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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARATHON – The final point of the opening game of Saturday’s WIAA Division 3 girls volleyball sectional final between Spencer and Oconto was a telling point in the match.
Five times Oconto setter Hannah Miller set up star hitter Sara DePouw for a potential game-winning spike. The first four times Spencer was able to dig out the powerful attempts, but DePouw was persistent and nailed the fifth one to the floor.
DePouw, a Division 1 recruit heading to Bryant University in Rhode Island, had 24 kills, most of the thunderous variety, leading the Vikings to a 25-22, 25-21, 27-25 win and move on to next week’s WIAA State Girls Volleyball Tournament at the Resch Center in Green Bay.
The Vikings will play Cuba City in a Division 3 semifinal Friday at 1 p.m. Oconto is making just its second state tournament appearance, having last made it in 1999.
Spencer was looking for its second straight trip to the state tournament, but DePouw and junior Laken James, who had eight of her 16 kills in the second game, were just too relentless.
“They had a lot of power, their No. 6 (DePouw) and No. 5 (James) could really hit the ball,” Spencer coach Buff Heller said. “You play three close games and we didn’t play our best match, which is the most frustrating part of it. This was an incredible group again and I think they outdid pretty much everyone’s expectations.”
Each game was tight.
Spencer led 11-8 in the first game before DePouw found her groove and had five kills in a 10-4 run for the Vikings.
The Rockets closed to within one at 22-21 before Oconto earned a sideout and DePouw, who had 10 kills in the opening game, closed it out with a pair of spikes.
Spencer again jumped out early in Game, leading 13-8 after three kills by Tynae Phillips and an ace from Marisa Johnson.
Tara Matter, who had a team-high 17 kills for Spencer, had four in a stretch that helped the Rockets maintain a 20-17 lead but after a block kill by DePouw earned a sideout, the 6-foot-2 hitter smashed two service aces to turn the tables and give the Vikings a 22-21 lead.
James had two kills to help finish off the win.
“If we could have serve-received and attacked just a little better, it could have been a 3-0 the other way,” Heller said. “That’s just the way it rolls sometimes.”
Spencer fell behind early in Game 3 but rallied from an 8-4 deficit to take a 15-13 lead as Alicia Endreas had two service aces and Marisa Johnson had two kills in the run.
The lead went back and forth with Oconto staving off two game points by Spencer. A passing error by the Rockets, followed by a miss-hit return gave the Vikings the win 27-25.
“When we went into this year, everyone was looking at us with freshmen and sophomores instead of seniors,” Heller said. “What they put together and did during the run at the end of the year was fantastic. This was one of those nights where if we played a little better, we could have beat that team. We didn’t play horrible, but we didn’t play our best and when you are in the sectional finals, you need to play your best.”