Boys spikers march into state finals
GREEN BAY — Playing Middleton’s boys volleyball team can lead to a lot of sleepless nights.
Just ask Catholic Memorial coach Chandler North, who stayed up until 6 a.m. watching film before his Crusaders faced the Cardinals in a WIAA state semifinal on Nov. 6.
“Very rarely do you have to scout in the high school level where five options are coming at you at all times,” North said of the Cardinals. “You can see why they’re the top dogs, why they’re undefeated.”
Middleton proved that once again against the Crusaders. And not even an all-nighter by North and his coaching staff could change that.
Top-seeded Middleton had a terrific .288 attack percentage, was in control throughout and rolled past the Crusaders, 25-16, 25-21, 26-28, 25-22, at the Resch Center. The Cardinals improved to 38-0 and advanced to the state championship game for a third straight year.
Middleton will now face Germantown for the state title Friday at 7:30 p.m. CMH, one of the hottest teams in the tournament, had its 11-match winning streak snapped and finished the year 27-9.
“I'd say it was an ‘A’,” Middleton senior outside hitter Caden Van Buren said of the Cardinals’ performance. “There can be an A+. I don't think we did everything perfect. I certainly didn't, but we had other guys that kind of carried the load of a big portion of that match, so I was really proud of them. And we definitely have some things that you’d like to do better, but that's every match.”
Van Buren was his stellar self, finishing with 19 kills — several while flying in from the back row — and eight digs. Afterwards, CMH’s North was highly impressed by Van Buren.
“I don't know that Wisconsin has seen an offensive talent like that in 10, 15 years,” North, a former standout himself at CMH, said of Van Buren. “A complete game wrecker, no matter what you do and throw at him with serving strategy, blocking strategy.
“From a physicality perspective, he's got the reach, he’s got the range, he's got dynamism. He swings with enough power, so there's very rarely a defense that can really take that away. So you try to win elsewhere. You try to limit him.”
What made the Cardinals so good against CMH was the Cardinals did indeed win elsewhere.
Senior outside hitter Vance Ferry had a terrific match with 17 kills and just three errors in 25 attempts, for a sensational .560 attack percentage. Junior outside hitter Jonah Johnson had 11 kills and seven digs, while senior middle blocker Will Hoffman had 11 kills and a .364 attack percentage.
Senior setter Bryce Stuttgen had 47 aces and seven digs, while sophomore libero Jude Gehrke had 19 digs.
“It was kind of a roller coaster of a (match),” Middleton coach Dylan Griffith said. “I think there were stretches where we played some really good ball and there were stretches where CMH played really good, as well.
“Hats off to them, they played a heck of a match. They challenged us from start to finish and they really came alive towards the end of those sets to keep it close and bring it back and they played really spirited, too. Super happy how we responded.”
The Crusaders, who won the ultra-competitive Classic 8 Conference, had overcome a 3-5 start and hadn’t lost since Sept. 30. Smith, in his first year as CMH’s head coach, put the puzzle together throughout the season and had the Crusaders playing at an extremely high level this postseason.
But the Cardinals have been at a different level than the rest of the state all season, and the first two sets were proof of that.
Middleton trailed, 5-4, in the opening set, when it went on a 6-0 burst behind tremendous serving from Ferry. The senior outside hitter had five straight service points — highlighted by an ace and two kills from Van Buren — as the Cardinals grabbed a 10-5 lead.
CMH closed within 15-12, when the Cardinals embarked on an 8-0 run and surged to a 23-12 lead that largely ended the set.
Jonah Johnson ran off seven straight service points in that stretch that included kills from Stuttgen and Ferry, a kill from Van Buren from the back row, and a block kill from Hoffman.
“Yeah, yesterday (against Kenosha Indian Trail), I didn't really have my best serve,” said Johnson, who finished with a .947 serving percentage. “I was kind of keeping it low, but today, I was just throwing it as high as I could and just ripping it into their seam. As long as I didn't serve it right to one of them and just kept it in the seam it seemed to work well. I just thought I was swinging it way harder this time.”
When the Cardinals’ huge run was over, the first set had largely been decided, as well.
