RHS volleyball fades vs. Antigo, GNC losing streak continues

The Rhinelander High School volleyball team was unable to close out close sets Thursday night as it opened the Great Northern Conference season with a loss to Antigo.

The Hodags fell to the Robins 25-21, 25-19, 25-20 at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium. The loss was Rhinelander’s 58th straight in conference play dating back to 2017. 

Though the Hodags were competitive in each set, they struggled to find a way to come out on top. 

“We hung in tough and hung with them the whole time I thought,” coach Dan Wolter said. “At no time did I really feel we were out of any one of the sets, which is great to see that we’re fighting. Just too many mistakes on the service line and serve-receive. We’ll clean it up for next week.”

Rhinelander led 14-9 at one point of the first set, but Antigo went on an 8-2 run after a timeout to go ahead 17-16. The Hodags got back to even and 19-all on a Lily Treder kill, but Lexi Robinson missed the following serving and Antigo’s Lola Cornelius served up aces on three of the next four points to help the Robins to close out the set. 

“We got off to a good lead there in the first set and the serve-receive fell apart, they got on a big service run and we just couldn’t get out of it. Inopportune times as well with missed serves,” Wolter said.

Rhinelander held a 16-15 lead in the second set when Antigo received an administrative yellow card after serving out of order. There was a several-minute delay to clear up the confusion and Treder’s serve found the net once play resumed. Tristin Arlen followed with an ace for Antigo, which rolled off eight of nine points to take a 23-17 lead before closing out the set. 

Rhinelander trailed much of the third set, but rallied on an 8-1 run to tie it at 18-all. Treder was called for a net violation on the next point and Antigo followed with three put aways as part of a 5-0 run. The Hodags got back to within 23-20 on a Libbey Buchmann ace, but a tip kill by Jenna Czerneski followed by an attack long by Robinson ended the match. 

The Hodags have struggled to be competitive in many sets over their long conference skid. Rhinelander took only two sets last year in league play. Wolter said part of the building process for the team is getting itself in the close sets and, eventually, finding a way to win them.

“That’s finding a way to win and buckling down in those last seven, eight points and just not letting them get the momentum there at the end and keep firing at them,” he said.

    Rhinelander’s Kelsi Beran attempts to block a tip by Antigo’s Tristin Arlen during the first set of a GNC volleyball match at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium Thursday, Aug. 31. Beran had a team-high five kills for Rhinelander in the match. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

The Hodags spread the attack around again on Thursday, with six different players recording multiple kills. Kelsi Beran led the way with five kills while Robinson and Buchmann had four each. Lucy Lindner tallied 16 assists in the match. 

“We kept them off balance I little I think. That’s important. Spread it around and make them move their feet to play a ball,” Wolter said.

Emma Chiamulera and Tori Stella had four digs each for Rhinelander while Treder added three digs and four blocks. Lindner also chipped in five aces on the service line. 

“I thought we did a good job cleaning up a lot of the tips and the longer volleys that we had going on. That was good to see,” Wolter said. “I thought our defense played pretty well, just weren’t able to get enough balls in system and to the floor.”

Rhinelander (7-4, 0-1 Great Northern) will host Lakeland this coming Thursday at the Miazga Gym. The T-Birds, with one of the top returning attackers in the conference in Meg Pfannerstill, are considered to be one of the early-season contenders in the GNC. They opened conference play with a three-set win at Medford on Thursday.  

“Lakeland’s going to be a tough team. They’ve got a couple of upperclassmen in that roster and obviously Meg is a threat at all times when she’s on the court,” Wolter said. “We’ve got to prepare and if we pass the ball and stay in system, we can go out there and fight and win games.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].