Germantown wins volleyball crown
The day was book-ended with unfamiliar circumstances for the Germantown boys volleyball team.
First, the Warhawks faced a deficit during a five-set match for the first time all season.
To cap the night, they hoisted a gold ball.
Germantown put its firepower on display over the final two sets of the WIAA state championship match against Kimberly for a 26-24, 20-25, 25-23, 25-15 victory Saturday at Wisconsin Lutheran College.
“We stepped up,” Germantown coach Brian Rushmer said. “The seniors, they stepped up again. We played loose and we played well. I’m filled with joy right now.”
Earlier in the day, the top-seeded Warhawks trailed Catholic Memorial, 2-1, in a semifinal.
“Getting down, in our huddle it was intense to say the least,” Germantown senior Bryce Behrendt said. “I think we were all a little bit worried. We actually hadn't been in that situation all year, being down in a five-set match. It was intense, but we found a way.”
The Warhawks rallied for relatively comfortable 25-15 and 15-10 wins over the final two sets to advance to the second title game in program history. Once there, they didn’t disappoint. Behrendt had 18 kills, Carter Schmidt had 14 and Luke Taylor added 10 as the Warhawks hit .229 as a team. Hans Stelpflug had 39 assists and Germantown tallied 11 serving aces.
“I’m so proud of these guys,” Rushmer said. “I’m so proud of the guys that have made it here five times before it. The guys have put the work in, in the gym six days a week, putting in film work at home constantly. I’m just overcome with joy. It’s fun.”
After the Warhawks took the first set, the Papermakers (35-3) scored the final five points of the second set to draw even.
A back-and-forth third set ultimately swung in Germantown’s favor as its hitters, quiet at the onset of the match, got going.
“Our block, you look at that and normally we get more points from that,” Rushmer said. “But they did a good job going around that, making us score from either the attack or serving.”
With a chance to close out the match and win a state title, the Warhawks smelled blood. They jumped out to leads of 11-5 and 19-11, keeping Kimberly at arm’s length before, fittingly, a Behrendt kill ended the match.
“It’s good, that feeling where we don’t know if anything can go wrong right now,” Behrendt said. “When Germantown hoists the trophy after defeating Kimberly in the WIAA boys volleyball championship match.
we’re playing that well as a unit, it’s amazing. It feels like if anything goes wrong, you can just brush it to the side
and move on.”
For Germantown, the win marked a monumental moment for a program younger than each player who took turns kissing the gold ball trophy near midcourt.
The school began a boys volleyball program in 2007, and its roots were largely as an off-season training ground for the powerhouse Warhawks boys basketball team. Future Division I basketball players Zak Showalter and Luke Fischer were part of the 2011 team that was the first in program history to make it to state.
“We all just fell in love with the sport,” Behrendt said. “Everybody loves it and has worked so hard.”
Now, the team is littered with players who play the sport year-round and have established Germantown as one of the top programs in the state.
And 2018 will go down as the year when the Warhawks were top program in the state.