5 Big Swinging Seniors Keeping Their Season Alive
Playoffs are magical and tragic all at the same time. The Cinderellas that appear because of the hard work put in, something finally clicking, or a team peaking at just the right time make it magical. The finality of a season reaching…
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Continue ReadingPlayoffs are magical and tragic all at the same time. The Cinderellas that appear because of the hard work put in, something finally clicking, or a team peaking at just the right time make it magical. The finality of a season reaching the end, teammates realization that they will never have those moments with that exact mix of players again, and young women taking their final swings, passes, or floor dives in front of a crowd made up of their hometown comes to a halt.
Each round is more difficult, but less teams eliminated as their field of potential champions gets smaller and smaller. Among all of this, we find seniors fighting to keep their season alive just one more match. Here we take a look at 5 seniors who have been huge kill-getters for the teams and aren’t slowing down anytime soon.
Elise Goetzinger – 6’4 – Middle Blocker – Mount Horeb – Committed To Kentucky
Goetzinger has a bright future ahead of her but isn’t quite ready to end her high school career. She’s making the most out of her season, along with fellow senior Maddy Mason (6’2 – Setter/Right Side Hitter) as her primary setter. Their upcoming opponent, Platteville, has been quite the Achilles heel for them this season, so they will have to pull out all the stops.
Emma Oehlhafen – 6’0 – Outside Hitter – Xavier
Oehlhafen has been having a stellar senior season, and she’s not about to stop now. In her 3rd varsity season, she is standing at 855 career kills and almost 500 of those coming this season alone. Oehlhafen has a strong physical presence at the net, and along with fellow senior leader Carolyn Popelka (5’7 – Libero/Outside Hitter), they have an intimidating presence on the court as well.
Jacqueline Smith – 5’11 – Outside Hitter – Northland Pines – Committed To Northern Michigan
Smith has been a driving force for the Eagles since her freshman year. She is on everyone’s radar and is still almost breaking 600 kills in her senior season. Smith is also just 34 kills short of reaching 2,000 career kills. She is not only leading a team but leaving a legacy working with the next up-and-coming leaders like Samantha Huelskamp (2022 – 5’3 – Setter). The Eagles will be taking on another up-and-coming sophomore in Mauston’s Mia Quist (2022 – Outside Hitter) who recently recorded her 300th kill of the season.
Kendra Dantoin – 5’10 -Outside Hitter – Southern Door
Dantoin has really found her groove the past 2 seasons while she reached the 1,000 kill and 1,000 dig milestones earlier this season, as well as recently notching her 200th ace. In Round 2, the Eagles had to fight through a deciding 5th set against St. Mary’s Springs to advance to play a very formidable and young Howards Grove team in the Division 3 Sectional 4 Regional Final Match. Dantoin won’t be the only senior fighting to keep her high school career going. The Eagles are also led by seniors Kylie Neinas (5’7) and Jackie Atkins (5’5 – Libero).
Milla Malik – 5’10 – Outside Hitter – Waunakee – Committed To University at Buffalo
Malik is a dynamic player that draws attention when she plays. She is a big time playmaker and in her 3rd varsity season reached milestones for both 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs. Waunakee had a bye the first round, so they will play their first playoff match Saturday against Reedsburg. While Reedsburg’s 24-9 record isn’t too shabby, they have yet to get a set from Waunakee in their 2 meetings so far this season. But like my college coach always said, “It’s really hard to beat a team 3 times.”