Hatchets sweep Hodag volleyball out of playoffs

TOMAHAWK — The Rhinelander High School volleyball team had a chance Tuesday night to extend the most successful season it has had in six years by at least a set but was unable to do so. 

The 11th-seeded Hodags pushed the sixth-seeded Tomahawk Hatchets to extra points in the third set, but came up short in a 25-13, 25-20, 28-26 loss at Hatchet Fieldhouse.

The Hodags has set point, up 26-25 in the third, looking to stave off elimination, but a service error by Macey Schmoeger followed by a net violation and an attacking error by Kelsi Beran ended Rhinelander’s season with a 13-23 record. 

“It’s a tough way to go out, going extras in the third, and leading both that second set for quite a ways and then not being able to finish it out, same with the third,” Hodag coach Dan Wolter said. “I think we had it 19-19, went down a couple of points, were able to climb back in and just weren’t able to find the floor. We had good opportunities to swing and that’s what you’ve got to do.”

The Hodags got progressively more competitive in each set on Tuesday, but had a tough time generating offense. Rhinelander had only 15 earned points in rallies — 13 kills and two block kills — during the match. Tomahawk had that many in the first set alone and had 33 putaways in the match. 

“They did a good job (running offense),” Wolter said. “We did a good job for a while there controlling their middles, but they were just able to kind of stay on offense. Our serve-receive just gave up too many free balls in the first two sets. In that third set, I thought we passed a lot better and obviously it showed with the score. We passed better and we got to swing and kept them out of system. We did that quite a bit in the third set, just weren’t able to do it enough in the first two.”

The Hodags came out sluggish in the first set as Tomahawk used an 8-2 run to take control and go ahead 15-8. The Hodags stabilized the margin for a few points, but Tomahawk scored the last five points, including two kills each by Siennah Calkins and Claire Albert, to go up 1-0 in the match. 

Rhinelander led for a while early in the second set but, as happened a number of times during the season, faded down the stretch. 

The Hodags were ahead 13-10 following back-to-back aces by Lilly Treder, but Tomahawk answered with an 11-3 spurt to go ahead 21-16. Rhinelander got back to within 23-20, but a missed attack by Schmoeger followed by a Macy Jankiewicz gave the Hatchets a 2-0 lead in the match. 

“The second set we adjusted a little with the block and were able to actually get a block up there a few times. The block definitely got a lot more touches. We played scrappy, I thought, at times but it just wasn’t enough,” Wolter said.

The Hodags led most of the way in the third, up 13-6 at one point when Tomahawk called a timeout. The Hatchets raced within 14-13 following the stoppage before the Hodags stabilized things. Rhinelander led 19-16 after a Libbey Buchmann tip kill, before Tomahawk rattled off four straight to go ahead 20-19. From there the teams traded runs, two points at a time. Chloe Buckwalter missed a serve on match point for Tomahawk that tied it at 24 and a kill by Buchmann gave the Hodags a chance to extend, up 25-24. Ava Krouze missed the following serve but the Hodags got another chance at set point, when Cadee Benaszeski missed an attack to put Rhinelander up 26-25. 

Serving, which was a struggle for Rhinelander late in the season, bit the Hodags  in the final set. Rhinelander missed 11 serves on the night — including six in the third. 

Buchmann led the Hodags with four kills on the night and added eight digs. Treder, Beran, Lexi Robinson and Schmoeger had two kills each as Rhinelander finished the night minus-.026 on the attack — with 15 errors and 13 kills in 78 chances. 

Ava Krouze had a team-high five assists and Emma Chiamulera recorded 14 digs. 

After the game, Wolter thanked his senior class for the efforts in trying to turn around the program. The Hodags had more wins in each successive season during the group’s four-year run — from zero in 2020, to four in 2021, to nine last year and 13 this year. 

This year’s graduating class includes Treder, Robinson, Chiamulera, Ava Krouze, Mya Krouze, Maddie Ewan, Alyssa Smits and Etanye White.

“A lot of those girls put in a lot of work, especially this offseason, to get to where we are,” Wolter said. “It’s a progression thing. Last year I think we had eight or nine wins. This year we had 13. It’s a slow progression and we’re making steps. I thanked them for being part of that and the work that they’ve put in.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].