August 23, 2017 at 3:48 p.m.
RHS volleyball goes undefeated in home invite
RHS volleyball goes undefeated in home invite
Rhinelander swept Ashland 3-0 in the first match and defeated Chequamegon 2-1.
Coach Kathy Wawrzynowicz categorized the season opener as "OK," and said the event illustrated what she knew about her team entering the season. Hope Wissbroecker led the way with 18 kills and 17 blocks. The Hodags played staunch defense in the back row, but struggled at times with Wissbroecker in the back.
"We still have some missing pieces," she said. "I certainly don't know who's going to outside hit for me. I've got two spots for sure (open) and we're just trying to figure it out. That's what everyone gets to play and everyone gets a chance."
The Hodags controlled much of the match against the Oredockers. Rhinelander closed the first set on a 9-3 run to win 25-16 and then reeled off 18 straight points on Stephanie Kuester's serve to take the second set 25-7. After falling behind 8-0 in the third set, the Hodags rallied to tie it at nine and took the lead for good when an Ashland attacking error made it 14-13. Ashland got to within two late, but a Wissbroecker kill sandwiched between a couple of Ashland errors allowed the Hodags to close out the set 25-20.
Serving was key for the Hodags in the opening match. They went 47 of 49 as a team with 14 aces. Ashland, by comparison, committed 11 service errors.
The Hodags were 99 of 107 serving on the day. Wissbroecker recorded a team-high seven aces, Stephanie Kuester had five and Makayla Kuester had four.
"I thought our serving was tough," Wawrzynowicz said. "Except for that last match we missed a couple but, other than that, I thought our serving is probably one of our strong points. The Kuesters really served tough. Hope served tough. We had some good serving and I think that really helped us."
All three sets in the second match against Chequamegon were close. Tied at 16 in the first set, the Hodags went on a 7-0 spurt off the serve of freshman Hannah Worachek and went on to a 25-18 win. Rhinelander led 22-18 in the second set before Chequamegon made a run off the attacking of Jacinda Pritzl and eventual tied the game at 23.
The Hodags got a side out on a back-row kill by Wissbroecker and won it on another put away by Wissbroecker three points later to give Rhinelander a 26-24 win.
"Hope is going to be Hope," Wawrzynowicz said of her top offensive weapon. "Hope's obviously going to lead us this year. That's no secret."
But it was with Wissbroecker in the back that Chequamegon made a push in the final set. Rhinelander led 20-17 after Wissbroecker's serve, but gave up a 6-0 run and eventually dropped the final set 22-25.
The Hodags are trying to develop a second or third offensive option to complement Wissbroecker. Worachek, seniors Cami Buchmann and Lexie Rick and sophomore Brooke Mork saw extensive playing time at outside hitter Tuesday. Buchmann finished with eight kills while Worachek had four.
"Approaches are OK but we've got to swing and follow through," Wawrzynowicz said, evaluating the play of the group as a whole. "We got to get on top of the ball instead of hitting everything behind our head or out in front of us. But I saw some quickness and some hustle. They picked up some tips and stuff. It was OK for the first time out. We rely a lot on Hope right now because she's the one putting the ball away. Hopefully a couple of these other kids will start coming through. The season's early. I've got some kids out that haven't played varsity at all before. So it's coming."
Ally Seefeldt led Rhinelander with 93 assists on the day. Stephanie Kuester had 33 digs and Makayla Kuester chipped in 24 digs.
The Hodags travel to Wisconsin Dells Friday to begin a two-day tournament.
"It's going to be tough," Wawrzynowicz said. "We start out with two Division 1 schools in our pool (Kettle Moraine and Green Bay Preble) and then we'll go from there. It's always tough down there. We starting out this tournament quite a while ago and we ended up not doing very well. We worked our way up to winning the tournament, which took awhile. Now we're kind on that down end and we're working our way back up. Hopefully we learn a lot about our team."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.