The Wauwatosa East Red Raiders will have their hands full at the WIAA Boys State Volleyball Championships this weekend at the new venue - Wisconsin Lutheran College.
Coach John Simons' team will open at 5 p.m. Friday against Middleton, the state's second-ranked team, and if the Red Raiders can rise up and beat the Cardinals, they would probably face Marquette on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. The Hilltoppers are the top-ranked team in the state and they beat out Tosa East for the Greater Metro Conference title in the regular season.
The Red Raiders should be fired up if that happens, because they had the Hilltoppers down, 2-0, last year in the semifinals, before they rallied for three straight wins.
The Red Raiders have nine seniors on the team, six of who played on the state team last year. Setter Zach Liska is playing his fourth season on the varsity and has gone to state three of the years there.
Look for the wild and crazy Tosa East fans, all decked out in their colors, to make their presence known.
Good luck Raiders.
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The WIAA State Girls Swimming and Diving Championships will be at the Natatorium at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
Diver Katie Werner of Tosa East, who is making her fourth trip to state, will be accompanied by swimmer Julia Badding, making her first.
Brookfield Central is sending 10 swimmers, a record under coach Bill Twitchell, and Brookfield East is sending a handful also, as the Brookfield schools are two of the better teams in the area.
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A special shoutout to Tosa West coach Kyle Sikora's spikers, as the boys, who won another Woodland title, lost a heartbreaker to Tosa East in the sectional finals. Tosa West had a 2-0 lead, before East JV coach Kevin Perlach - who is on a leave of absence this year to help take care of his child who was born prematurely, came out of the stands and gave a speech to the Raiders that would have made the Gipper proud.
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On the pro side, I gained a new respect for Ken Macha, the new Brewers manager. He negotiated his own contract, only got a 2-year deal, and then hired Willie Randolph, who also interviewed for the job, and Dale Sveum, who was the interim manager for 12 games and the playoffs, and interviewed for the job.
Talk about a man confident in his ability! I was not cheering for him to get the job because he turned it down before - I don't like people blowing off Milwaukee - but when looking at his record in his worst season he still won 88 games.
It is going to be an interesting off season because this team needs a lot of improvements because of their personnel losses.
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I also want to give a special shoutout to Bill Castro, who I have know since he joined the Brewers, for getting the pitching coach's job. Now-a-days a bullpen coach is a pitching coach in the bullpen - unlike the old days when they would toss an ex-catcher out there to warm the pitchers up - so good luck to Billy. Only problem is pitching coaches get fired way quicker than bullpen coaches.
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Can't wait for the high school basketball season to start, can you?
Remember, always be a hit and have a ball.
