September 20, 2020 at 3:39 p.m.
Hodag volleyball drops opening matches
Hodag volleyball drops opening matches
The games extended Rhinelander's Great Northern Conference losing streak to 27 matches, but new head coach Jim Povolo said he was pleased with how things turned out, considering the limited opportunity the team had to work this offseason due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"I thought the process, for the most part, was pretty good. We made a lot of progress," he said. "We're running a different system than has been run the last two years. We've practiced, essentially, five days. So the fact that we were never out of rotation is a victory for us. I expect it's going to get better and better as we go along.
"We want to be a little bit better each and every time we go out and, if we can be a little bit better each and every time we go out, we are going to catch some people. We are going to catch some people, I believe that."
Mosinee 3, Rhinelander 0
Defending conference champion Mosinee was too much for Rhinelander to handle on Thursday. The Indians rolled in straight sets, 25-13, 25-11, 25-13 at the Jim Miazga Community Gym.
The Hodags showed flashes in each of the first two sets before Mosinee pulled away. Rhinelander was tied 9-9 with Mosinee in the first before the Indians responded with an 8-0 run. Mosinee used another 8-0 run in the second to build a commanding 20-7 lead and started the third set with an 8-1 spurt.
"I felt like, in spurts, we showed what we're made of. It's easy to say that we clearly were outmatched but, you know what, if you can do it in spurts, you can do it in longer stretches later on down the road," Povolo said.
Ava Lamers, Ariel Pauer and Emily Jorgensen all recorded two kills in the match for Rhinelander. Olivia TerBeest had four assists. Libero Hannah Worachek had six digs. Jenna Placek and Abby Martin led Mosinee with six kills each.
Northland Pines 3, Rhinelander 0
The Hodags could not overcome a slow start Friday night in a three-set loss to Northland Pines, falling 25-15, 25-18, 25-18.
The Hodags fell behind 8-2 in the first set and 5-0 in the second set. Povolo said the Hodags switched mid-match to a 5-1 formation with one setter, which seemed to improve the team's play.
"I'd say the second half of the second set we were pretty much going point for point it felt like. We built some momentum and we went into that third set, ran the same lineup and we were going point-for-point," he said.
The Hodags eventually tied the second set at 12 and was within one a 16-15 before Pines finished on a 9-3 run. Rhinelander and Pines traded the lead back and forth much of the third set, with Rhinelander leading by as many as three at 15-12. However a key 8-0 run down the stretch for Pines ultimately sealed the match.
"We had them off-balance and then it just kind of comes to a certain point where I don't know if its just that we've been there so rarely to that point where you're in it late in the set, but we just started to make some silly errors and some inexperienced errors and they just took advantage of us from that point," Povolo said.
Pauer had four kills to lead Rhinelander while Ava Lamers and Kahlie Arneson chipped in three each. TerBeest had 13 assists while Worachek added 10 digs and two service aces.
"I thought Hannah Worachek had a pretty darn good match," Povolo noted. "We seem to be out of system so often that I'm contemplating a little bit of a change, taking her out of libero and making her a DS so she can really free up that back row attack. She hits it as hard as anybody I've seen around. We just need to find a way to generate some offense."
Rhinelander hosts Medford this evening for a GNC dual meet and travels to Lakeland on Thursday.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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