Brookfield East beats Wauwatosa East, 3-1, to earn state volleyball berth

This time, the Brookfield East boys volleyball team was ready to play.

The Spartans came out and played with a super intensity and at a higher level than normal and handily defeated Wauwatosa East, 3-1, in the WIAA Sectional Final on Nov. 5 at West Allis Hale.

The Spartans won (25-16, 25-13, 19-25, 25-20).

The Spartans came out fired up with a better mind set than what they showed when Tosa East swept them in Greater Metro Conference play.

“Last time we played Tosa East there were big crowds like this,” Spartans star hitter Matt Szews said. “We were really quiet and had no energy. We kind of sat down and talked about it beforehand and figured we had to come out with a lot of energy in order to win like this. And we did.”

In the first game, Brook East took a 4-3 lead and outscored the Red Raiders, 21-13, the rest of the game, winning on a kill shot by the 6-foot, 9 inch Szews, 25-16.

In game two with the score 8-5, the Spartans scored 6 straight points to get some leeway and went on a 17-8 run the final way for a 25-13 win.

Facing elimination

The Red Raiders, with one loss ending their season, played out of their mind. Trailing 15-13, they went on a 7-0 run and ended the set with 4 straight points, including two kills by Cal Rohde for a 25-19 win.

“The things that we talked about between games three and four wasn’t how we played in game three, but how good East played,” coach Timothy Owen said. “John (Simon, Tosa East coach) has a good team and he always has his guys playing well. As for tonight, I don’t know how many teams could have beaten us in terms of the level we played at for long stretches.

“We played very well in games one and two and (for Tosa East) some balls hit the lines (in game three), they dug up some balls, they did a ton of stuff. It’s difficult to maintain that.

“I just wanted us to stay the course and focus on the process. I didn’t see a discrepancy in how we played in the four games. They won some of the long points, but over the course of that I felt our level stayed the same. I lot of things went their way that particular game.”

The Spartans then came back and took a 16-11 lead in the fourth game and gave themselves some room to exchange points. Tosa East cut the lead to 24-20, but then appropriately enough, Szews drilled the game winner.

Nice balance

The Spartans tremendous balance showed in the stat leaders.

Szews (29 kills, 3 block, 3 aces) led the way, while Tyler Parker (7 kills), Nick Watry (7 kills, 22 assist, 7 digs, 4 aces), Noah Wilgus (20 assists), Dominic Mussatto (6 digs) and Jack Malzewski (5 blocks) also stepped up.

Szews is happy with how the Spartans are playing down the stretch.

“I’m happy, not only with myself, but with all the other players on the team, especially some of the young guys stepping up,” he said. “It’s nice to see them make big plays like you saw tonight.”

Aaron Plaisted had 8 kills, 10 digs and 3 blocks and Connor Baudhuin added 34 assists to lead a balanced Red Raider stat parade. Dan Jokisch added 9 kills and a block, Cal Rohde had 8 kills and 2 blocks and Eric Winter had 8 kills and Joe Marx added 10 digs.

“We outplayed them in one out of four games,” Simon said. “They completely outplayed us in one, two and four. We had no answer for Matt Szews. In games one and two they sided out at 100 percent. That means when we serve, they sided out every single time. We’ve got to do a better job of that. In game three, we blocked better, we played pretty good defense, we extended plays and we beat them. We outplayed them in game three. But they deserved to win. They were a better team tonight.”

Owen is also happy where his team is.

“At this point our goal is to playing our best at the end,” Owen said. “I would say probably ‘yes.’ You can go down the list. They passed well, blocked well, swung well, we set well. In all facets of the game, they played at a high level.

“As a coach, what we want to see is just play at your level. It’s a night I thought we did that. If we get beat and play at our level, credit the other guy. For us, I thought we were a level above tonight. We’re a pretty good team. When other guys got a chance to something, you can go down the list, guys played well.”

Owen is looking forward to another week of practice and the chance to go to state for his team.

“It’s going to be great for these guys to experience the state tournament. It’s ultimately the right thing to remember relationships and experiences. It’s a tight group. They’ll get to spend another week of practice together and ultimately they will get to experience something they won’t forget any time soon.”

Being his final season, Szews is also excited about finishing his career at Wisconsin Lutheran College where state is held.

“It’s what you hope for,” the Ball State University recruit said. “At the beginning of the year we said wouldn’t it be great to go to state our senior year — and we’re actually going. It’s really great.”

The Spartans, who were knocked off in the sectional by Tosa East last year, will make their third trip to state (2013, 2000).