Late leads slip as Hodag volleyball swept at Antigo

ANTIGO — The Rhinelander High School volleyball team continues to find ways to be competitive in the majority of Great Northern Conference sets it has played this year. Winning those close sets has been a different challenge altogether. 

Rhinelander had three chances with the lead past the 15-point mark on Tuesday but came away empty-handed in a three-set sweep at Antigo to close out conference play.

Key Antigo runs down the stretch — 5-0 in the first set, 7-1 in the second and 11-2 in the third — proved to be the difference as the Robins won 25-22, 25-21, 25-18. At this point, it comes down to intangibles for his team, Hodag coach Dan Wolter said.

“I think it’s just consistency and, getting down the stretch finding that way to win,” he said. “We were ahead and just kind of let them slide away at the end. It’s just finding that extra gear to finish a set out and get a win.

“There were good sets. We played good ball. The serve-receive looked better at times … Pleased overall, but wish we could have gotten a W.”

    Rhinelander’s Kelsi Beran (11) and Macey Schmoeger (9) go after a ball during the first set of a GNC volleyball match in Antigo Tuesday, Oct. 10. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Rhinelander forged ahead 22-20 in a back-and-forth first set that was tied on 14 separate occasions. A pair of aces by Lily Treder as part of a 4-0 run put the Hodags up two, but Macey Schmoeger missed an attack into the net and Lucy Lindner was off target with a pass to get Antigo even at 22 apiece. From there, back-to-back block kills by Ava Jaje and Jenna Czerneski put the Robins ahead and Tristin Arlen was able to use a quick set to catch the Hodag defense off guard and get the ball to the floor for game point. 

Rhinelander led for much of the early stages of the second. After Antigo took a brief 14-13 lead, Treder had a kill followed by a block out of bounds by Czerneski to put Rhinelander back in front. The Hodags, however, has six service errors in the set. One by Emma Chiamulera gave the ball back to the Robins and started a 7-1 run that allowed Antigo to take control. Rhinelander got within 24-21 off a net violation, but Lindner missed the following serve to put Antigo up 2-0 in the match.

It was a similar story in the third as the Hodags went ahead 16-14 on a Treder kill, but then did not have another putaway the remainder of the match. A tip kill by Arlen followed by back-to-back Hodag attacking errors gave the Robins the lead for good.

“That first set we didn’t have a service errors. No service errors and five aces. That was big for just that first set,” Wolter said. “As the night went on, I think we had six in the second, which hurt us a little bit there and, again, just too many missed opportunities on serve-receive. We just didn’t pass the ball consistently enough to run good offense.”

Antigo found ways to mix up its offense on the night. Lola Cornelius unofficially finished with 12 kills and the Robins were able to catch Rhinelander on either quick set or tip kills on 11 different occasions in the match.

“When they needed to find them, the found them,” Wolter said. “Cornelius and Jaje are tough on the outside, both good players. (Cornelius) does a good job of mixing her shots up when she needs to get a point.”

Treder finished with a team-high seven kills for Rhinelander. Kelsi Beran added five kills and three aces to go along with three blocks. Lindner had 19 assists and 10 digs, Libbey Buchmann had 15 digs and Emma Chiamulera had 12 digs. The Hodags finished the night only 83% on the serve with 10 errors as a team.

Rhinelander (13-22, 1-11 Great Northern) was set to close out its regular season Thursday night against Crandon in a match that concluded after press time for today’s edition. 

Meanwhile, the Hodags’ WIAA tournament draw came out earlier this week. Rhinelander is the No. 11 seed in a 14-team half sectional and will face sixth-seeded Tomahawk on Tuesday to open the Division 2 playoffs. 

Rhinelander played a competitive match against the GNC runner-up Hatchets at home last week, falling in four sets 27-25, 25-18, 23-25, 25-21.

“I was happy with that, which we could have gotten up into that 10-spot but I was happy,” Wolter said. “We get to go see a team that we’re familiar with. This is our third time seeing them now and if we keep playing good volleyball, playing scrappy and keeping in points we can definitely fight with them. We’ve proved it before. Last time when they were at our place we fought with them really tough and I think we can continue to do that with them.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].