Sports

The environment was hostile.

The opponent was impressive.

But Middleton’s girls volleyball team was certainly up to the challenge.

The Cardinals defeated host Verona, 3-1, on Oct. 6 in a Big Eight Conference showdown. Middleton then bested Janesville Craig, 3-0, on Oct. 8.

The Cardinals now lead the Big Eight with a 7-0 record, one game ahead of second-place Verona (6-1). Middleton traveled to Madison East Tuesday and then was at Sun Prairie East Thursday, and with a pair of wins, the Cardinals would claim an outright Big Eight title for the second straight year.

“This week was a good one for us,” Middleton coach Maddie Vogel said. “We were coming off of a pretty long break in games, so we were a little rusty coming out of the gate. Once we found our rhythm in serve receive, we were able to execute really well on third contact.”

Middleton’s boys volleyball team has owned the Big Eight Conference for a decade now.

That streak wasn’t in great peril on Oct. 3. But it was tested.

Middleton defeated visiting Madison Memorial, 22-25, 25-8, 25-16, 25-20, and in the process clinched at least a share of its 10^th straight conference title. The Cardinals also pushed their conference winning streak to a remarkable 87 games.

Middleton could clinch an outright conference title Monday when it met Fort Atkinson (0-6 in the league).

“The (Memorial) match was a good one,” Middleton coach Rob Kleinschmidt said. “I'm very proud of the way the boys responded to adversity in the first set.”

During Middleton’s remarkable conference winning streak, it’s rarely lost a set. But the Spartans certainly surprised the Cardinals when they won the opening set, 25-22.

Middleton answered in a big way, though, outscoring the Spartans, 75-44, the rest of the way.

Middleton’s cross country teams competed at the Wisconsin Lutheran Invite on Oct. 6.

The Cardinals’ girls finished in seventh place out of 15 teams, while Middleton’s boys were eighth out of 21 teams.

Wisconsin Lutheran won the boys race with 43 points, while Verona was second at 48. Kettle Moraine (134), West Bend West (138) and Wauwatosa East (148) rounded out the top five.

Middleton finished in eighth place with 260 points.

“We rested our top eight runners and prepared for the conference meet,” Middleton coach Brian Finnel said. “So, this was a great opportunity for our next wave of guys, most of which return next year.

“We had eight and six are coming back next year. With a heavy senior varsity squad it's nice to see how we stack up against others. Finishing eighth I think is a great confidence booster and it's a nice stepping stone for most of these guys to get varsity experience before they find themselves in that position next year.”

How deep is Middleton’s girls swimming team?

The Cardinals had many of their top swimmers rest last Saturday instead of going to the Beloit Invite. And Middleton still took third place at the 14-team invitational.

Verona won the meet with 736 points, whole Badger was second at 508. Middleton (374), Hononegah (Ill.) (294) and Sun Prairie East (254) rounded out the top five.

“Once again we had our top girls rest,” said Middleton coach R.J. Leiferman, who’s making sure his team is rested for the upcoming postseason. “That let some of our other girls get a chance to race, and we still managed to finish third.”

Middleton’s foursome of Maddie Dorris, Sophia Walker, Annika Diny and Amber Haack was fourth in the 100-yard medley relay, while the quartet of Lainie Laszewski, Elaina Phaneuf, Aoife Ryan-Kaiser and Lydia Keebler was seventh.

Years from now, nobody will remember what runners finished where.

No one will recall who finished in what spot.

Instead, everyone will remember that the inaugural ‘Evan Kratochwill Memorial Cross Country Invite’ was an enormous success.

The first time event was done to honor Kratochwill, a former MHS runner who died in Oct., 2021 following a car accident that took the lives of three teenagers.

The invite featured varsity, JV, middle school and a community race. Middleton boys coach Brian Finnel — the architect of the event — was quite pleased how things went.

“Our inaugural Evan Kratochwill Memorial Invite went overall quite smoothly,” Finnel said. “Putting on a large event took a lot of time and energy. It was a good learning experience. I made some notes for next year and we will tweak a few things to enhance the meet.”

