November 1, 2017 at 1:08 p.m.
RHS volleyball team hands out awards
RHS volleyball team hands out awards
Hope Wissbroecker was voted offensive MVP and libero Stephanie Kuester was voted defensive MVP. The awards were presented last Friday during the team's year-end banquet in the RHS commons.
The numbers for the two left little debate. Wissbroecker was one of the top all-around players in the GNC and was voted the player of the year by the conference coaches. She was second in the league with 239 blocks, led the conference in kills per set (5.4) and attacking percentage (.371), was second in blocks (43) and fifth in digs per set (4.2).
"To be honest, without her, I'm not sure we would have had the wins we had this year," coach Kathy Wawrzynowicz said in a phone interview with the River News in which she discussed her all-conference and team award winners.
On the defensive end, Stephanie Kuester led the conference in total digs (285) and digs per set (6.5). She was also tied four eighth in the GNC with 23 service aces.
"Both her and Hope, when they were in the back row, we had to be a digging machine because we didn't have a lot of blocking up front at times," Wawrzynowicz said. "Steph was just a digging machine, hustled after everything, served extremely well this year and it was very deserving for her too."
The MVPs were two of the six awards handed out during Friday's banquet. Stephanie Kuester and her twin sister, Makayla, shared the team's hustle award.
After taking on more of the setting duties midway through the season, Makayla Kuester finished fourth in the GNC with 189 assists. She was also fourth on the team with 78 digs.
"She started out the year being a back row player and then we switched to a 6-2 (system) and she ended up being a setter," Wawrzynowicz said. "That position, playing defense in the back row, is tough. She just hustled and got to everything we didn't normally get to. She hustled all the time and really helped us out in that aspect."
Cami Buchmann was voted the team's most improved player. She was third on the team with 36 kills in league play and had the fifth-best serving percentage in the GNC at .977.
"Last year, Cami basically went into serve and played some back row," Wawrzynowicz said. "This year, she started out in the front row only and didn't play back row. Halfway through the season she ended up playing all around when we made that switch (to a 6-2). She did a great job with that. Her serving improved tremendously from last year ... I would have liked to have gotten a little more offense out of her this year, but she did a great job attempting, was positive out there and did her best."
In addition to the voted awards, Wawrzynowicz presented coach's awards to a pair of seniors - Lexie Rick and Brooke Frahm - who embraced their roles on the team, though that did not include a lot of time on the court.
"Lexie Rick went in and played wherever she was asked to play, never complained about anything and was just a solid, positive person on the team all year," Wawrzynowicz said. "Brooke Frahm, kids wanted her on varsity. Last year she was a JV3 player. She came to varsity and never stopped working, never stopped hustling and never complained about anything. She was happy to be on the team. She got in to serve a number of times and played some back row a couple times and I think she was just happy to have that spot and be a part of this team."
The Hodags went 15-19-3 overall in 2017 and finished fifth in the GNC with a 5-7 league record. The team faces a significant rebuilding project next year, however, as it graduates nine seniors from its varsity roster - including all six award winners.
"We had a huge group of seniors. I hope they have learned something and have grown from this year," Wawrzynowicz said. "To the underclassmen, I think the biggest thing is if they want to be successful, they have to work at it. You can't sit from now until next year when practice starts and do absolutely nothing. The teams that were ahead of us are the one that played club all year round, are the ones that came to open gym all the time. They played league. They went to camps. We just didn't have that this year. There was not a strong commitment to that from everybody. Hopefully they take that into account and some work really hard at it."
Event raised more than $1,000
Wawrzynowicz informed the River News that the team has donated $1,050 to the James Beck Cancer Center at Ascension St. Mary's Hospital in Rhinelander. The donation is the result of money raised during the team's Block Out Cancer Night against Tomahawk on Oct. 3.
The team sold pink T-shirts during the game, sold baked goods, held raffles and donated a portion of admission receipts.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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