Volume XVII, Number 7 | Wednesday, October 5, 2022

Varsity Tennis

Brookfield Academy hosted the WIAA Division 2 Sectional Tournament on Tuesday, October 4. Sectionals is the second largest event on the high school tennis calendar, behind the State tournament series. Nine schools from across Southeast Wisconsin competed at BA. Five singles players and five doubles teams earned the right to qualify for the Individual State Tournament.


The BA players to qualify for the State tournament are: Lexi Kass/Laurette Blanchard (#1 doubles), and Simran Bhatia/Riya Singh (#2 doubles). Lexi and Laurette needed to win their first match to automatically qualify for the State tournament. The duo took care of business against Big Foot, winning 6-2, 6-3. In the sectional semifinal, Lexi and Laurette defeated the undefeated, and State Runner-Up from last season, East Troy 6-3, 6-4. In the sectional final, the senior pair played well against a red-hot New Berlin Eisenhower team, but lost 6-4, 7-6. 


For Riya and Simran, the path to automatic State qualification was more difficult. At #2 doubles, only one automatic qualification into the State tournament is given. Just the sectional champion secures a spot at State. Simran and Riya cruised to the sectional final, facing off against USM, a team that had beaten Simran and Riya a few weeks ago. After trailing 3-0 to start the match, Simran and Riya fought back to win the first set 7-5. USM responded, winning the second set 6-1. A 10-point tiebreaker would decide the sectional champion. Simran and Riya returned to playing their dominant style of tennis, and defeated USM in the tiebreaker 10-3. 


Sophomore Ashna Dagam lost in the first round of sectionals to Lillian Jorgenson of Prairie, who went on to finish third. Ashna will have to wait until Friday to see if she will be one of the eight special qualifiers into the State tournament.


Last Wednesday, the team celebrated Senior Night after a 5-2 home win against The Prairie School. All seven seniors won their matches! This senior class had a close bond with each other and shared that bond by bringing the whole team together. We had a lot of new faces to the team this year, and they did an incredible job showing the newcomers what it is expected as a team member and how to represent Brookfield Academy on the tennis courts. I am very proud of this senior class. Luckily for Simran Bhatia, Laurette Blanchard, Lexi Kass, and Riya Singh, their season continues next weekend at State.

The seven seniors with their parents!

Thank you to everyone that came out to support the girls at Sectionals on Tuesday. It was a great day, and I hope it gave you the tennis bug. I strongly encourage you to attend the Individual State Tournament on Thursday, October 13, through Saturday, October 15, at the Nielsen Stadium in Madison to root on the Blue Knights. Come support the team during Fall Break!


-Coach Michael Rajchel

Boys Varsity Soccer

The boys soccer team hosted conference rival Heritage Christian for Senior Night last Wednesday.


Davis Arvold started the scoring with a blast on an assist from Momo Jovic. Just before the half, the Blue Knights struck again on an unassisted goal by Carlos Castro-Lopez. Early in the second half, Castro-Lopez found senior Will Schneck at the far post who buried the ball into the back of the net for a commanding 3-0 lead. With 10 minutes left in the game, senior Xabier Bisabarros-Hudoc beat several defenders down the endline to finish off the scoring on another unassisted goal to result in a 4-0 BA win.


All seven seniors were honored at the end of the game. It is a senior class of talent and outstanding leadership. Congratulations to Will Schneck, Logan Pifel, Xabier Bisabarros-Hudoc, Momo Jovic, and co-captains Thomas Minix, Ethan Grande, and Carlos Castro-Lopez.


A special thank you to all the parents who made the evening a wonderful celebration with food and fun for all the players, friends, and family!


-Coach Lee Rogers

Cross Country

On Saturday, September 24, the BA cross country team participated in the Pete Neilsen Laser Relays at Naga-waukee Park, hosted by Kettle Moraine.


The day was split into six races, with the JV Girls up first. It was a chilly morning and a wet course, but Jillian Jones and Cynthia Yu both ran great races. Jillian ran a personal record (PR) by 19 seconds and is our Rookie of the Week. 


The next race was the varsity girls 5-8. Avery Denman ran a gritty race through pain and improved on last week’s time. Izabella Gomez had a massive PR of almost one full minute and is our Most Improved Runner this week. Leora Schmidt led our 5-8 girls with a steady performance.