While the meet itself was a hit, Middleton’s runners also gave solid showings.

JANESVILLE — In many ways, Middleton’s 51-32 dismantling of Janesville Parker last Friday was a win-win for Cardinals head coach Jason Pertzborn and his staff.

Middleton dominated much of the game, piled up 331 total yards and built a 31-point lead before emptying the bench. But the Cardinals also had 11 penalties, a handful of key defensive breakdowns and struggled on special teams.

So now Pertzborn & Co. get the best of both worlds.

The Cardinals left Monterey Stadium with their third straight win and sits at 4-3 overall — the first time all year they were over .500. Middleton also improved to 4-1 in the Big Eight, stayed within a game of league-leading Verona (5-0, 6-1), and kept their slight conference title hopes alive.

On the flip side, Middleton had plenty of errors Friday to give the coaches a lot to harp on in practice this week.

Middleton’s wrestling program inducted charter members of the Middleton Wrestling Hall of Fame on Sept. 17. 

Inductees included:

PARKER VIVODA

Vivoda wrestled for Loyal High School as a heavyweight from 1969-1973. He was a two-time Cloverbelt conference champion and two-time sectional participant. He wrestled freestyle for the Wisconsin National Team.

He then attended Ripon College and was a three-time football letter winner and captain, and a four-time letter winner and two-year captain of their wrestling team. He also was a three-time NCAA Division III national qualifier. 

Vivoda graduated in 1977 and began his career coaching and teaching in Glenwood City. His team won the conference championship in 1979, then he left Glenwood City to move to Middleton in January, 1981.

It’s taken most of the season for anyone to notice.

But Middleton’s boys soccer team is one of the better outfits in the state — something the Cardinals proved again last week.

Middleton defeated Verona, 2-0, on Sept. 28 and moved into first place in the Big Eight Conference. The Cardinals then held their own going 1-2 at the star-studded, Burlington (Iowa) Tournament last Friday and Saturday.

Middleton is now 10-2-4 on the season, and for the first time all year, cracked the Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association Division 1 poll, coming in at No. 9.

Here’s a recap of Middleton’s highly eventful week:

• Middleton 2, Verona 0 — The Cardinals downed the visiting Wildcats and took over sole possession of first place in the Big Eight Conference at 5-0-2 (17 points). Verona fell to second place at 5-2-0 (15 points).

Another weekend.

Another high level tournament.

Middleton’s boys volleyball team consistently seeks out the top competition, and last week was no different.

The Cardinals went to the ultra-competitive Whitefish Bay Invitational last Saturday and finished fifth overall.

“Saturday was a mixed day,” Middleton coach Rob Kleinschmidt said. “We had some times where we looked really, really good followed by some spots where we struggled.”

The Cardinals opened with a relatively easy 25-4, 25-20 win over West Allis Central/Hale. Kettle Moraine then defeated Middleton, 25-20, 25-17.

The Cardinals rebounded with a 25-17, 25-15 win over Brookfield East. Then in the quarterfinals, Wauwatosa East defeated the Cardinals, 24-26, 25-15, 15-13.

‘Tosa East went on to win the invitational.

“The match was intense all the way through with big swings and strong defense both ways,” Kleinschmidt said.

Middleton’s girls tennis team was tied for the lead after Monday’s Madison Memorial Subsectional.

The Cardinals and Madison West both finished with 22 points and will carry those to the La Crosse Central Sectional Wednesday. Madison Memorial, Verona and Waunakee (10 points each) were all tied for third at the Memorial Subsectional.

Spots for the WIAA Division 1 individual state tournament (Oct. 13-15) and the state team tournament (Oct. 21-22) will be on the line at sectionals.

Middleton advanced players to sectionals in six of seven flights. Here’s how the Cardinals fared:

• No. 1 singles — Middleton’s Netra Somasundaram, the No. 2 seed, posted a 6-1, 6-0 win over Madison East’s No. 7 seed Maria Brennan in the quarterfinals.