SPORTS

Merrill volleyball falls to state powerhouse

Tim Johnson
USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
Merrill High School's Taylor Cichy celebrates after they scored a point against Catholic Memorial High School during their D2 semifinal match Friday, Nov. 4, 2016, at the Resch Center in Green Bay, Wis.

ASHWAUBENON - The Merrill volleyball team didn't quite run up against a perfect opponent Friday afternoon.

But Catholic Memorial didn't show many issues with its play either.

The Crusaders, the top-ranked Division 2 team in the state had a .356 hitting percentage and trailed just five times, never more than by a point, to sweep the Bluejays in a state semifinal matchup at the Resch Center 25-15, 25-9, 25-18

"They run a fast ofiense and it's really something we haven't seen all season," Merrill coach Kris Krug said. "D.C. Everest probably would have been the team in the northern part of the state that runs a similar offense. We couldn't get our blocks up fast enough, we needed to take something off their hits. Defensively, we needed to play a little bit faster.

"We had our moments, but they're a seasoned team," Krug said. "They just played really well, pretty flawless actually."

Catholic Memorial (41-7) has an opportunity to win a third straight state title and seventh overall in the program's history. The Crusaders face Notre Dame at 2 p.m. Saturday in a matchup between the top two ranked teams in the state.

Lexi Alden, a University of Maryland commit, led the Crusaders with 10 kills. Maddy Rondeau had a team-high 22 assists and 14 digs.

Katie Zelinski and Maddix Bonnell both had seven kills to lead the Bluejays, who were making their eighth state appearance and second in the past three years.

Lindsey Casper had 11 assists for the Bluejays, who end with a 29-10 mark. Fellow senior Taylor Cichy had 12 digs, while Morgan Wardall added six kills.

"You can hit hard, set good and have the focused mentality that we all had, but sometimes it just doesn't go as planned," Wardall said.

The Bluejays won the first point in all three sets but Memorial answered with a run on each occasion. Catholic Memorial had a .571 hitting percentage in the second set and committed just one error on 21 attacks in the set.

"'We knew they had hard hitters and we had been practicing all week for it," Bonnell said of the Crusaders attack. "We tried our best, but they brought their game today."

Merrill High School's Taylor Cichy (8) hugs teammate Kelsie Belfiori after their D2 semifinal loss to Catholic Memorial High School Friday, Nov. 4, 2016, at the Resch Center in Green Bay, Wis.

Merrill's longest run in the opening two sets was three straight points, but the Bluejays bested that with a late run in the third set.

The Bluejays trailed 22-10 but answered with five straight points and seven of eight. Catholic Memorial then ended the match with two straight points.

A team huddle heart-to-heart preceded Merrill's late run.

"I just told them, 'Give it everything you have. This is the third set and how do you want to remember this?'," Krug said of the message to her players. "That's kind of how we approached it — just give it everything you have."

The Bluejays finished with a .109 hitting percentage in the loss.

"We hadn't seen Merrill (before the tournament) but we knew Katie (Zelinski) was 6-foot-3 and she led them in kills, so we made sure we were alert (on defense) what was happening with her," Catholic Memorial coach Ted Schulte said. "We also knew about No. 2 (Wardall) and that we had to watch her in the middle. By the end of the match we had started to commit blocking against the middle on any good pass and that paid dividends. The game plan was basically to control No. 15 (Zelinski) and No. 2."

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