Tosa East falls in heartbreaker at state volleyball

Wauwatosa East held a 2-1 lead on Kettle Moraine in the WIAA boys volleyball state quarterfinal, but despite huge efforts from Ben Mihelich and Ben Plaisted, the Red Raiders fell at Wisconsin Lutheran College on Friday night, 25-15, 18-25, 18-25, 25-22, 15-11.

Plaisted (25 kills, .378 hitting percentage) and Mihelich (20 kills, 12 digs) were both dominant at times, especially in a stretch in the fourth set when the tandem conspired for kills on seven straight Tosa East points. But the Lasers held on to their precarious lead to take the set, themn jumped out to an 11-5 lead in the fifth set.

The Red Raiders rallied to within 12-10, but the third seed was ousted from the tourney shortly thereafter.

"I wish we would have played better," Tosa East coach John Simon said. "I thought we had them right where we wanted them when we were up 2-1. We just couldn't close out. We couldn't put them away when we had the chance to. We let them hang around, hang around; they got on a roll at the end. We really didn't have an answer for a lot of their stuff. I wish they would have played better at the end."