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Catholic Memorial will have a shot to win their 7th state title and capture their 3rd consecutive gold ball tomorrow after taking down Merrill 3-0 (25-15, 25-9, 25-18). Although the Catholic Memorial fan section was very sparse due to the CMH football game Friday night in Waukesha, but the team needed no extra motivation to advance to Saturday. Catholic Memorial took commanding leads in all 3 sets and did not let up.  As expected, Catholic Memorial’s attack was strong, finishing the match with a .356 hitting percentage as a team. Merrill had strong efforts from Morgan Wardall (6 kills), Maddix Bonnell (7 kills, 6 digs), and Taylor Cichy (12 digs). Catholic Memorial’s seniors, Kaitlyn Zingsheim (6 kills, 3 blocks), Maddy Rondeau (6 kills, 22 assists, 14 digs), Ivey Whalen (7 kills), and Lexi Alden (10 kills, 5 digs) led the way for the Crusaders. Merrill’s Morgan Wardall said, “Sometimes things don’t go your way, and that’s alright. Would you rather end the game playing hard, or playing afraid? We played hard.” Catholic Memorial head coach, Ted Shulte, stressed that the past two state championships have no bearing on what will happen tomorrow, “We aren’t going for three in a row, we are going for one in a row this year.” Catholic Memorial will go for their 3rd straight gold ball Saturday at 2:00pm

Notre Dame proved that it is how you finish, not how you start.  Notre Dame defeated Lakeside Lutheran 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 25-16, 25-17).  Notre Dame got off to a slow start, going down 10-3 and 18-8 in the 1st set before putting on a late push at the end. The defense was stellar for Notre Dame; 4 players tallied double-digit digs (Sydney Slack 19, Whitney DeMeuse 14, Katherine Walch 11, and Corrine Meglic 10). Not only the defense on point, but the attack game by Slack (20 kills), Grace Campbell (17 kills), and Maddie Reitz (8 kills) was just as strong. Lakeside had phenomenal performances by Amber Rowoldt (14 kills, 16 digs), Rekha Drevlow (12 kills, .379 hitting percentage), and Ellie Westrate (25 assists, 11 digs, 5 aces). In an emotional press conference, Lakeside head coach, Jennifer Krauklis said, “You see tears in these girls’ eyes; it is not so much because we lost, but rather because these girls know they won’t be able to play with each other again as a family.” Notre Dame advances to the Division 2 state championship game Saturday at 2:00pm and will face the back-to-back state champion, Catholic Memorial.