East spikers beat West, make fourth straight trip to state

Wauwatosa East beat Wauwatosa West, 3-games-to-1, Thursday night at Whitefish Bay to win the sectional championship and advanced to next week's state tournament for the fourth year in a row.

The Red Raiders will face the winner of tonight's match between Marquette/Pius XI at 7:30 p.m. next Friday at Wisconsin Lutheran College.

Tosa East was in control right from the start, winning, 25-19, 25-23, before the Trojans bounced back with a 25-23 win. But Tosa East won the final match, 25-19, closing in out when senior Thomas Schulz killed a shot for the victory.

In the first game, with Ryan Hoffland serving, the Red Raiders went on a 6-0 run and then a 10-1 run to put the game away. West rallied to 22-18, but that was as close as the Trojans got. In game two, the Trojans were winning 11-10, when Tosa East went on a 10-2 run to take a 20-13 lead. West rallied to cut the lead to 24-23, but Kyle O'Connell killed a shot for the win.

In the third game, the Trojans took control early with leads of 10-5, 18-8 and 21-11. Tosa East rallied to within 21-18 and then 24-23, before Tosa West won on a shot by Sean McGillis.

The victory was revenge for the Red Raiders, who lost to the Trojans in the Homestead Invitational last month.

For the Red Raiders, O'Connell had 17 kills, Matty Patton and Aaron Uden had 10 digs each, Hoffland had 43 assists and Uden had seven aces.

For the Trojans, Mitch Lahmann had 11 kills and 7 digs, Bruss had 32 assists and Ryan Cvecko had 9 blocks.