VOLLEYBALL

Stratford makes history with first trip to state volleyball tourney

Scott A. Williams

USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

Stratford volleyball players shed tears of joy and hugs after claiming the school's firs trip to the Division 3 state tournament with a five-set win over Saint Mary Catholic on Saturday night.

ATHENS - With each successive point in the fifth set, the screams from excited Stratford volleyball players got a little louder.

The high fives grew a little harder. The adrenaline rush got a little more intense. Who could blame Stratford as it inched closer to creating school history.

So when Saint Mary Catholic sent the ball into the net to end the Division 3 sectional final mayhem broke out on the Athens High School court.

The second-ranked Tigers are headed to the WIAA state tournament for the first time following a 23-25, 25-14, 17-25, 25-18, 15-9 win over the Zephyrs on Saturday night for a spot in the state field at the Resch Center in Green Bay.

Stratford (44-1) will face Regis in a semifinal at 1 p.m. Friday. Waterloo and Lake Country Lutheran meet in the other semifinal. The title match is set for 11:30 a.m. Saturday.

"This is amazing, honestly. This is what we've been working for all season and it's finally come true," Tigers senior outside hitter Makayla Krall said. "We call ourselves sisters. That's been our motto the whole season. We worked way too hard to let this go."

A "thank you" note to Athens might be in the mail already.

A grueling five-set victory over the Bluejays in the sectional semifinal prepared the Tigers to cope with the pressure-packed situation 48 hours later.

Stratford never cracked. Never let the moment get too big. Instead, the Tigers raised the level of their play and put more pressure on the Saint Mary Catholic stout defense.

"We knew coming in it was going to be a tough game. What game isn't when you get to this point in the season?" Stratford coach Brooke Kafka said. "I was waiting for them to play their game. I hadn't seen it.

"I think (Thursday night) helped us 110 percent. I couldn't have asked for a better way to prepare for this situation right here. We got put in the same situation again."

Stratford volleyball players celebrate after the final point in a 23-25, 25-14, 17-25, 25-18, 15-9 win over Saint Mary Catholic in a Division 3 sectional championship match Saturday night.

And the Tigers made sure they got the same result.

For the second straight match, the second-ranked Tigers found themselves down two sets to one and on the brink of a spectacular season ending in heartbreak.

There was more urgency in their swings. Passes and sets were more spot on. Bodies crashed all over the court to keep balls alive. Serves found more holes.

"Some of our passes weren't getting there and when the passes weren't getting there, we weren't able to get the ball to our hitters," Krall said. "We already knew how a match like this went (from Thursday) so we knew what to do. We always pull through."

Every time the Tigers looked to be in trouble they responded like a champion.

After the first set got away from them, the Tigers bounced right back to dominate the next set.

When the Zephyrs looked to be in control and ready to prevent Stratford from ending its season in Green Bay by winning Set 3, the Tigers never pushed a panic button.

Stratford volleyball players huddle around coach Brooke Kafka during a timeout in the fifth set of their Division 3 sectional championship match with Saint Mary Catholic at Athens High School on Saturday night.

They went back to work and showed their coach and a massive crowd why they're ranked second and only have a solitary blemish to Newman Catholic on their record.

"I told the girls, 'We can't make our defense work as hard as it's working if we're not going to run our offense.' Our defense is strong, but our offense is even stronger," Kafka said.

"Oh my gosh, this is huge for us."