Athens drops heartbreaker in state semis

ASHWAUBENON - The Bluejays' playoff run this fall was the volleyball program's longest in four decades, one which stretched beyond what could have been predicted at the end of the regular season.

It didn't make the end of the journey any easier, however.

The Athens volleyball team,making the program's first  WIAA state tournament appearance in 40 years, fell in a five-set heartbreaker to Oshkosh Lourdes in a Division 3 semifinal Friday afternoon at the Resch Center.

Oshkosh Lourdes (37-10) took the final final two sets to advance to a championship game for the first time in the program's history with the 22-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-22, 15-12 win.

Lourdes, which lost in the state semifinals last season, faces Howards Grove at 11:30 a.m.. Saturday.

The Bluejays were two games under .500 at the end of the regular season and finished with a 22-20 record overall.

"It was a great match," Athens coach Cheryl Schreiner said . "I can't give these girls enough credit for the heart and the passion that they play with. They left it on the court."

A kill by Diedrich gave Athens an 11-10 lead in the fifth set but Lourdes responded with three straight points to take control late. The Bluejays never got closer than a point of Lourdes and Claire Chier's kill ended the match.

"We obviously came in knowing it was going to be a tough battle," Athens junior Kaitlyn Brooks said. "But we didn't come here for nothing. We kept fighting all the way to the end."

Brooks had 24 kills and 19 digs and Gabriella Janke had 15 kills and a team-high 26 digs.

Kenadi Diedrich had a match-high 43 assists for the Bluejays to go with 15 kills. Bernice Lira chipped in with 18 digs

Oshkosh Lourdes' Mollie Bartlett had 40 assists and 26 digs and went over 1,000 assists for the season during the match. Rachel Aasby and Chier had 15 and 12 kills, respectively, and Raechel Russo added 21 digs.

Lourdes also had 14 aces in the match and just five serving errors. Bartlett had seven aces.

"They really challenged our serve receive tonight," Schreiner said. "They also picked up a lot on defense, too, but so did we."

The Bluejays  reached the Class C title game in the program's only other state appearance in 1976 and just missed on an opportunity to play for another championship. Athens rallied from a seven-point deficit to win the third set. Athens scored 10 of the final 11 points, including Diedrich's set-winner down the left sideline.

Oshkosh Lourdes built a 22-15 lead in the third set and the seven-point cushion was the biggest one enjoyed by either team during the match, overall.

"These girls are not quitters," Schreiner said. "We took a timeout (with Lourdes holding the seven-point lead) and said, 'One point at a time. We can't get it all back with one swing and we can't get it all back in one serve. Just stay composed and go after them one point at a time.'"

The Bluejays led the fourth set 18-17 but Lourdes rolled off four straight points to take control of the set. Russo's kill ended the set and tied the match.

"After the third set we told each other we just needed to take it point-by-point and if (Athens) got a sideout, we needed to bounce back right away," Bartlett said. "I think that approach showed in the fifth set (too)."

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