Hodag volleyball goes 2-1 in home quad

The Rhinelander High School volleyball team finished on a strong note Tuesday, which it hopes will carry over throughout the season.

The Hodags staged rallies in their final two matches to finish 2-1 on the day in their home quadrangular meet in the Hodag Dome. Following a straight set loss to Spencer to open the day, the Hodags rallied for a three-set win over Hurley and then erased a 20-11 first set deficit to sweep Chetek-Weyerhauser in straight sets. 

“The first one we came out a little slow. I don’t know, first games of the season, maybe just a little nerves, not sure. But we dropped the first one,” Hodag coach Dan Wolter said. “We fought back in the second one against Hurley and was able to pull that out, which was great to see. We didn’t give up on that and got the win. Then we went and took care of business.”

Rhinelander held a lead at some point in every set, but could not close the deal in the first match against Spencer. The Hodags rallied from down 18-12 to take a 20-19 lead on a kill by senior Lexi Robinson. Spencer scored the next four points to go up 23-19, Rhinelander rallied to tie it at 24, but a passing error followed by a Hannah Schreiner ace gave the Rockets a 26-24 win. 

Rhinelander led 12-9 in the second set, but Spencer followed by scoring six of the next seven points. The Hodags were within 17-15 before Spencer closed the match on a 8-1 run. 

    Rhinelander’s Libbey Buchmann (22) and Lily Treder (14) put up a double block against Hurley’s Sydney Saari during a non-conference volleyball match in the Hodag Dome Tuesday, Aug. 22. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

It was a similar story in the first set against Hurley. The Hodags staved off three set points and rallied to take a 25-24 lead on the Northstars, but a tip kill by Haily Dzuira and a pair of attacking errors on Rhinelander gave Hurley a 27-25 win.

Things changed in the second game as Rhinelander began to swing more freely. The Hodags used an early 11-2 run to build a 14-6 lead and never looked back, taking the set 25-13. Thirteen of the Hodags points in that match came on kills. 

“As they felt more comfortable they kind of got into the flow of the game a little bit,” Wolter said. “That always helps and they definitely took advantage of it.”

The Hodags carried that momentum into the third set. They used a 7-1 run to break a 5-all tie and eventually claimed the match 15-7. It marked the second straight year Rhinelander defeated Hurley in three sets in the invite. 

The Hodags thought they had gotten within 12-8 in the opening set against Chetek-Weyerhauser, but were called for an illegal substitution due to a clerical error. The Hodags eventually fell behind nine before the Bulldogs began to falter. Macey Schmoeger had a kill that kicked off a 10-1 run that was peppered with Chetek errors and tied the set at 21. After the Bulldogs scored two straight, two more errors followed by a Schmoeger ace gave the Hodags set point up 24-23. Schmoeger missed the serve, but Chetek gave it back on an error on the next point and sophomore Libbey Buchmann finished with a kill to give Rhinelander a 26-24 win.

“Things got a little dicey in the first set of the Chetek game. I had an incorrect lineup, which was my fault, and the girls fought through it, were able to pull that first one out,” Wolter said. “Coming back from a big deficit like that, they didn’t quit. They didn’t give up and really fought. That was great to see. The team stayed in it the whole time and that’s what we’re going to need to do. We need to stay in games and stay in points and keep fighting as a team to get wins.”

The Hodags took advantage of a faulty serve-receive game for Chetek in the second set. Rhinelander collected seven aces in the set, including four in the first seven points. The Hodags raced out to a 17-4 lead and cruised from there. 

The Hodags went into the day with a number of question marks, after graduating leading attacker Ava Lamers and their top two setters from a year ago. Junior Lucy Lindner handled the lion’s share of the setting duties on Tuesday and finished the day with 35 assists. 

Rhinelander was also very balanced in its attack. Junior Callie Hoerchler let the way with 13 kills, Buchmann had 12, Schmoeger and Lexi Beran had nine each and Lily Treder had eight despite sitting out the final match with a sore ankle.

“A lot of that had to do with our passing,” Wolter said. “We were getting good balls in system. Lucy wasn’t scrambling around and having to try and set on the run. Passers did a good job setting her up and she did a good job getting a good ball in the air for girls to get to the ground. 

“Callie kind of flexed between that middle and outside today and had kills in both spots. It’s nice to have that outside presence with Libbey on that right side being able to swing and a weapon there. Having three, solid attackers in that rotation is helpful. It keeps a little pressure of the middles and allows the setters to push balls all over the place.”

Senior libero Emma Chiamulera, the lone returning all-conference player for the Hodags, had 32 digs in the back row. Treder had six total blocks up front. Rhinelander was also efficient on the serve with 20 aces compared to only 10 errors. Lindner and Buchmann had five aces each while Chiamulera chipped in four. On the flip side, opponents aced the Hodags only five times on Tuesday. 

“Our serve-receive we’ve been working very hard on it this year. It was good today. We had a few overpasses and a few that weren’t on target, but I think we passed at a high percentage that we have the past couple of years,” Wolter said. “That’s the thing. We’re running offense and we haven’t been able to do that consistently in a long time. We were able to consistently run offense today, get a lot of swings and a lot of attacks on balls where usually that first ball just eats us up and we don’t get an opportunity. We’ve got to continue to build on it and, hopefully, as the season goes on it even gets better.”

Rhinelander (2-1, 0-0 Great Northern) travels to Wisconsin Dells today and tomorrow for a two-day tournament.

“Going down there with high hopes and hopefully we’re a team that’s motivated and wants to keep winning here and see where the pool play leads us in the next few rounds down there,” Wolter said. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].