Posted: Oct. 12, 2009

Oak Creek's Erin Rome and Ashley Howell qualified for the state tennis tournament by taking third in the Greendale sectional Oct. 8.

The Oak Creek pair defeated a Milwaukee Vincent tandem, 6-0, 6-2; lost to a Greendale pair, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2; but bounced back to defeat Franklin's Elizabeth Brandes and Liv Lampone, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.

The Oak Creek seniors improved to 24-4 and will play in the WIAA Division 1 individual state tournament.

Rome and Howell teamed up at first doubles and placed second at the Southeast Conference tournament Oct. 1 and 3. Ashley Luke joined up with Jamie Nichols at second doubles; they also finished second.

Greendale girls tennis

The Panthers were unable to make it through their tough sectional and advance to their second straight WIAA team state tournament, but they will have three athletes at the individual tournament, which runs Thursday through Saturday at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison.

The doubles team of junior Alyssa Brunelli and senior Chelsea Weber will face Marshfield's Allison Warner and Kelsey Weigel in a first-round match at 3 p.m. Thursday. The Greendale pair have a 14-2 record; the Marshfield duo are 23-3.

At 4 p.m. Thursday, Greendale's Lauren Piotrowski (14-5) will face Hudson's Julia Johnson (23-2) in first-round action.

Brunelli and Weber were second and Piotrowski fourth in the sectional at Greendale on Oct. 8. Greendale's Emily Perinovic, Megan McCormick and Ruth Jensen all were third in singles flights at the sectional, as were the doubles teams of Elisabeth Loomis and Molly McCormick and Casey Hackett and Mary Merg.

Franklin girls tennis

Elizabeth Brandes and Liv Lampone became the first doubles team in school history and the youngest Franklin girls ever to advance to the WIAA state tournament.

The sophomore tandem went a combined 2-2 in the subsectional and sectional rounds to take fourth and improve to 13-5 overall. They will face Janesville Craig's Olivia Ehlers and Emily Reshower (15-9) at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in a first-round match.

The Franklin tandem made the switch from singles to doubles this fall and join Fran Lippe (2008) as the only Sabers ever to advance to state.

Franklin's doubles teams of Kat Donovan and Kayla Plath and Shannon Murawski and Sanjana Segu also placed fourth in the sectional at Greendale.

Franklin boys volleyball

The Sabers ran their record to 19-3 overall and 4-1 in the Southeast Conference with a decisive 25-20, 25-13, 25-21 win over visiting Racine Park on Oct. 6.

John Jablonowski's 10 kills and three aces paved the way, with help from Riley Stone (17 assists), Steven Fons (13 digs) and Nick Romanowski (four blocks).

Oak Creek girls volleyball

Muskego overcame 14 service errors Oct. 8 and did just enough to beat Southeast Conference rival and host Oak Creek in five games, 22-25, 25-10, 25-19, 17-25, 15-9, to clinch its second straight conference title.

Oak Creek (24-12, 5-2 Southeast) came out fired up and led by five three times: 12-7, 17-12 and 21-16 in the first game.

Muskego bounced back in a big way in the second game, a 25-10 win, and then won the third game thanks to Rachel Neuberger's seven kills. In game four the Knights raced to a 5-0 lead, then led, 10-3, en route to a 25-17 victory, setting up the decisive fifth game in which Neuberger's recorded her 18th kill of the match.

The loss came two days after Oak Creek beat host Kenosha Tremper, 25-19, 25-20, 25-23, behind Lyndsay Zabkowicz's 26 kills and Veronica Chandre's 31 assists and 21 digs.

Oak Creek football

The Knights' postseason hopes took a significant hit Friday with a 21-0 loss to Kenosha Tremper on Ameche Field.

Tremper's Jake Snell threw three touchdown passes, one in each of the last three quarters, to drop the Knights to 4-3 overall, 2-3 in the Southeast Conference.

Oak Creek now needs to win its final two games to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2005. They host winless Muskego (0-7, 0-5) at 7 p.m. Friday and face Racine Park (4-3, 3-2) at Horlick at 7 p.m. Oct. 21.

