October 17, 2018 at 12:27 p.m.
Something to build on
Young Hodags show life in playoff loss to top-seeded Merrill
Something to build on
Rhinelander held early leads in each of the three sets, before falling to the Bluejays 25-15, 25-14, 25-15 in a WIAA regional quarterfinal match at the Merrill High School fieldhouse.
The Hodags called up freshman middle blockers Brynn Brzycki and Ariel Pauer from the JV squad for some added height against a strong Merrill front row. The result was longer volleys, more digs and more competitive sets for the Hodags.
"The team played hard," Hodag coach Brianna Scheuermann said. "They were digging the ball, getting kills. They were popping the ball so we could keep it alive. They definitely played hard tonight.
"We put Ariel and Brynn in and it definitely helped out, getting touches on the blocks."
The highlight of the night came early in the second set as Hannah Worachek recorded a block kill, and Merrill had a string of blocking errors that helped the Hodags get out to a 10-4 lead. Merrill called a timeout at that point, something opponents have rarely needed to do against the Hodags this fall.
"We were all really stoked," Scheuermann said. "It definitely was a big highlight of the night. We were getting up and making them take a timeout and figure out what they needed to do to catch back up."
Unfortunately for the Hodags, Merrill regrouped after the stoppage, scoring 12 consecutive points to regain control of the set.
The Hodags led 4-2 early in the first set, before Merrill took control with five straight points on Eva Akey's serve to take a 7-4 lead. A 6-0 run later in the set pushed Merrill's lead to 16-7 and Rhinelander never got closer than six points the rest of the way. The Hodags struggled with serve-receive, especially in the first set. Unofficially, the team committed 12 ball handling errors on Merrill's serve, including six in the opening set.
"That's been a struggle for us and I think at times it got in our heads," Scheuermann noted. "Merrill is a team that's good enough to target you. I told the team they will pick on you if you aren't in the zone. We definitely had some of those."
The Hodags pulled out to a quick 2-0 lead in the third, before Merrill went on a 4-0 run and never trailed again.
Pauer led the team with four kills on the night. Worachek, Kahlie Arneson and Brooke Mork each had three kills. Mork added 12 digs, Arneson had nine and the team recorded 41 digs overall.
"We had a lot of digs. We probably had more digs in one match than we had in previous tournaments," Scheuermann noted.
Aryssa Zasada had 10 assists and was 13 of 15 serving with the team's lone ace on the night. Pauer and Worachek each recorded one block kill.
The loss was bittersweet for the Hodags, who finished the season 1-38. The team bids farewell to Mork and injured senior libero Mikayla Evenstad, but there's plenty of hope on the horizon for a team that started three freshmen, a pair of sophomores and a junior in the season finale.
"We'll be sad to lose those two seniors, but we had a lot of younger girls out there that gave us a better look to see what could be possible next year," Scheuermann said. "It's something to look forward to next season."
A full offseason to work should also help. The team did not have much of one this summer as Scheuermann was not hired by the School District of Rhinelander until late July to replace the retired Kathy Wawrzynowicz.
"Hopefully we can get more girls doing more stuff throughout the year and not just in August before the season," Scheuermann said. "We'll run some more open gyms and have a camp this summer and have a volleyball league going over the (summer) season so they can get some more time. A lot of girls we play against play all year round.
"It's something to look forward too. They can be at that level, too. They just need to put in more time and they can definitely get there."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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