September 29, 2017 at 4:31 p.m.
Hodag spikers sweep Lakeland
Hodag spikers sweep Lakeland
The Hodag senior finished with 16 kills - one fewer than Lakeland's entire team - and Rhinelander rolled to a three-set victory in a Great Northern Conference match at the Lakeland Union High School fieldhouse.
The T-Birds blocked Wissbroecker a couple of times, but the Hodags (12-14, 3-4 Great Northern) used her and an effective service game to sweep Lakeland 25-12, 25-15, 25-20.
"When we've got Hope going (she's tough to stop)," RHS volleyball coach Kathy Wawrzynowicz said. "I know she hit into the block twice but that was about it. She's just so good at the net and just plays really smart. When she's on, we've got to get her the ball. They didn't have anyone who could stop her so we've got to get her the ball."
Wissbroecker was a factor right away, with a few kills that gave Rhinelander an early 10-3 lead in the first set. The Hodags cruised the rest of the way.
Lakeland (6-20, 1-7 Great Northern) jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the second, but Rhinelander responded with a 5-0 run to tie it. The T-Birds kept pace for a while, but Rhinelander took 11 of the final 12 points to build a 2-0 lead in the match.
"We weren't moving our feet," Wawrzynowicz said of the team's sluggish start to the second set. "There was a lot of cross-court stuff. Everything was going cross court. We've worked on the line and coming it and following where the ball goes. I just said we've got to get back to that, and then they did."
The third set was back-and-forth as Rhinelander pulled out to a 16-12 lead. Lakeland got to within three late at 22-19, but the Hodags reeled off three of the final four points to claim the match.
"I switched the lineup around a little bit, got some subs in there," Wawrzynowicz said. 'I thought they did a good job. I can't complain about that."
The Hodags were effective at the service line, going 67 of 73 on the night with 12 aces. Senior Cami Buchmann was 26 of 26 serving and recorded four of those aces. Stephanie Kuester also had four aces on 11 of 13 serving.
"We served tough," Wawrzynowicz said. "Cami served really tough tonight. When we serve tough and we're on, it's hard for other teams to pass our serving. They did make a lot of hitting errors tonight. I think that hurt them."
Stephanie Kuester also had a team-high 21 digs. Makayla Kuester had 14 assists, Ally Seefeldt added 14 digs and eight assists. Buchmann had three kills.
Melissa Bruckner led Lakeland with five kills. The T-Birds, as a team, were barely in the black in attacking percentage Thursday night with 17 kills and 16 attacking errors. The T-Birds donned pink uniforms for its Dig Pink night for breast cancer awareness. Activities throughout the night helped to raise money for a local cancer foundation.
"I'm a strong proponent of cancer awareness in general. It worked out really well," Wawrzynowicz said, noting the Hodags will have their own cancer awareness night Tuesday when they host Tomahawk at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
Lakeland Times sports writer Nick Sabato contributed to this report.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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