Schulenburg Advances to State Semis in Thriller Over Flatonia

Schulenburg and Flatonia both rose to the occasion.

In front of a near capacity crowd in Columbus for the regional crown, the Lady Horns and Lady Bulldogs gave all those fans every moment of drama they could have asked for.

In a thrill-a-minute five-set marathon, Schulenburg prevailed, just barely, to win the Region IV-2A title and a berth in the state semifinals.

“Both teams deserved to be out there,” said a jubilant, but exhausted Schulenburg head coach Donald Zapalac after the match. “We just made a couple more plays right there at the end ... it was about as close as it could be.”

Twice before this season these two teams had played nailbiters, with each team prevailing once. Schulenburg won their regular season finale battle to clinch the district title. But early Tuesday it seemed like it might be the young Lady Bulldogs’ turn. After Flatonia lost the first set 25-17, they rallied to win the second set 28-26 and the third set 25-13.

But with their backs against the wall, Schulenburg lived to play another day.

“I told them that we want it more,” said Coach Zapalac, describing a particularly tense timeout late in the match. “It was which team wants it more and we have to want it more.”

Schulenburg tied the match with a 25-16 win in the fourth set.

The teams traded points in the fifth set, but after Quinn Arnett and Kat Sullivan combined on a block Flatonia took a 10-9 lead.

But tough serving and great defense got Schulenburg back in the game.

Reagan Dusek’s spike for the final point of a 15-12 win See in the fifth set sent the Lady Horns and their fans into a frenzy.

“This is the setting you live for, the crowds on both sides,” Coach Zapalac said.

“It was intense,” said Schulenburg junior Haylee Vacek, who had a team-high 20 kills and added 20 digs. “We had to fight back, but we did it.”

Fellow junior Greenli Van Zandt, who had played for Flatonia last year before moving to Schulenburg this year, had 16 kills.

Lady Horn senior setter Landry Zapalac had 56 assists, 11 digs and four aces. Schulenburg sophomore Jenna Guentert had a whopping 35 digs and five aces. Junior Michaela Kollman had 19 digs and four aces.

Tuesday’s victory vaults the Lady Horns into their third state semifinal in the last four years. They will play Jewett Leon at 4 p.m. Saturday in Brenham for a berth in next week’s state title match.

Flatonia, meanwhile, sees its season end with a 25-22 record.

That overall record is a sign of just how much Flatonia had grown past some early season struggles.

“We had a lot of injuries early on and we didn’t have a set rotation or lineup until the midseason of district,” said Flatonia head coach Lauren Hoffman. “And that was really hard because we were battling through, finding people that work. I’m so proud of the girls for having resilience and perseverance through that.”

Kat Sullivan had a team-high 23 kills for Flatonia and freshman Quinn Arnett had 11 kills, three blocks and four block assists. Summer Sodek, one of two seniors on the Flatonia’s team along with Giselle Crayton, had a huge match, with 36 kills, 18 digs and seven kills. Emma Kosler had a teamhigh 28 digs and Brynlee Zimmerman had 16.

These Lady Bulldogs had pieced a stellar season, and a stellar Tuesday together.

But Schulenburg had other plans.

“We made a couple of minor adjustments in our lineup in that fourth and fifth set that gave us a couple of different matchups hoping that it would help us,” Coach Zapalac said.

“We maybe just wanted it a little more,” Schulenburg senior Grace Schramek said.