Witt-Birn volleyball team claims CWC-East crown again

The Wittenberg-Birnamwood High School girls volleyball team won a second-straight Central Wisconsin Conference-East title, claiming it with a 25-18, 25-23, 25-12 sweep of Shiocton on Thursday in Wittenberg.

Witt-Birn team came into the season hoping to repeat as conference champions, but overcame several challenges along the way.

To start, the Chargers had to replace a strong senior class that graduated, which included three of its six all-conference players last year. A fourth all-conference player chose to pursue a different sport this fall and then senior Abi Fraaza — a first team all-conference selection a year ago — suffered an injury early in the season.

Guided by its remaining seniors and several underclassmen, Witt-Birn still were able to accomplish their main goal.

“I think it really proves how hard working we are, especially since I think we had seven seniors that we lost last year and then we lost Abi who was first team all-conference so obviously she’s pretty good,” said senior Emma Herb. “So coming off of that, I think we worked pretty hard this season and I think it was well-deserved — the win tonight and conference.”

“We definitely got a few less games than last year and a lot less practice and we lost one of our main hitters so that was definitely a big change,” said senior McKenna Foster. “But I feel like just coming together as a team and working as one helped us a ton in practice and even out of practice. We did a lot of team bonding and just had to realize that we needed to finish the season strong because of all the limitations. I don’t know, going undefeated two years in a row is kind of a nice feeling.”

The Chargers honored their six seniors — Khloie Cherek, Kaitlyn Linke, Amara Schoepke, Herb, Foster and Fraaza — and then hit the court ready to cap another perfect run through conference play.

After a bit of a slow start, Witt-Birn got things rolling behind a kill and ace from sophomore Reese Rogowski. Freshman London Metropulos and Herb chipped in kills to put the Chargers ahead, and the hosts never surrendered the lead the rest of the set.

The second set was a back-and-forth affair, with neither team holding a lead greater than two points.

Metropulos and junior Jadalynn Davids combined for three straight kills to put Witt-Birn up 8-6, but Shiocton took the next four points to go up two.

Trailing 20-18, the Chargers got a kill from Herb before an ace from sophomore Lilly Betry to tie the set up. Down 22-21, back-to-back kills from Herb and Rogowski helped the hosts surge ahead. Shiocton tied the set up, but then had two straight errors to allow the Chargers to go up 2-0 in the match.

“We really try to take every point like its a game point and work hard to earn it,” said Rogowski. “So it really shows that we want it more than the other team.”

The final set started off slow again for the hosts, but they bounced back in a big way. Trailing 5-1, the Chargers claimed 12 of the next 15 points to force a Shiocton timeout. Herb, Rogowski and Metropulos provided the kills during the big run.

The timeout didn’t stop the momentum, as Metropulos added a couple more kills and Rogowski turned in strong serving to put the hosts up 17-9.

Witt-Birn eased to the win from there, with Herb and Metropulos adding a couple more kills to their strong nights.

Herb finished with a team-leading 12 attack kills, while Metropulos had 12 total kills.

Betry and sophomore Payton Foster each served three aces, with Foster assisting on 14 kills and Betry providing eight assists. Rogowski led the team with 11 digs and McKenna Foster had eight.

With the victory, Witt-Birn moved to 12-3 on the season.

“It just shows how talented our program is. We have a strong player who gets hurt and then we have everyone else stepping up and making a difference,” said Witt-Birn coach Becky Rew, who credited her team’s determination in the win over Shiocton. “It’s nice to know you always have three, four girls to go to and that makes a big difference in a team.”

“It’s just an all-around, great team that has a lot of talented people in every spot.”

The Chargers will have the next week to prep for the postseason. Witt-Birn will either host Adams-Friendship or Nekoosa on Thursday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m.

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