Sports

Continued improvement.

That’s the goal Ben White has for Middleton’s girls volleyball team.

Right now, White — the Cardinals’ second-year head coach — has to be extremely pleased with the path his team is on.

Middleton went to the La Crosse Aquinas Invite last Saturday, won all five of its matches and captured the championship.

That marked the second time in three weekends that the Cardinals won a tournament title.

“Continued improvement,” White said. “That's our goal and that is what we are seeing.”

Middleton certainly saw that at Aquinas, where it rolled past four of its five opponents in straight sets and won 10 of 11 sets overall.

Middleton opened pool play with a 25-23, 25-21 win over Chippewa Falls. The Cardinals then downed Fennimore, 25-20, 25-16 and bested Blair-Taylor 25-18, 23-25, 15-7 to finish pool play a perfect 3-0.

Middleton’s girls tennis team rolled to a pair of Big Eight Conference wins last week.

The Cardinals defeated Sun Prairie West, 7-0, on Sept. 17, and downed Janesville Parker, 7-0, on Sept. 19.

Here’s a recap of those matches:

• Middleton 7, Sun Prairie West 0 — Lydia Sabat, Sophia Pientka, Sofia Altuzar and Mira Russo all notched straight set wins in singles play. In doubles action, the teams of Sophie Shi/Sarah Li, Hannah Lister/Elina Koenst and Haley Klatt/Sam Pomroy all rolled to straight set wins.

• Middleton 7, Janesville Parker 0 — Sabat, Pientka and Altuzar all cruised to straight set wins at No 1, 2 and 3 singles. And at No. 4, Avery West prevailed in three sets.

In doubles play, the teams of Shi and Li, Lister and Koenst and Klatt and Pomroy all rolled to straight set wins.

The WIAA Division 1 girls state swimming and diving meet will be held at Waukesha South High School in mid-November.

Last Saturday, Middleton gave a sneak peek what that event could look like.

The Cardinals had what coach R.J. Leiferman called “our best meet of the year” and won the Waukesha South Invite. Middleton — the defending WIAA Division 1 state champs — finished with 392 points, while Verona was second at 324. Muskego (244), Arrowhead (232) and Menomonee Falls (217) rounded out the top five.

“Our entire team performed at a really high level against some of the best swimmers in the state,” Leiferman said.

Middleton’s 200-yard freestyle relay team of Sulia Miller, Audrey Alexander, Abigail Frommelt and Jane Garlock finished first and broke the meet record with a time of 1:37.08.

Middleton‘s boys soccer team won two out of three games last week. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, their loss could eventually cost them a Big Eight Conference championship.

Madison West defeated Middleton, 2–0, in a showdown for supremacy in the Big Eight on Sept. 19. The Cardinals, who are 8-2-0 overall, are 4-1 in the Big Eight and one game behind West.

“We are disappointed in the loss to West as it means we no longer control our destiny for a conference title,” Middleton coach Kevin Pauls said. “We'll need to take care of our own business, but also need some help. It's not unheard of to top the conference with a loss, so we'll see.”

The Cardinals did topple Janesville Craig, 4–0, on September 17. Middleton also defeated Saint Charles North, 2–0, last Saturday.

Here is a recap of the Cardinals week:

Middleton’s boys volleyball team hasn't lost a Big Eight Conference match since Sept. 29, 2011.

The Cardinals entered last week with a remarkable league winning streak of 84 matches.

And Middleton wasn’t challenged while extending that streak to 85 matches and nearly 13 years.

The Cardinals rolled past Madison La Follette, 25-13, 25-14, 25-12 on Sept. 18. Middleton, ranked No. 2 in the latest Wisconsin Boys Volleyball Coaches poll, improved to 14-2 on the year.

"We played some very clean volleyball against La Follette,” Middleton coach Dylan Griffith said. “We didn't give La Follette very many chances and we kept the ball on their side of the court for most of the game.”

Caden Van Buren led the Cardinals with 11 kills and added two aces and a block. Bryce Stuttgen had 19 assists, four aces and three digs, while Jonah Johnson had eight kills.

Oliver Wenning, a junior at Middleton High School, was chosen to play for the USA Lacrosse’s U-16 Select team.

Following a series of regional tryouts around the country, a total of more than 150 players were invited to a three-day national combine in late July. The USA Select teams were determined after the combine.

There are 24 players on the U-16 team from 14 states and the District of Columbia.

The team participated in a sixes development camp the weekend of Sept. 20-22, then will have international competition during the Brogden Cup the weekend of Oct. 25-27.

The events will be held at USA Lacrosse headquarters in Sparks, Md.

Middleton standout wide receiver Troy Teff used the word “eager.”

Cardinals star linebacker Tyler Vogt picked the term “intense.”

And MHS co-coach Joe Poehls knows it’s going to be “exciting.”

When Middleton travels to Verona Friday at 7 p.m., it’s safe this matchup of the Big Eight Conference big boys will be all that — and then some.

The Wildcats are 5-0 overall, lead the Big Eight at 3-0 and are ranked No. 3 in the latest Wissports.net poll. Middleton is 3-2, 2-1, and can move into a tie for first place in the league with a win.

Verona has won the last three games in this series, and the Cardinals would love nothing more than to hand the Wildcats their first loss of 2024.

JANESVILLE — Late last Thursday, Janesville Parker’s football team headed to its locker room and the faithful fans at Monterey Stadium gave the host Vikings a standing ovation.

Out on the field, Middleton co-coaches Joe Poehls and Tim Simon were scolding their team about what went wrong.

Anyone who glanced at the scoreboard and saw the 26-14 result would have assumed the Vikings were the victors.

Instead, it was the other way around — which is telling for both teams.

Middleton left Parker with a 12-point win, but was extremely disappointed with how it played. Parker, which is still looking for its first win of the season, took solace in the fact they hung with the heavily-favored Cardinals all night.

So as Middleton headed to its bus, it knew it had to be better — much better — starting this Friday when it travels to No. 3 Verona.

If there was any doubt, hesitation or reservation that Middleton’s boys volleyball team could once again compete for a state championship this fall, that uncertainty should be gone now.

The Cardinals, who won the first state title in school history last fall, proved last Saturday they have the firepower to be in the hunt for a gold ball once again.

Middleton went to the Wauwatosa East Invite — a tournament featuring five of the top-eight teams in the state — and captured the championship.

The fourth-ranked Cardinals went 5-0 on the day and downed No. 1 Germantown, No. 6 Cedarburg and No. 8 Nicolet on their way to the title. Middleton defeated Cedarburg in the championship match, 25-21, 25-16.

“We were pumped going into the ‘Tosa East invite,” Middleton coach Dylan Griffith said. “We knew we had the chance to face multiple ranked teams in the process.”

Tim Simon refused to call it a “must win” game.

“That’s just not how my brain works,” said Simon, Middleton’s co-football coach.

Make no mistake about it, though, the Cardinals’ journey to Janesville Craig last Friday was about as close to a “must win” contest as you’ll find in Week 4.

Sitting at 1-2, and staring at a game later this month at mighty Verona, the last thing the Cardinals could afford was a loss to the upstart Cougars.

Despite some tense moments against a highly-potent Craig offense, Middleton rallied from an early deficit and upended the Cougars, 35-26, at Monterey Stadium.

Cardinals quarterback Joey Passaglia continued his brilliant first year as a starter with 285 yards passing and four touchdown passes. Four different MHS wide receivers caught TD passes and the Cardinals piled up 404 yards of total offense.