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To complete the theme of 3-set state championship matches, the Neenah Rockets took down Burlington 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25). Although this marks the 14th state tournament appearance for Neenah, this is only the 2nd state volleyball championship in school history, the 1st dating all the way back to 1978.
 
Neenah hit incredibly well throughout the match with 47 kills and .347 pct. Compared to Burlington’s 24 kills and .077 pct. Neenah and Burlington were back and forth for the first few points of the 1st set, but then the Rockets were able to pull away and win in impressive fashion. In the 2nd set it appeared that Neenah was going to pull away once again and win convincingly, but a late push by Burlington lead to a 5-0 run and brought the Burlington deficit down to 1 at 20-21. Burlington’s momentum was halted though when Hope Werch terminated the final kill for Neenah at the end of the 2nd set.

The 3rd set was dominated by Addie Barnes and Bethany Heinz who accounted for 6 and 5 kills respectively in the 3rd set. Mikayla Butts (42 assists) spread the ball around pretty evenly between the Rockets’ “Fantastic Four” attack of Addie Barnes (13 kills, 17 digs), Hope Werch (12 kills, 12 digs), Bethany Heinz (9 kills), and Sidney Hegg (8 kills) who all attempted at least 18 attacks.
 
Burlington head coach Teri Leach was proud of her team after the match, “Props to us, we kept fighting regardless of the score, we never put our heads down. Rather than focusing on the loss, it’s pretty awesome to be taking a silver ball home. This program is successful because of the hard work that these girls put in."

Senior Mackenzie Zwiebel added, “They’re a really good team and we did the best we could and what happened, happened. But were proud of what we did.”

Senior Megan Wallace offered her thoughts, “The season was awesome. We shocked ourselves and we shocked Wisconsin. I’m so happy.” In one of the more light-hearted and comical moments of the press conferences, Wallace added when asked about Burlington’s comeback on Thursday night against DSHA, “I gave a little speech before the 3rd set. I told the girls we’re going to be the Cubs, and comeback and win. And we came back and won.”

Wallace and Zwiebel finished by saying, “We’re more than a team, we’re family, we’re sisters.”
 
Neenah head coach Bruce Moriarty said, “We saved our best for last. Hats off to Burlington, they competed hard, and are very well coached. Our players have a way of stepping up when they really need to, and I am very proud of them. We’ve had some teams over the years that have had opportunities, so this one is for everyone who helped build this program into what it is today. I am proud of these girls for finishing off the job.”

Hope Werch finished by saying, “Coming into this game we were really mentally prepared and to see it pay off now is a really great feeling.”