Athens ends 40-year state drought

AUBURNDALE - Forty years is a long time to wait for something you ache to attain.

Athens' one and only WIAA state volleyball tournament trip came in 1976.

For Wittenberg-Birnamwood the wait has been even longer. Never has the volleyball program reached the WIAA state tournament.

The long, and at times agonizing, wait came to an end for the Bluejays with a 25-19, 23-25, 25-18, 25-22 win over the Chargers in a Division 3 sectional championship contest Saturday night.

Gabi Janke provided the exclamation point to an unexpected postseason run with a kill on the fifth match point for Athens.

Athens will meet Oshkosh Lourdes, a winner in four sets over Wisconsin Heights, in a state semifinal at the Resch Center at 1 p.m. Friday.

"This is crazy. I really don't know what to say," said Janke of ending a 40-year state drought. "I had to put (match point) away because we didn't want to go past 25 points. Somehow, some ways had to try my best."

Meanwhile, Wittenberg-Birnamwood is still waiting for that elusive first trip to state.

Coming so close makes it even tougher for the Chargers. That might explain why so many tears were rolling down the cheeks of many W-B players.

Adding to the pain for the six seniors, and especially Taylor Nier, is the realization their coach will never experience the state atmosphere.

It hurt a lot

"That's disappointing big time, but there is nothing we.can do about it," said Chargers coach Chris Nier of falling short of a state berth. "It is what it is.
"Our hitting game was off. Usually it's our passing game, but tonight it was the reverse. Our serving and our hitting."

Athens entered the postseason with a mediocre 20-19 record.

However, the Bluejays found some magic in the regionals and are going to ride it all the way to Green Bay.

Kaitlyn Brooks ended the first set with a kill to finish off an 8-2 run by Athens to close out the set.

W-B fought back to take a back and forth second set with a pair of kills from Taylor Nier to even the match.

Bolstered by some solid hitting from Brooks and Janke, the Bluejays were able to pull away and grab the all-important third set.

All that remained was to prevent the Chargers from extending to a nerve-wracking fifth set. Athens jumped out to a 14-6 lead and eventually sealed the deal.

Now the Bluejays are just one of four Division 3 teams left standing for the first time in a long time.

"I'm speechless, I can't believe it," Athens senior libero Berenice Lira said. "I mean this is unreal."