September 26, 2022 at 8:47 a.m.
Hodag volleyball gets back into win column at Phillips Invite
Hodag volleyball gets back into win column at Phillips Invite
The Hodags went 1-2 in pool play, rallying for a three-set win in the pool finale against Chequamegon. From there, Rhinelander won matches against Bruce and Elcho in the lower bracket to finish fifth overall on the day.
The victories were Rhinelander's first since winning a pair of matches in the final day of the Friendship Tournament Aug. 26 in Wisconsin Dells.
"It's always good to get a few wins as a tournament and to play well down the stretch," Hodag coach Dan Wolter said. "We really came back from our losses in the first round and were able to kind of recover and fight and win three games at the end."
Rhinelander started the day with losses to a pair of competitive small-school teams, falling 25-17, 25-10 to Prentice and 25-15, 25-15 to Florence.
"Both really good teams," Wolter noted. "Prentice is in our summer league so we kind of knew what they had. We just struggled that first game against them with our serve-receive. They served tough against us. Our defense played really well, but we just weren't able to get in system enough to run enough offense against them. We stayed in some long rallies against them. Defensively, we played tough, just not enough on the offensive end."
Rhinelander then dropped the first set against Chequamegon 25-17. The Hodags rallied to take the second set 25-16 and the third 15-10 to get back in the win column for the first time in nearly a month.
"We definitely played with a lot more urgency in the second two sets, which was good to see after going down one," Wolter said. "We really battled through taking a couple of losses to start the day to really come together as a team and get the second two sets."
From there, the Hodags controlled Bruce - a tiny northwestern Wisconsin school that the Hodags beat three times in 2021 - 25-11, 25-8. The Hodags recorded 14 aces in the two sets against Bruce, according to statistics kept by the team. Rhinelander then closed out the day with a 25-13, 25-15 win over Elcho.
Rhinelander had four players finish the day with double digit kills, led by Ava Lamers with 14 and Kelsi Beran with 14. Lexi Robinson chipped in 12 kills and Lily Treder had 11.
"Our girls started hitting with a better percentage and getting the ball to the floor," Wolter said. "That's important and that's something that we've been working on the last couple weeks, is getting our offense in system and getting kills out of that. I think the last three sets, we did a good job of that. Our serving was tough in those sets and that helps, to score points on the serve as well."
The Hodags were without primary setter Maddi Roeser on Saturday. Junior Ava Krouze stepped in to lead the way with 26 assists, Morgan Boutelle had 20 assists and Emma Chiamulera chipped in nine helpers from her libero position.
"Those last three sets we had assists from not just our setters, but multiple girls on the court, which was good to see them kind of stepping in and playing a ball," Wolter said. "We always want our setters on second contact, but they did a good job of working together and stepping in."
Chiamulera also had a team-high 20 digs, Lamers had 16 digs and Krouze chipped in 14 digs. Lamers finished with 12 aces on the day while Beran had nine. Lexi Robinson added four total blocks.
Rhinelander (9-15, 0-6 Great Northern) hops back into GNC play tonight at home against Medford. The Raiders swept the Hodags 25-12, 25-10, 25-8 in the conference tournament Sept. 17 at Northland Pines. Rhinelander has also picked up a non-conference match at Wausau Newman for this coming Thursday.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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