October 14, 2021 at 8:17 a.m.
Hodag volleyball finishes winless in GNC play
Hodag volleyball finishes winless in GNC play
The Hodags wound up 0-12 in conference play after falling to Medford, Northland Pines and Mosinee Saturday in Mosinee during the second round of the GNC tournament.
The good news for Rhinelander was each of the four matches was more competitive. The Hodags scored more points the second time around compared to the first meeting with each of the four teams.
"We had a lot of very long, long rallies, which is a great sign to see coming into the end of the year - from where we started to where we are right now," Hodag coach Dan Wolter said. "It's been a long journey, but they have definitely been showing improvement and we're competing in games now. That's good to see coming toward playoff time."
Early runs did Rhinelander in during Tuesday's match at Lakeland. The Hodags spotted Lakeland the first six points in the first set as they fell 25-15. In the second Rhinelander gave up a 9-1 run to fall behind 12-4 before fighting back to within 13-12. Lakeland called a timeout at that point and the Hodags put the ensuing server out of bounds, sparking a 5-0 run for the T-Birds. Lakeland later used another 5-0 run to win 25-15 and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
"We kind of hit a serve-receive lull where they rifled off five, six point and took a lead that we couldn't battle back from," Wolter said. "That's kind of been our issue for most of the year. Either we start with that lull or it hits us midway through the game and we just can't find a way to climb back in and stop the service run."
Rhinelander held the lead briefly in the third set before Lakeland took control with a 5-0 run to go ahead 9-5. The T-Birds steadily increased the lead to 22-13 before Rhinelander closed the match on a 7-3 run to get to within five points at the end.
Ariel Pauer had seven kills, three block solos and two block assists to lead Rhinelander on Tuesday night. As a team, Rhinelander had seven block kills in the match and several other instances where the front row affected Lakeland's attack.
"Our block and our defense was exceptional again," Wolter said. "We had 20 touches on them on the block. We did a good job of making them hit around us. We had a lot of digs and everything off that block. That was important tonight and it really kept us in that third game."
Ava Lamers had six kills and nine digs. Addi DeMeyer chipped in nine assists while Reagan Hartman had 10 digs and Carly Schmidt had nine digs.
Meg Pfannerstill led Lakeland with 16 kills.
GNC tournament
The Hodags were swept in all three matches this past Saturday at the GNC tournament, falling to Medford 25-15, 25-21, 25-11; Northland Pines 25-14, 25-9, 26-24 and Mosinee 25-9, 25-16, 25-18.
"I was very proud of how the girls played today," Wolter said after Saturday's matches. "They really stepped up and competed. We've just got to find a way to win."
Rhinelander pushed a set to extra points for the first time in conference this year in the loss against Northland Pines, but was unable to hold on to a late five-point lead to extend the match.
"I think we were up 21-16 and just couldn't close out those final four points," Wolter said. "Pines made a good little service run on us for three points or so and kind of chipped back into it and we just couldn't get a ball down. Their defense played tough against us too down the stretch. It was an intense game."
Lamers had 15 kills and 25 digs on the day to lead Rhinelander. Pauer had nine kills, 20 digs and nine block solos, DeMeyer had 19 assists and Hartman chipped in 24 digs.
Playoffs ahead
The Hodags drew the 14th seed in a 15-team regional bracket during a seeding meeting on Monday and will open the WIAA tournament at third-seeded Merrill this coming Tuesday. The Hodags wound up ahead of one-win Marinette in the seeding, which allowed the team to avoid a long road trip to second-seeded Winneconne in the first round.
"We avoided the long road trip," Wolter said. "We have what is a pretty young Merrill team down there. I haven't watched any film or really seen them play yet. I know they're a good team. Merrill always is. They play in a very tough conference, playing pretty much Division 1 teams. I'm expecting to have a very solid team but, if we can get our passing and get clicking on all three phases, I think we can definitely make a competitive game out of it."
The Bluejays (17-9) currently sit third in the Wisconsin Valley Conference standings.
Rhinelander (4-25) closes out the regular season in a six-team invite at Wausau West on Saturday.
"Saturday we're going to get through some rotations and get some playing time for everybody down there," Wolter said. "We've got five games, a lot of volleyball to be played and try to get some momentum going into Tuesday."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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