September 27, 2021 at 8:39 a.m.
RHS volleyball gets back in the win column
RHS volleyball gets back in the win column
The Hodags downed Bruce in straight sets to conclude Saturday's Phillips Invite with a 1-5 record. Rhinelander twice beat Bruce during the Friendship Tournament in Wisconsin Dells last month, winning both matches in straight sets. The same held true on Saturday as the Hodags picked up a 25-22, 25-16 win.
Three of Rhinelander's four victories this season have come against the small northwestern Wisconsin high school with an enrollment of 140 students.
"We passed the ball well against Bruce and we kept our serves in bounds. That was the biggest thing, we minimized the service errors," Rhinelander coach Dan Wolter said. "We ended the day with a W, that's always good. Hopefully we can carry some of this momentum into Tomahawk on Thursday."
The Hodags started play in the seven-team round robin with a 25-17, 25-11 loss to Ladysmith and then fell to GNC rival Lakeland 25-16, 25-18.
After lunch, Rhinelander lost to Phillips 25-11, 25-8. The Hodags then lost to Prentice 25-13, 25-20 and Florence 25-13, 25-17 before ending the day with a victory.
"We started off the day really well, getting a lot of swings," Wolter said. "Our serve-receive looked good for our first three games. Then the lunch break hit and we struggled getting the serve-receive back against Phillips and against Prentice. We got it back for game (five) against Florence a little bit."
Senior Ariel Pauer had her strongest day of the season, leading Rhinelander with 15 kills and 14 total blocks.
Kelsi Beran added 14 kills and 4 1/2 blocks while Allie Dornfeld had five kills and 5 1/2 blocks.
"Our block today was very good again, a lot of touches on ball, a lot of blocks for Ariel again and Kelsi and Allie. They all were pretty big on their strong side hitters and in the middle," Wolter said.
Maddi Roeser had 17 assists and six service aces for Rhinelander, Ava Lamers had 11 kills and 24 digs, Carly Schmidt had 24 digs and Addi DeMeyer added 14 assists.
"We got a lot of playing time for everybody today, a lot of new rotations. That was good to see," Wolter noted.
Phillips 3, Rhinelander 0
Saturday was Rhinelander's second trip to Phillips in three days. The Hodags fell to the Loggers in straight sets in a non-conference match Thursday night, 25-12, 25-15, 25-12.
Wolter said the Loggers are a strong team that would match up favorably against a number of GNC schools. To wit, Phillips defeated Lakeland in two sets during Saturday's tournament.
"Phillips is a tough team. I think they were a No. 1 seed last year in their regional," he said. "I was hoping we'd be stepping up and compete with them, but we struggled again tonight with our serve receive. I think we had 18 misplayed balls off serve receive. We never really got in system. Same old story, if you can't get in system, you're not going to be able to run offense."
As it was on Saturday, the Hodags front line was the highlight. Beran had four kills and four total blocks in the match while Pauer had two kills and four blocks.
"I believe we had nine blocks on the night, which was very impressive, along with a handful of touches and send backs," Wolter said. "Our block defense and our defense played well. We just struggled on the serve-receive end."
Roeser and DeMeyer had three assists each on Thursday, DeMeyer added a pair of service aces while Schmidt, Rivers Eagleson and Roeser were all credited with two digs.
Rhinelander (4-19, 0-6 Great Northern) will face Tomahawk on Thursday at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium. The Hodags fell to the Hatchets 25-8, 25-10, 25-19 during the GNC tournament Sept. 18 in Medford.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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