September 14, 2022 at 11:30 a.m.
Hodag volleyball swept by Mosinee
Hodag volleyball swept by Mosinee
Mosinee defeated Rhinelander 25-6, 25-22, 25-15 in GNC play at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium. It was Mosinee's 58th straight win in league play, and Rhinelander's 48th consecutive loss.
Hodag coach Dan Wolter said Mosinee's reputation certainly played a role as Rhinelander got off to a slow start in the opening set. After scoring the opening point, the Hodags eventually fell behind 11-3 when they called their first timeout and were down 20-5 when they spent their final timeout.
"They're always a good team," Wolter said. "They play some really good defense, have a few big swings. I think the nerves and just a little intimidation that first game got to us in that first game."
Mosinee mixed and matched some personnel in the second game and Rhinelander took advantage, leading much of the set. The Hodags led 18-14 following four straight Mosinee errors. Mosinee crawled back, though, taking the lead for good at 22-21 as MaKayla Weisner recorded one of her match-high 11 kills. Both teams traded errors before Weisner recorded another kill. Mosinee ended the second set on an ace by Jenna Toboyek.
"We had a great opportunity. We were leading most of that game up until the end and we had a few points that just didn't go our way and just couldn't put a ball down on the offensive side in the end," Wolter said. "But we battled hard. That's going to come from experience and just learning how to win games. When you play good teams like Mosinee, those games are harder to finish out. We just got to dig our heels when it gets down to the end of the game and score points.
"Game 2 we fought and played really great defense, I thought. We stayed in a lot of points and really battled with them, got some good swings. Our passing in Set 2 was tremendous compared to Set 1 and Set 3. It was good."
Rhinelander started slow in the third set, falling behind 12-3 at one point before keeping pace with Mosinee the rest of the way.
"Even though we were down 10, 11 points there, we fought hard until the end, were able to kind of chip into that (lead)," Wolter said. "We were able to pick up a few points at the end there and play with a little fire. That's good. They're not quitting on themselves, not quitting on the team. That's important when you get into games like that."
Ava Lamers led Rhinelander with four kills on the night. Allie Dornfeld, Macey Schmoeger and Kelsi Beran each had two kills as Rhinelander finished 11 of 47 on the attack with eight errors (.064 attacking percentage). Schmoeger also chipped in three assists and a team-high five digs on the night. Maddi Roeser had five assists while Beran and Lily Treder each had two block assists.
Alexis Jonas had eight kills for Mosinee and Tristan Wicklund added seven kills.
Rhinelander (6-10, 0-3 Great Northern) is getting set for two more difficult test on Saturday as it will face Tomahawk and Medford during the first round of the Great Northern Conference tournament at Northland Pines High School in Eagle River.
"Hopefully we can take some of the good things we did do at times and continue building on them and fix the mistakes that we did make," Wolter said. "We've got to bring that same fire that we brought in sets 2 and 3 for the whole day on Saturday. If we can put it together, and do that consistently and play with that mentality the whole way through, I think we can start competing and winning games in this."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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