ASHWAUBENON - Drew Pytlinski had a message for his teammates.
The Arrowhead boys volleyball team had unleashed a 12-0 run in the middle of the fourth set of a Division 1 boys volleyball state quarterfinal Thursday morning and seemed to have Catholic Memorial on the ropes.
The Crusaders responded, however, with an 11-1 run to take a 23-21 lead and threaten to push the match to five sets.
Pytlinski, the Warhawks senior middle hitter, ran into his team’s huddle and didn’t hold back.
“I remember Drew saying in the huddle that if we’re not going to take full swings on sets then there’s really no point,” Arrowhead middle hitter Sam Polentini said. “Someone’s got to make a play to end the run and I think that was really good input. We needed it.”
With third-seeded Catholic Memorial (26-11) on set point, Pytlinski delivered a block to even the score. Then he teamed up for another block. The Crusaders put a ball out of bounds on the next point to give Arrowhead the 25-14, 21-25, 27-25, 26-24 win at the Resch Center.
“I was just thinking we need one point. One point,” Pytlinski said. “So as soon as I went out there, that’s what I was telling the guys. I said that if I need to do anythingI can,I’ll do it. Then I was able to get that block and that was a huge turning point for us.”
Polentini led the sixth-seeded Warhawks (21-12) with 12 kills while Pytlinski added nine while hitting .533 and Ethan Mechenich had eight.
The Warhawks will face No. 2 Marquette in a semifinal Friday.
Vinny Coello had a match-high 19 kills for Memorial.
Arrowhead ran away with the opening set, fueled by a wall of support by hundreds of students who got out of school to make the trip.
Memorial fought back to take the second set, recovering from a negative hitting percentage in the first set to hit .167.
The Crusaders fought off two set points in a tight third set but an attack error ultimately gave the decision to Arrowhead.
In the fourth set, the Crusaders led, 8-5, before a 12-0 run with Logan Bularz on the service line flipped the tables completely.
“I was definitely screaming at some guys,” Catholic Memorial senior Jason Komp said. “Not mean-screaming, but saying that we are still in this. I want to win the game. Obviously we didn’t just go away.”
Memorial worked its way back into the match, threatening to make it the first five-set match at state since 2018, but Pytlinski, quite literally, had something to say.
Marquette 3, Wauwatosa East 0
Marquette showed just how balanced it can be in a straight-sets win over Wauwatosa East in Thursday’s first session.
Five Hilltoppers recorded at least seven kills in the 25-12, 25-20, 25-21 defeat of their conference foe, with each hitting at least .222 and four hitting over .300.
Nick Hartshorn led the way with 11 kills, Cole Simi and Wil Beyer had eight apiece and seven were recorded by Miles Von Rueden and Peter Arnsdorf.
“Our team, the way we train, everything that we do, we do to put guys in different positions,” Marquette head coach Jake Cosson said. “That’s what this team does. We rallied together. We had to do what we had to do and these guys stepped up.”
Marquette was without its top hitter, Ben Kayser, but came out swinging in a dominant first set. Tosa East led, 14-11, in the second set but the Hilltoppers scored five of the final six points to take the set andthen pulled away late once again to seal the win.
Westosha Central 3, Kettle Moraine 1
Four years ago, Westosha Central threw four freshmen into the starting lineup and hoped for the best.
It was trial by fire for the youthful Falcons, who experienced their fair share of hills and valleys in the early going.
In their state quarterfinal against Kettle Moraine, they saw the fruits of their labor.
Central recovered from a rough second set to defeat the Lasers, 19-25, 25-17, 25-23, 25-21, in just the program's third tournament game.
“We had a little slump in the second game where our passing wasn’t on point, but after we figured that out, it was exciting to watch,” Falcons head coach Drew Cox said.
Kettle Moraine rallied to tie the match after two sets thanks to a .296 hitting percentage in the second set while Central hit -.032.
But the Falcons recovered, winning a tight third set that was tied at 23 and closing the fourth set on a 8-4 run.
“We didn’t really change anything,” Falcons middle hitter Bradley Bell said. “We just got our passing down, our serving down, just spread the ball around to everyone and it worked.”
Bell shared the team lead for kills (14) with David Tompkins. Those two, along with Jack Rose and Keegan Kearby, formed the four freshmen starters in 2018. Rose added 11 kills and Kearby spread the wealth with 38 assists to go along with 13 digs.
Kettle Moraine was led by Callan Harris’ 14 kills, while Jaden Sauer and Christian Gulak each added 11. Mason Frohna recorded 16 digs.
The Lasers saw their bid for consecutive state titles thwarted.
“I don’t think there was that much pressure because that was kind of last year’s team,” senior setter Will Gehrke said. “This was our year and we just fell short.”
Kaukauna 3, Kenosha Indian Trail 0
Top-ranked Kaukauna dropped just four sets all season and Kenosha Indian Trail saw why firsthand.
The Ghosts rolled past the Hawks, 25-16, 25-20, 25-16, to advance to the semifinals, where they will face Westosha Central on Friday.
Kaukauna was led by Aiden Van Epern’s 16 kills and hit .275 as a team while holding the Hawks to .084. Nathan Hill buried nine kills and Jackson Wilhelmson had seven for Indian Trail.
The Ghosts also had 50 digs to the Hawks’ 37, seven aces to one and six blocks to two.
