Athens volleyball record a bit deceiving

ATHENS- The Athens volleyball team finished the regular season with a losing record. But the Bluejays have showed over the past two weeks that the mark was not a true representation of the makeup of the team.

Athens (22-19) has won six straight games, includling a four-set victory over Wittenberg-Birnamwood in a sectional final on Saturday, to earn its first trip to the WIAA state tournament in four decades.

The Bluejays lost 10 of 14 matches to start the year and finished 26th overall in the UW-Stout Sprawl tournament and 27th in the Oshkosh Showdown tournament.

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"We went through some struggles," Athens coach Cheryl Schreiner said during practice Tuesday afternoon. "We played in some really tough tournaments ... and we played in them because we wanted that competition against (Division 1 and 2 schools). That's why we go to the Oshkosh(tournament) and we go to Stout and play the bigger programs.  I truly feel those are quality losses. We lost to Marathon in five sets and I feel that was a quality loss because we learned from it.

"Our record is around .500 but I don't think that shows what this group is about," Schreiner said. "We put ourselves into those (games) to get better with the stronger competition."

Athens faces Oshkosh Lourdes in a WIAA Division 3 state semifinal at 1 p.m. Friday in  the Resch Center. Aquinas faces Howards Grove in the other semifinal matchup with the winners advancing to Saturday's championship game.

It's just the second state appearance for the Bluejays program overall and comes Athens reached the 1976 Class C championship game. It is also the first state tournament appearance for any Athens girls team since 1991 when the Bluejays were part of the state girls basketball tournament.

Athens state run has resulted in the Athens School District to not hold classes Friday to give the students and staff the opportunity to watch the Bluejays play in Green Bay

"It seems everywhere I go, even people I don't know come up and say, 'Congratulations.' It's just been really cool," Athens senior libero Bernice Lira said of the school and city's reaction. "(Going to state) still doesn't feel real yet."

Lira is one of five seniors on the Bluejays roster.Juniors  Kaitlyn Brooks and Gabriella Janke are the top two players in both kills and digs. Sophomore setter Kenadi Diedrich leads the way in assists, averaging 9.7 per set.

Oshkosh Lourdes (36-10) is making its second straight state appearance and was ranked eighth in Division 3 in the final Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches Association state poll of the regular season. Sophomore Rachel Aasby leads Oshkosh Lourdes with 355 kills and 296 digs. Senior Mollie Bartlett has 952 assists.

The Bluejays dropped a five-set match to Prentice midway through the regular season, which Brooks and Janke both said was a "eye-opening loss" for the team. The loss was one of six for Athens in a stretch of 10 matches.

"That just wasn't us," said Brooks of the stretch. "We were playing just to play I feel and not playing up to where we should have been."

A five-set win over Stratford in a Marawood Conference crossover match to end the regular season gave the Bluejays momentum.

"We had a big heart-to-heart the Monday before the crossover," Schreiner said. "We sat down and had a team meeting and aired some things out. Since then they have been cookin."

Lira said the Bluejays have also shown more conistency in their play over the past month.

"At the beginning (of the season) we knew we had potential but we just couldn't put everything together," Lira said. "Our hitting would be on but our passing was off, or our passing would be on and our hitting wouldn't be. But now we are out there and playing as a team. I don't think the record is representative of who we are as a team now."

Tim Johnson: 715-845-0731, or timothy.johnson@gannettwisconsin.com; on Twitter @timmyjo11

ATHENS (22-19)

VS. OSHKOSH LOURDES (36-10)

What: WIAA Division 3 girls volleyball state semifinal

When: 1 p.m., Friday

Where: Resch Center, Green Bay

Tickets: $8 per session