August 22, 2022 at 2:34 p.m.
Team preview: RHS volleyball
Team preview: RHS volleyball
Even though the Hodags will have a relatively young squad again this year, breaking an 0-for-45 slide in league play is among the priorities for second-year head coach Dan Wolter.
"Our goal for conference is to get some conference wins and compete with those teams and just kind of battle throughout the year." he said.
The conference slate begins in a week and a half at Antigo, but the Hodags will build into league play beginning today as they host a four-team invite at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
Rhinelander's roster includes five seniors. That number is essentially four, however, as setter Addi DeMeyer recently underwent surgery to repair a troublesome ankle and is expected to miss the entire season.
Ava Lamers headlines the list of returning players. She led the team in kills (117) and attacking percentage (.116) among those who had at least 50 attempts last year. She was also second on the team in digs (139), second in service aces (17) and fourth in total blocks (20).
With DeMeyer out for the year, Maddi Roeser assumes the No. 1 setter role. She had 94 assists a season ago, second only to DeMeyer.
"They'll be senior leaders on this team and important factors into this," Wolter said. "With only having five seniors on the staff, we're a pretty young squad again. The girls have made some big strides coming into this year with doing open gyms and lifting and it's definitely shown."
Morgan Boutelle, who is battling for the second setting spot with junior Ava Krouze, and Allie Dornfeld (19 kills, 28 blocks) round out the senior quintet.
Behind that, the Hodags are looking for some underclassmen to step up. Sophomore Kesli Beran worked her way into a significant role on varsity last year and finished second on the team in both kills (57) and total blocks (59). Wolter said he projects Lamers and Beran as versatile six-rotation players for his squad. Others returning who saw some varsity action last year include juniors Lexi Robinson and Mya Krouze, and sophomore Macey Schmoeger.
"We definitely have another younger group, a lot of underclassmen but, hopefully they can step up," Wolter said. "We did have a few freshmen that made their way up on varsity last year to get some game experience toward the end of the year with Kesli Beran and Macey Schmoeger. Hopefully they grew a little bit and were able to pick up on a few things from the varsity level last year and we can build off that."
Rhinelander's biggest hole to fill entering the is in the back row where it graduated its lone all-conference player from a season ago - libero Reagan Hartman. She led the team in digs (157) and was also the team's best server (.947%, 24 aces). Wolter said junior Emma Chiamulera is penciled in at libero to start the year.
"Hopefully, she's ready to step up into that row, be part of that back row and play solid defense for us," he said.
Rhinelander also graduated fellow defensive specialist Carly Schmidt, who was third on the team with 124 digs. Making sure the back row in order, both on serve-receive and during the point, will be key to keep the Hodags in system.
"We've been working on it really hard the last few days and it's getting better," he said. "That's always a big, big factor, to actually get the ball into the setter's hands and not make them chase and run around the court."
The Hodags will begin the season the same way they did last year, with a four-team invite featuring Elcho, Hurley and Chequamegon today in the Miazga Gym. The Hodags went 1-2 in that invite, beating Elcho, two sets to one. Rhinelander lost to Hurley in straight sets before falling to Chequamegon in three sets.
Rhinelander scored its remaining three wins of last year against Bruce. Two of victories came during the Friendship Tournament in Wisconsin Dells, where the Hodags will return this Thursday and Friday.
"The goal is to get back into fully competitive games and hopefully win a few and kind of ride that start of the season and build some momentum going into our conference schedule and work toward getting some Ws on the board this year," Wolter said.
As for the conference, while there are no easy outs, Wolter suspects last year's top two in the conference, Mosinee and Tomahawk, will remain strong.
"It's a tough conference every year," he said. "I know Tomahawk's got a lot returning. Mosinee, I don't think they even rebuild, they just regenerate players. They're two tough teams at the top. Both of them made pretty good runs last year in the playoffs and I expect them to do it again this year."
After today's opener, the Hodags will have four other home dates during the fall, including Oct. 8, when they will host the second leg of the Great Northern Conference tournament.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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