In fact Middleton finished with a whopping .360 attack percentage in the opening set, while CMH was at -.032.
The second set followed a similar blueprint, as Middleton hit CMH with a pair of big runs to take control again.
The Cardinals used an early 6-1 burst to take a 7-2 lead. Stuttgen had three service points in that run. Van Buren also had a pair of dynamic serves that led to kills from Ferry and senior middle blocker Porter McGee.
CMH answered with a 7-1 run of its own and took a 9-8 edge — its last lead of the set.
Middleton went on another 7-2 burst, though, and extended a 14-13 lead into a commanding 21-15 advantage. Van Buren’s serving was again key, as he sparked a 3-0 run inside that spurt with an ace and another powerful serve that set up a Ferry kill.
CMH came as close as 23-20, but a McGee kill and a Crusaders service error ended the set and gave Middleton a commanding 2-0 lead.
“The first two sets were clean volleyball on our side of the net and we took care of the ball in a lot of different facets, both offensively and defensively,” Griffith said. “Obviously our service pressure was great through the first two sets.”
With its season on life support, the Crusaders played a spirited third set.
CMH jumped to a 6-1 lead and held a 14-9 advantage midway through the set. Middleton answered with a 10-3 run, took a 19-17 lead and seemed poised to KO the Crusaders.
But CMH’s scrappy group battled back, and forced a fourth set when all-state middle blocker Henry Newman had a block kill on set point.
“First and foremost, that (Middleton) team has so much firepower that we’re trying to break any sort of rhythm,” North said. “One of our special strengths, and we were saying this all year, no one has one through 15 as good as we have. We trust our guys. We want to throw subs, the kitchen sink, make them have to defend and play all 15 of our guys because they can all bring something special.”
Middleton certainly brought something special to the fourth set, racing to a 10-3 lead and grabbing control. Gehrke had five straight service points, including two kills from the 6-foot-4 Hoffman — who was a force throughout the final set with five total kills.
“He had kills here and there throughout the match, but I think his biggest impact was defensively,” Griffith said of Hoffman. “We got a lot of touches on the middle and I think he got a lot of crucial touches. So whether he's impacting us offensively or defensively, he's always going to be involved in there and I’m so happy he was able to give us a little bit of defense in there.”
Middleton pushed its lead to 23-14 after a Van Buren kill, when CMH put together a stunning 7-0 run and forced the Cardinals to call two timeouts. Crusaders junior outside hitter Timmy Brayer had six straight service points in that stretch, that included a pair of kills from Newman and three Middleton hitting errors.
“I just had to trust my teammates to lock down their primary options and focus on our defense,” Brayer said. “And all I had to do is put in a tough serve, make ‘em work and just keep it going.”
After a timeout, though, Middleton did what it typically does — feed Van Buren — who hammered home a kill to end the run and give the Cardinals a 24-21 lead. Then on match point, it was fittingly Van Buren that finished things with another kill that sent MHS back to the finals.
“I'm just happy we were able to kind of weather that storm and respond,” Griffith said. “We've been in a lot of tough moments, so I think we were able to kind of dig deep and pull that experience out.”
Van Buren agreed.
“I don't think you're ever really going to have an ‘A+’ match unless you win 25-10 every set,” he said. “But I thought the first two sets, especially, were some of the best ball we've played. Third set, big drop, and then fourth set was good until the end.”
Middleton would like nothing better than to end its season with a gold ball.
The Cardinals won the state title in 2023, then surprised many by finishing second in 2024 during what several felt would be a rebuilding year. The sting of that loss has sat with Van Buren and his team for 52 weeks, and they’re excited for another chance to win a title.
“You think about it the entire year,” Van Buren said of losing in last year’s state finals. “I wouldn't say you think about it every single day, probably not going to dwell on it that much, but you think about it, right? You can't change it. So there's nothing you can do.
“You just hope that you can get back to this situation and have this opportunity to go and try to win it. I think once you get in that situation, have the opportunity to win it and then it slips away, that hurts. So obviously, everyone here has thought about that sure for the past year. So we're really excited for another opportunity.”
