, get kills and really step up and take over the (fourth) set,'" Quest said. "I think we were supportive of each other. We both had ups and downs throughout the set and I think being there for each other really helped us."

DSHA looked to finish off the Raccoons with seven of the first 10 points in the fifth, including four kills from the Quest-Wendlick duo to force a timeout. Oconomowoc's Grae Hunter trimmed the deficit to 10-7 on the 47th of a match-high 48 assists for Wagner, but that's as close as the Raccoons would get.

"Having little words of encouragement or hyping each other up — I know for me, helped me a lot," Wendlick said of her communication with Quest and her teammates during her late-match takeover that featured eight of her kills in the final two sets.

"It was like, 'Yeah, you're right, I do got this. I put in the work.' Having that connection off the court helps the on-court connection as well."

The Wisconsin-Creighton pairing of Quest and Wendlick combined for 48 of the 52 total kills in a match where the Dashers also had the second-most blocks (16) in Division 1 state tournament history for a five-set match. The Belmont recruit Czajkowski had 40 of the 50 DSHA assists and four Dashers had at least 10 digs, led by Michigan State recruit Olivia Durst's 16.

DSHA's 47 victories are the most by a Division 1 state champion since 2001 – the year coach Caitie Ratkowski was known as Caitie O'Brien and as a player helped lead the Dashers to a 51-win campaign and their first title with 18 kills against West Bend East. The Dashers also became the first team since Burlington in 2017-18 to repeat as D1 state champions.

"I think the experience that they gained in that tough five-setter last year really set the stage for what they wanted to accomplish and what their goals were for this season," Ratkowski said. "They just came into the gym every day wanting to get better, wanting to better their game and to prepare for these moments. I think the experience of that core group of 10 that we returned this year was a huge factor in that."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: DSHA defends volleyball title with five-set triumph over Oconomowoc