The last time Watertown won a state volleyball title, the average price for a gallon of gas was just $1.15. Also, Titanic was just being released as a major motion picture, and Sony had released its first PlayStation console. All of that was forgotten on Saturday night when Watertown defeated O’Gorman 3-0 to win the ‘AA’ state volleyball championship. It’s the first state title for the program since 1997.
The Arrows finished the season with a 28-2 overall record, which includes playoffs and the state tournament. One loss came to Sioux Falls Washington, a five-set defeat back in September, and the other loss came against O’Gorman near the end of the regular season – also a five-set match.
At the state tournament, Watertown was perfect! They swept Harrisburg in the quarterfinals, swept Sioux Falls Washington in the semi’s, and then swept O’Gorman in the championship match.
Arrows head coach Resemary Bellum said even though the state championship was claimed in 2019, the process for this year’s success goes back to the beginning of 2017.
“It just means that the hard work has paid off. The things that we’ve been doing the past three years have been validated by just making sure we do our fundamentals correctly and just making sure the team is cohesive and that there’s not the finger pointing or someone getting jealous of another one,” explained coach Bellum. “We keep their egos in check, but it’s just been this dream that they’ve been working on for three years.”
Watertown overall had a lot of balance on their roster this season, but senior middle hitter Sophie Tietz was one of the leaders on the squad. Throughout the three-day state tournament, Tietz recorded 29 kills, five digs, and seven blocks. She also served three aces in the championship match with O’Gorman.
“This is so surreal. You have to give it to O’Gorman. They’re such a good team,” said Tietz. “We knew we had to play together and play tough, and that’s what we did.”
Tietz was honored at the end of the tournament as being named a member of the All-Tournament team. Next season, she will continue her volleyball career at the collegiate level for Minnesota State-Mankato.
Watertown will graduate seven seniors this spring but having ten juniors on the roster will give them solid experience heading into 2020.
