October 2, 2019 at 12:27 p.m.
Hodag volleyball can't slow down Smith, Northland Pines in three-set defeat
Hodag volleyball can't slow down Smith, Northland Pines in three-set defeat
Then the reigning Great Northern Conference player of the year took over.
Northland Pines' Jacqueline Smith had 17 kills, including eight in the second set, as the Eagles rolled to a straight set win over the Hodags at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
Set scores were 25-8, 25-12, 25-15.
It was 12-10 in the second set when the Eagles used their first and only timeout of the match. Smith finished the next point with a spike kill, and added two more powerful putaways to push the score to 18-11 in the second and the Eagles were not challenged after that.
"She's a tough player," Rhinelander coach Brianna Scheuermann said. "We had quite a few more digs on her today than we did in the other match, but she's definitely hard to stop."
The Hodags faded in each of the first two sets. Rhinelander got to within 12-7 in the first following a mini 3-0 run, but a Cynthia Beavers service error ended the streak and the Hodags scored only once more the remainder of the set, and that was due to a Northland Pines violation.
"We had our little ups. We'd make some runs and get some blocks and a lot of digs," Scheuermann said. "Then we'd get into a rotation or serve receive where we'd just fall behind and couldn't put the ball away."
Northland Pines raced out to a 13-4 lead in the third set that essentially put the match out of reach. However, Scheuermann said she was proud of the way her team fought down the stretch, taking 10 of the match's final 21 points and twice fending off Pines on match point.
"I think it was just a matter of having the girls get the confidence back that, 'Hey, it's the third set, but you can still battle back,'" she said. "I think we did in that match. I think we got three points off their match point. They definitely played hard the last few points of the game."
Ariel Pauer and Beavers led the offense for Rhinelander, both totaling 17 attack attempts. Pauer had five kills on the night and added four blocks while Beavers finished with four kills.
"Ariel had a few more touches. She's playing more middle, so she's working on hitting and blocking, instead of playing all around," Scheuermann said. "I think that helped her, just having to focus on those two (aspects). She's been hitting a little better."
Olivia TerBeest recorded eight assists in the match for Rhinelander. Libero Hannah Worachek had 18 digs while Beavers chipped in nine digs. Rhinelander did not have a service ace on the night, but committed only two service errors in 34 attempts. Serve receive remained an issue for the Hodags as the team was charged with 11 errors while attempting to handle Pines' serve.
Tuesday's match was the last at home for the Hodags on the season. Prior to the game, the team took a moment to honor the four seniors on the roster - Aryssa Zasada, Beavers, Novalee Juel and Julie Breivogel. All four seniors started on Tuesday night.
"It was senior night so we let the seniors play out a little bit," Scheuermann said.
Rhinelander (1-22, 0-7 Great Northern) is off until this coming Tuesday when it travels to Lakeland for a rematch of a Sept. 21 meeting that went down to the wire. Lakeland pulled off a five-set win over the Hodags, winning the decisive fifth set, 15-13.
"We took them to five sets so hopefully, having the rest of the week, we'll be able to finally get a rotation and get all the girls (going)," Scheuermann said. "I know last week and the week before some of them were sick. They're pretty much all healthy now. It will be good to have the rest of the week to get the rotation down, work on defense, and then go take on Lakeland - and hopefully beat Lakeland - because we took them to five."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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