September 20, 2021 at 8:35 a.m.
Slow starts cost Hodag volleyball at conference
Slow starts cost Hodag volleyball at conference
Rhinelander went 0-2 on the day, falling in straight sets to both Antigo and Tomahawk in the first Great Northern Conference tournament of the season in Medford. The third set was by far the most competitive for Rhinelander in both matches, but the Hodags dropped to 0-5 in league play and 3-12 overall.
"We really struggled with our serve receive the first two sets again, just too many freeballs and not enough kills," coach Dan Wolter said. "In the third set, we got things calmed down a little bit. We started getting the ball into our setter's hands and played with them for quite a while there. It was good to see a good spurt of play that was pretty consistent. They fought and stayed in points, which was great."
That was especially true against Antigo. After dropping the first set 25-14, the Hodags were routed 25-5 in the second but bounced back with a narrow 25-23 loss in the third set.
"They did a good job of reseting and buckling down, making sure we were doing the things we have to do to stay in games," Wolter noted. "Ariel Pauer went on a big service run in the middle of that game, actually put us up by two, but we just couldn't hold to it."
Rhinelander struggled against Tomahawk's height in its second match, dropping the first two sets 25-8, 25-10, but again found a little more success in the third with a 25-19 defeat.
"We couldn't get a ball past Meghan Scholz there. She's a big block to hit around," Wolter said, referencing Tomahawk's talented junior middle. "She's a very good player and we had a hard time getting the ball around her and just scoring points to start that game. We passed, I thought, reasonably well but just didn't stay in the point enough or didn't produce kills when we needed too."
After producing only eight kills last Tuesday in a straight-set loss to Northland Pines, Rhinelander did a better job of getting swings for its front row players on Saturday. The team had 12 kills against Antigo and 15 against Tomahawk. Junior Ava Lamers led the way with 10 kills while freshman Kelsi Beran had six.
"I think the majority of it was we stayed in points a little bit better today, which can be defeating at times when you're in a long volley and don't win that point, but they did a good job of popping balls up and keeping them in the air to live to fight another day," Wolter said. "We're getting our swings, we've just got to convert on them."
Addi DeMeyer had 14 assists and 15 digs. Carly Schmidt had 20 digs. Pauer had eight blocks for Rhinelander and Beran chipped in seven blocks.
The Hodags return to Medford tonight to face the Raiders in a conference matchup. Medford played three lengthy matches on Saturday, defeating Tomahawk in four sets before splitting a pair of five-set matches with Lakeland and Antigo.
"They looked pretty tough. I think they beat Tomahawk and lost to Lakeland, but they are scrappy," Wolter said. "Their defense is everywhere and you've got to find the floor on them in order to score points."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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