Warriors pull off big rallies

Muskego - Surrender was not in the vocabulary of the Muskego boys volleyball team against host Franklin in a noisy and exciting WIAA sectional semifinal on Nov. 1.

The Warriors were down two games to one in the best of five match and 21-16 in the fourth game before scoring seven straight points and rallying to tie the match at two games each with a 29-27 decision.

In the fifth game, Muskego found itself with its back against the wall at 14-10. All the Warriors did then was fight off four match points, score seven of the match's last eight points and pull out an improbable 25-23, 15-25, 28-30, 29-27, 17-15 decision.

"I don't know how they did it," said Muskego coach Joe Arbinger. "Like I told the guys in the (post-game) huddle, I've seen so much volleyball in my life, but never anything like this. This was simply unbelievable; whatever it is they found, they should bottle it."

In game four, the Sabers had leads of 14-9 and 20-15 before Muskego went on a 7-0 run punctuated by three consecutive kills by outside hitter Joey Bandoszeski.

Franklin fought off three game points before a kill by the Warriors' emotional leader David Mlachnik and a block at the net tied the match at 2-2.

The fifth game had enough ups-and-downs to break the strongest yo-yo string, as Muskego got out to 4-1 and 7-4 leads before the Sabers went on two 4-0 runs to go up 14-10.

Two kills each by Mlachnik and middle hitter Sean Tobin highlighted the rally. The second Tobin block gave the Warriors a one-point advantage and then an error at the net by the Sabers set off a celebration for the ages.