JOHN CURTIS - Daily Union Sports Editor
Windsor 8th grade (#3 seed) upset Sacred Heart (#2 seed) in the Sacred Heart 8-1A Regional semifinal on Tuesday. They surprised Sacred Heart in game 1, 26-24, were toasted in game 2, 25-5, but kept their powder dry for game 3 and earned the upset with a 25-16 surge for the win.
Windsor was sorta blind-sided by Sacred Heart in the 7th grade regional, when Sacred Heart 7th graders, who played with the 8th graders during the season, came back down to fuel the Shamrocks run to the regional championship. Windsor turned that strategy on Sacred Heart, somewhat, in the 8th grade regional on Tuesday.
Windsor's legendary coach JoAnn Brandenburg brought up their standout 7th graders, from a team that went 16-5, to help the Trojan 8th grade (4-15) against Sacred Heart in the regional. It worked.
Windsor 8th grade's top hitter, Katie Hostetter, with four kills and 7 digs, was joined by Trojan 7th grade's top hitter Paige Woolard, with four kills and six digs. Those two players combined for 8 of the 11 team kills and 13 of the team's 24 digs.
Trojan 8th mid-court quarterback, Olivia Williamson, with a team-high five assists and five digs, was joined by Trojan 7th grade mid-court defender Bayleigh Tabor, who got down for a team-high six digs, as well as serving a team-high 5 aces.
Olivia Hortenstine (7th) served three aces and Jessica Dodd (8th) served two aces. Claire Pfeifffer (7th) had an ace and a kill and Courtney Fallert (8th) served an ace.
Key to the Trojans' success was their defense. They got down for 24 digs with just four players taking the weight. Hostetter had seven, Tabor six, Wooolard six and Williamson five.
As a team, Windsor also served up 14 aces from seven different players in the 3-game set, mostly in games 1 and 2. Two 7th graders accounted for 8 of the 14 and 10 of the 14 came from the 7th grade reinforcements. The Trojans dished out seven assists towards their 11 kills., 5 of 7 from the 8th grade QB, Williamson.
Windsor advances to the regional final on Thursday against #1 seed Brownstown at 6 p.m.
Sacred Heart 8-1A Regional Semi
Windsor def. Sacred Heart, 26-24, 5-25, 25-16
Windsor stats: Katie Hostetter 4 kills, 7 digs; Paige Woolard 4 kills, 1 ace, 6 digs; Bayleight Tabor 5 aces, 1 kill, 6 digs; Olivia Williamson 1 ace, 1 kill, 5 assists, 5 digs; Olivia Hortenstine 3 aces; Jessica Dodd 2 aces; Taylor Higgins 2 assists; Claire Pfeiffer 1 ace, 1 kill; Courtney Fallert 1 ace.