Rose Erlinder and Luci Jensen ran great races in the varsity girls 1-4 race. Rose is our Runner of the Week after finishing 16th overall. 


The temperatures started to warm up, and the course dried off as the boys varsity 5-8 took off. Danny Weiner, Shri Kannan, and Ben Reiner all ran PRs. 


Next up was the varsity boys 1-4 race. Kamron Kaiser and Matthew Casas continue to work well together finishing 39th and 43rd overall, and both ran sub 18:00. Kamron, Matthew, and Danny Reiner all recorded their best times of the season. 

The last race of the day was the JV Boys. Rithik Guntur, Erich Boelter, Santino Raab Rabida, Michael Hoffer, Aaron Tatek, Joshua Schwartz, and William Morgan all ran their best times of the season. Erich Boelter is our Most Improved Runner of the Week, dropping his time by almost a minute and a half. Will is our Runner of the Week, finishing with a very strong 20:00.


Our next race is on Thursday, October 6 at McCarty Park.


-Coach Ellie Schemm

Volleyball

Varsity


The varsity volleyball team competed in a tournament this past weekend. BA, Eastbrook Academy, and Brown Deer took part in the tournament. BA went 2-0, beating both schools.


Against Eastbrook Academy, BA won 25-9, 25-18. Against Brown Deer, the team won 23-25, 25-13, 25-21.

JV1


On Tuesday, September 27, the JV volleyball team played at home against St. Francis. On a night the senior athletes were honored, the Blue Knights came out of the gates fast, winning the first two games in convincing fashion 25-19, 25-21. Kai Peterson served up six aces in the games. Kai also had 11 setting assists, leading to eight kills by Ella Lombardi. Ella Thompson scored a couple points for the team with a surprising tip and a hard-driven spike. The Blue Knights were the victors in another impressive finish, defeating the Mariners.


JV2


This week, JV2 volleyball had a thrilling match against St. Francis. In the last home match of the season, the girls started off hot, winning the first set 25-17. The offense played outstanding, led by Kai Peterson and Shivani Shah, with four aces each and several kills and digs. After losing the second set, the team sealed the win in the third game 15-12. The girls represented BA well!


-Coach Heather Singer

Reported by Kristi Thompson

Kai Peterson

MS Cross Country

The MS cross country team competed in three meets this past week. 


On September 26, the BA team competed at Mitchell Park for the Wisconsin Hills Invitational which included approximately 700 total competitors. In the boys 5/6/7 race, Xavier Loomis, Paul He, Alex Wilhelm, and Benjamin Wilhelm all finished in the top third of the 240 runners who competed. In the girls 5/6/7 race, Mila Libbey finished 4th, and Olivia Schmidt 49th in a field of 223 runners. In the boys grade 8 race, Samuel Miller finished 14th of 132, while in the girls grade 8 race, Ellie Decker, Stella Koenings, and Elena Petrova finished 10th, 15th, and 16th respectively in a field of 105. 


On September 29, the BA team travelled to Greenfield Park under perfect weather conditions to participate in a meet consisting of 30 teams and over 1000 runners. There were six races and BA runners performed very well. Those finishing among the top third of all runners in their respective races include Maeve Parkins, Alex Wilhelm, Ben Wilhelm, Mila Libbey, Olivia Schmidt, Xavier Loomis, Paul He, Arnold Kellog, Elllie Decker, Elena Petrova, Stella Koenings, and Samuel Miller. Additionally, the 8th grade girls team of Decker, Petrova, Koenings, Elizabeth Wilson, and Celia Muller finished 7th among 30 teams. 


The BA team capped the week with a small six-team meet at USM on the morning of October 1. The BA squad was again blessed to run in cool, sunny, windless conditions. In the grade 5/6 races, Maeve Parkins, Ellie Wenger, and Alex Wilhelm each finished among the top third of the competitors in their races. In the boys grade 7/8 race, Samuel Miller, Xavier Loomis, and Paul He also finished in the top third. In the girls grade 7/8 competition, Ellie Decker had a great race and earned a first place finish. Stella Koenings and Mila Libbey also ran well finishing 3rd and 4th respectively. 


The next competition is on October 6 at Pewaukee Asa Clark Middle School. 


-Coach Dave Reiner

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