In the loss to Tremper, Oak Creek managed just 202 yards of total offense and turned the ball over five times (three interceptions, two lost fumbles).

Oak Creek girls swimming

Rachel Medenwalt's and Daniell Shandley's four wins each were not enough for the Knights to knock off visiting Kenosha Tremper on Oct. 6.

Tremper won, 103-83, after taking a commanding lead with a 1-2-3 sweep in diving.

Medenwalt picked up the Knights' first victory, a win in the 200-yard individual medley (2:27.37). She later won the 100 butterfly (1:10.36) and teamed with Sydney Krimmer, Angela Fleishman and Shandley for first in the 200 free relay (2:00.98) and with Krimmer, Emily Malinowski and Shandley for a win in the 400 free relay (no time reported).

Shandley earned individual wins in the 50 and 100 frees (29.58 and 1:02.45).

Greendale cross country

Hayley Serketich's first win highlighted the Panthers' efforts at a triangular hosted by Oak Creek on Oct. 8.

Serketich won the 21-runner race in 15:35, and was followed closely by teammate and runner-up Chelsey Heiden in 15:55. Greendale's Lauren Clasen ran fifth in 17:02 as the Panthers took second to Franklin.

The Greendale boys were third despite Kyle Goodman's runner-up run of 17:43 and Garrett Patterson's ninth-place effort of 18:40.

Franklin girls cross country

The Sabers girls picked up a triangular win over Oak Creek and Greendale at Grant Park on Oct. 8.

Franklin's Hannah Timm finished third, and Emma Klein's 13th-place run gave the Sabers the tie-break edge.

Franklin girls golf

Taylor Chase cracked 100 again, but her season came to an end at the WIAA sectional at Ives Grove Country Club on Oct. 6.

Chase, a sophomore, shot a 95, which was 14 strokes off the state-qualifying mark. The top three teams and the top three individuals not on those teams advanced to the state tournament, held Monday and Tuesday.

Franklin junior Taylor Wenzel shot a 105 at the sectional.

Greendale boys soccer

The Panthers climbed above .500 just in time for the WIAA postseason with a pair of victories in their final two Woodland Conference matches of the season.

Greendale improved to 11-10 overall, 6-5 conference with a 4-3 home win over Cudahy/St. Francis on Oct. 7.

Ross Fieldbinder scored twice in the first half and added two second-half assists - one each to Mitchell Placek and Shawn Markham - for the Panthers.

Two days earlier at Greenfield, Fieldbinder snapped a 3-3 tie in overtime just minutes after his penalty kick in the 76th tied the score. The late goals capped a banner day for Fieldbinder, who scored twice in the first half as well.

The Panthers earned the seventh seed in their sectional and played host to Waukesha North on Tuesday. The winner will face either Kettle Moraine or Oconomowoc on Thursday, time and location to be determined.

Whitnall girls cross country

Dana Steffen was just 13 seconds off the pace set by Oconomowoc's Mandy Prom and finished seventh at the Wisconsin Lutheran Invite at McCarty Park on Friday.

Steffen finished in 15:31 and her teammate, Mary Erickson, was 22nd in 16:08 as the Falcons placed 12th of 15 teams.

Whitnall's Jake Lehmann and Mitch Olson posted top-30 times for the 12th-place boys team. Lehmann ran 21st (17:04) and Olson 28th (17:17).

Whitnall girls volleyball

The Falcons bounced back from consecutive four-game losses to knock off visiting Shorewood, 25-12, 25-11, 25-8, on Oct. 8.

Kimmy Kopp led with 12 assists and eight aces, both match-highs. Kristen Neuendorf had eight kills, Kelly Ertl made 10 digs and Cass Szczewski had four blocks as Whitnall improved to 3-6 in the Woodland Conference.

On Oct. 7, the Falcons lost, 25-14, 26-28, 25-17, 25-20, in a nonconference match at Franklin. One day earlier, despite Ertl's 15 digs and Allison Czaplewski's 19 assists, Whitnall lost at Brown Deer, 21-25, 25-11, 25-22, 25-22.

 

- David Cotey