Senior Night Spotlight: Germantown Warhawks
The last week of the regular season brings the final senior night celebrations across the WIAA. Germantown graduated 4 senior players this year…Amber Bischel (Ole Miss), Nikki Censki (UW-Osh Kosh), Madalyn Steinhagen, and Emily Galaszewski. Brynn Krause was also a senior team manager. …
Access all of Prep Dig
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingThe last week of the regular season brings the final senior night celebrations across the WIAA. Germantown graduated 4 senior players this year…Amber Bischel (Ole Miss), Nikki Censki (UW-Osh Kosh), Madalyn Steinhagen, and Emily Galaszewski. Brynn Krause was also a senior team manager.
Every coach sets up their senior nights differently. Coach Wagner allowed all 4 seniors to start against Hartford and play the majority of the match. While this was not their “typical” line up of late, it allowed a special moment for the seniors to have their night before they walk out of the field house one last time.
Germantown coming together after a point.Game Time
Going into this match I was not really sure what I should expect. Hartford was playing some great volleyball of late and Germantown was dealing with some injuries. The seedings for playoffs were released so in a way this match had no effect on their record or rankings. Hartford Union received the 8 seed in Sectional 8 where they get one more home match versus Fond du Lac before, tentatively, traveling to Oconomowoc with hopes of an upset of the sectionals top seed. Germantown got the 4 seed in Sectional 5 aka the Sectional of Death. They will host Milwaukee King before taking on the winner of Sussex Hamilton and Homestead.
Germantown was without their top outside Tatum Catalano (UW-Milwaukee) who has been battling some back issues the last few weeks of the season. Her injury opened the door for freshman Lilly Wagner to settle into the outside position she may run with for the next 3 years.
Anything you can do I can do better
Hartford came out to swinging in Set 1 and took early leads on the shoulders of Martina McGrath. Her height and length proved to give Germantown problems in the first set. Germantown was down 12-18 at one point but was able to turn things around. Lilly Wagner went back to serve at 18-23 before she missed a serve after leading a comeback and the score sat at 23-23. McGrath was off the court until that missed serve and upon her reentry, Hartford took the next two points and a first set victory 25-23.
Ball control was a big reason Germantown was not able to sustain any major runs in Set 1. Set 2 was more of the same, but for Hartford. The roles were reversed and the Orioles found themselves down trying to fight back. They almost pulled off a late rally but the Warhawks took Set 2 25-23.
So you get two sets determined by 2 points apiece, you expect more of the same….wrong. Germantown led by Amber Bischel came into the 3rd set wearing her heart on her sleeve. I don’t what was said or what clicked, but the Warhawks were firing on all cylinders for this set. Lauren Sitter and Sophia Brown both got the start in this set after allowing their senior classmate to shine on a night that was for her. They proved to be a difference at the net as they both were able to slow down McGrath and force the pins of Hartford to step up. Their contributions may not be shown in the stats, their effort plays defensively were important. This set was pretty much over before it began with Germantown running away with a 25-14 win, taking a 2-1 lead.
Riley HamiltonThere was a definite shift in momentum and the Orioles had their backs up against the wall as the 4th set begun. Lose… the match is over, win…force the 5th set. You just never really know how a group of teenagers will respond after a big loss. Sophomore Riley Hamilton and junior Betsy Lepak decided the Orioles weren’t done. They led the team to a commanding 20-9 lead to counter Germantowns big Set 3 victory. Everything Casey Miller touched in the back rows seemed to go straight to target. Hartford allowed a late rally but took Set 4 25-20.
4 sets in and this match fit on the old Nike Tag line “Anything you can do I can to better” perfectly. Germantown replicated what Hartford did in Set 1. The Orioles then took a big loss in Set 3 only to turn around and do the same thing to the Warhawks in the fourth. It was really anyone’s guess how the deciding set was going to go.
Deciding Set
As a fan of the game you never want the deciding set to be one-sided. This was definitely not the case. Hartford took an early lead which kind of knocked the wind out of the G-Town faithful. But the second half of this match a freshman stepped up to shine on a night for seniors. Lilly Wagner shouldered much of the offensive weight for the Warhawks in the last set. The early 4 point lead was erased, and the back-and-forth game began. Both teams had moments were you thought the play was done until their player came diving out of nowhere to keep it alive. It truly was an exciting set to watch.
Multiple match points were had for both teams yet missed serves seemed to occur each time their team got the one-point lead. 15-16 Hartford winning and with the service, the ball goes into the net. 17-16 Germantown winning and with the service, the ball is 2 feet deep past the end line. Senior Amber Bischel truly left everything she had on the court. But like the first set, a missed serve allowed Martina McGarth to step back on the court. Her presence was again felt as Hartford took the deciding set 21-19.
Senior Night Moment
While writing you always try to keep an unbiased fact-driven opinion this match meant a little more than other matches I’ve gone to this year. These girls were freshmen while I was on staff at Germantown as the JV Head Coach and Varsity Assistant. I did not get to work with Madalyn and Emily as much since they were on the freshman team.
Amber and Nikki were two that I got to develop a strong relationship with during my time at Germantown and during their respective club careers. Nikki played for me this past club season while Amber has sported a Wisconsin Juniors uniform and (unfortunately for me) has come away with wins whenever our teams squared off. I was fortunate enough to snag a moment with Amber the match. Long story short, the glassy-eyed look overcame both of us with words of encouragement given to her. I am very proud of the young woman she has become and Ole Miss is lucky to have her.
This game is more than the wins and losses, the relationships you form can last a lifetime. And I hope players know that they affect coaches’ lives more than they may know. It is safe to say I was proud of these seniors. It was also bittersweet. Start to feel old seeing another group you met as freshmen prepare for college. I have been coaching for almost 10 years now and it will never get easy seeing your players’ last matches before they begin their college careers. Time flies, but the sport we all love keeps us looking ahead and it is a blessing to watch them play at the next level.
And if anyone is in need of a sports announcer… Phil Zagorski, father of Germantown alumn Victoria Zagorski did an amazing job announcing the starting line ups making their senior moment a little more special. The little things can make a difference. Getting personalized nicknames and their names called one last time in their gym will be something that sticks with them long past the end of this season.