Members of Catholic Memorial’s girls volleyball team celebrate match point as they defeated Luxemburg-Casco in the WIAA Division 2 state championship match in Green Bay. (Submitted photo)
Between 2006 and 2016, Catholic Memorial High School won seven WIAA girls volleyball state championships.
However, since that time, the well had run dry for the Crusaders.
On Saturday, Nov. 9, the Waukesha school reclaimed its spot at the top of the heap, defeating Luxemburg-Casco in straight sets in the Division 2 state championship match at Green Bay’s Resch Center, 25-18, 25-10, 25-22.
Sam Derynda is in her third season as the head coach at Catholic Memorial, and the Crusaders were able to get past the road block they had experienced the previous two seasons — the regional finals.
“We have been working on our team culture for the past few years,” Derynda said. “This senior class did a great job embracing the family and sister culture to help challenge their teammates and lead them every day.”
Playing a schedule laden with most of the top teams in the state, the Crusaders used their early season battles and lessons to win 18 of their last 19 matches and blitz through their postseason run.
“We have always kept a strong nonconference and tournament schedule to make sure that we are challenged constantly,” Derynda said. “Our conference is also consistently highly competitive. Being able to earn some wins against strong Division 1 teams throughout the year gave us confidence and made us battle tested.”
Derynda pointed to the Lynn LaPorte Sprawl in West Bend in late September — a tournament that annually attracts many of the top teams in the state across divisions — as a turning point after her team lost four of their seven matches over that weekend.
“At this tournament, we struggled significantly at times — not just with skills but mentally, as well,” Derynda said. “In the middle of this tournament and after this tournament, we spent a lot of time as an entire team (coaches included) developing a strategy as a team of what we needed to assist each other the best. We asked for feedback from the players, and gave them our feedback as well. After that tournament date, we only dropped one more match this season. The following Tuesday (Oct. 1), we matched up against (perennial state power) Arrowhead and started showing our ‘championship team’ abilities.”
Catholic Memorial ended up with three first-team all-state players (senior middle blocker Adeline Goedheer, senior setter/rightside Lucia Brown and senior outside hitter Jenna Welsch) and three honorable mention all-state players (senior libero Addison Fura, junior outside hitter Isabella Webber and sophomore middle blocker Addison Kelenic).
Goedheer is committed to playing collegiate volleyball at NCAA Division I Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. The rest of her senior teammates are uncommitted as of press time.
“We improved significantly in many areas as the year went on,” Derynda said. “Our offense was very strong with powerful middle attackers and pin hitters, but our defense executed better than ever throughout the final month of the season. We were a tough serving team and often were able to take other teams out of system, and we did a good job limiting service runs from other teams. I also believe the depth of our team was very important. We consistently had highly competitive practices that pushed our starters to get better every day. Having a roster of 15 girls that could contribute every day was a huge asset.”
In the state semifinal match, Catholic Memorial trounced Shawano, 25-15, 25-18, 25-20. Despite playing many of the top teams in the state, the Crusaders never matched with either of their state tournament opponents until they reached Green Bay.
Derynda couldn’t say whether she thought her team’s speed and ability was something Shawano and Luxemburg-Casco had to take time getting used to, because they hadn’t seen the Crusaders all season.
“You never know going into a match whether it will be an advantage or disadvantage not seeing another team previously,” Derynda said. “I believe it allowed us to go in more open-minded, and focus on our side of the court — rather than what the other team was doing.”
Kelenic and Webber will be building blocks for the 2025 Catholic Memorial squad as the Crusaders look to reestablish themselves as perennial contenders.
“It would be really exciting to start talking about a repeat, but you never really know what will happen in high school volleyball until it does,” Derynda said. “We do have a lot of talent returning, but we don’t want to undermine the camaraderie and leadership that allowed for a state championship this year. So much goes into this game, even outside of just the skill and mental aspects. We will keep our goals big next year.”
