Short-handed Hodag volleyball team swept by Medford

An already thin Rhinelander High School volleyball squad was even thinner on Thursday night as it was swept on the road by Medford 25-12, 25-13, 25-13.

Already down top offensive threats Libbey Buchmann (knee) and Ava Rathbun (ankle) to extended injuries, the Hodags were without their top attacking option in their stead, Olivia Ruetz (illness), on Thursday. Starting setter Kylie Treder (knee) also missed the contest. 

Coach Jayme Wyss said, considering the circumstances, the Hodags did well against last year’s Great Northern Conference co-champions.

“We definitely did better later on,” she said. “The first set was really rough. But honestly, like, I didn’t know if we’d even hit double digits and we did. We could hold our own. We’re not winning. We’re not close to winning, but at least we’re playing.”

With the additional scratches in the Hodag lineup, the team called up a pair of sophomores from the junior varsity squad Thursday who both made significant impacts. Ellie Cummings led the team with four kills on the night while Mady Treder recorded two block solos and a block assist — tying for the team lead in that category with freshman Corynn Waksmonski.

    Rhinelander’s Mady Treder bumps the ball during a GNC volleyball match at Medford Thursday, Oct. 10. (Matt Frey/Star News)
  

“Here I have Ellie and Mady, who never even really practiced as a team with us. All of a sudden it’s like, ‘Hey, I’m giving you both jerseys. These are your roles tonight.’ And they did really, really good,” Wyss said. “The most exciting parts were all the blocks. We had big blocks off, and then at least two of Ellie’s kills were like power tips. And they were like really good, strong power tips. She’s just a very quick player. But  (she was) really power tipping it down with good placement around the block. And they were big blockers.” 

Freshman Addy Wiczek stepped into the lead setter role with Kylie Treder out and recorded five assists.

“Addy did a good job,” Wyss noted. “Lately I’ve been playing Addy more in the front and Kylie more in the back. Kylie has a better serve. Although Addy did get, if not an ace it was like near (an ace) or two. At least she made him scramble … So there were things that I missed about Kylie and just some of Kylie’s flow, but Addy stepped up and did a really good job running it the whole time.”

Aside from 1-0 Rhinelander advantages in the second and third sets, Medford led wire-to-wire in the match. The Hodags made a mini push to get within 11-7 in the first set but Medford rescinded with a 7-1 from there to build a 10-point margin. It was a similar story in the second as the Hodags were within 10-6 before Medford went on an 8-2 run to lead 18-8 again. Medford added out to a 9-2 lead in the third set and were up 21-7 late before the Hodags took six of the last 10 points. 

Maddie Paulson led Rhinelander with 10 digs while Kayla Skubal had eight. Cassidy Lindner recorded the team’s lone service ace of the night.

The loss dropped Rhinelander to 2-28 overall on the season and locked Rhinelander into the No. 8 seed for this coming weekend’s GNC tournament, sitting at 0-6 in conference play. Even though the Hodags have taken their lumps this season, Wyss said — given the number of underclassmen who have been pressed into significant roles this year — the experience will help for the future.

“I also see a lot of good from these young players. So I think that’s exciting, we’re just really raw yet. So I hope a lot of them play over the winter as well,” she said.

Rhinelander rounds out round-robin play in the GNC tonight when it hosts Merrill at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].