Cedar Grove-Belgium vs. Valders D3 semifinal

VALDERS – It was an exciting WIAA Division 3 girls volleyball semifinal Thursday between the top-seeded Valders Vikings and the No. 3 seed Cedar Grove-Belgium Rockets.

Cedar Grove-Belgium overcame a slow start to win 3-1. Here are three things you should know about the game.

Cedar Grove-Belgium dominated after losing the first set

Valders had a chance to beat Cedar Grove-Belgium, winning the first set 25-10.

But after that, the Rockets won the next three games 25-20, 25-20 and 25-22.

“We were fired up and playing the way we wanted to and then slowly, I don't know what we did, we just stopped playing our game,” Valders coach Pam Erickson said. “We just couldn’t get over that hump.”

According to coach Cailey Jeske-Winker, the opposite was the case at Cedar Grove-Belgium.

“I think we talked about what we needed as a game plan against them, and then it was just a matter of executing that game plan and staying aggressive,” Jeske-Winker said. “If we played with fear, we didn’t do well.”

Rockets senior Olivia Bahr says the players need to refocus.

“We know our abilities and what we can do, and we were better than that,” Bahr said.

Jeske-Winker agreed.

“It was a matter of attitude,” said Jeske-Winker. “We know how we play and we didn’t play like that in the first game.”

Erickson says Cedar Grove-Belgium set the tone from Game 2 onwards.

“We had a goal to play a faster game because Cedar Grove-Belgium plays a little slower game and made us slow down,” Erickson said. “We could never figure out the groove after that.”

Cedar Grove-Belgium has the opportunity to make history

No team has ever reached the state tournament in the history of the Rockets program.

In fact, just reaching the section finals is potentially a historic achievement.

“For us it’s kind of a story,” Jeske-Winker said. “We can’t remember the last time a team got this far, so it’s new for us and we want to keep going.”

Cedar Grove-Belgium will face No. 1 seed Bonduel on Saturday at 7 p.m. in Brillion and compete for a spot in the state tournament next week at the Resch Center in Green Bay.

Valders ends unexpected season

Erickson spoke after the game about how it was still a successful season, even though her players may have gotten off on the wrong end of Thursday's contest.

The Vikings remained undefeated in the Eastern Wisconsin Conference en route to the conference championship.

“I told the girls not to let their heads down this season,” Erickson said. “Nobody expected us to win the conference. Nobody expected us to become regional champions. We didn’t have any control over it, but once the kids realized how good they could be, they just kept going.”

Contact Tom Dombeck at 920-686-2965 or [email protected]. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @Tom_Dombeck.

Cedar Grove-Belgium dominated after losing the first set

Cedar Grove-Belgium has the opportunity to make history

Valders ends unexpected season

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