Hodag volleyball falls to Merrill

The Rhinelander High School volleyball team couldn’t dig itself out from early deficits on Tuesday as it concluded Great Northern Conference dual meet play with a straight-set loss to Merrill at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.

Rhinelander fell 25-19, 25-16, 15-14 in the match. Coach Jayme Wyss said the Hodags hoped to start fast to catch the Bluejays off guard, but fell behind 6-0 to start the opening set and played from behind much of the night. 

“For us to just come out so slow, when I said, ‘You guys need to come out hard and catch them surprised, and just roll with it and shut them down,’ and then we just couldn’t do that. That kind of stuff’s frustrating,” she said. “It’s not like we didn’t have the potential or capability of taking at least one set. But when you get caught and you’re always fighting to come back from something (it’s difficult). The first deficit was 0-6, beginning of the first set. We lose by six points. (We need to) just come out stronger than that.”

Though the Hodags fell down six early in the set, the gap stabilized for the most part from there. Rhinelander closed with in three on a couple of occasions, including down 14-11 before Merrill went on an 8-2 run to lead 22-13. Rhinelander responded with a 6-2 push and staved off a couple of set points before the Bluejays took the opener. 

Rhinelander tied the second set at 6 early, but the Bluejays scored 10 of the next 13 points to go ahead 15-9 and cruised from there. The Hodags held leads of 4-1 and 6-4 early in the third set, but Merrill went on a 16-2 run from there and coasted home to the win. 

“We get stuck in these slumps that we don’t need to, and then just make a whole bunch of bad choices,” Wyss said. “I understand when it’s young players making poor choices. That makes sense we’re young and we’re learning. But sometimes it’s not coming from them.” 

Wyss said while Merrill’s attack was predictable, the Hodags had a difficult time adjusting.

“I thought our blocks were weaker. They were more predictable, so outside was cross, cross, cross, mid cross — like stuff you can definitely dig and get up,” she said. “The right side would often tip right over the corner and would often burn us there.”

Olivia Ruetz, back after missing last Thursday match at Medford due to illness, paced the Hodags with five kills while sophomore Ellie Cummings, in her second varsity match, had two kills and no errors in seven chances. Wyss said Cummings’ emergence allowed her to shift Ruetz back to the outside. 

“Olivia’s looked really good on outside, and it gives Olivia more time to adjust — which I think is helpful, because sometimes she will get trapped and then resort to tipping, which she’s been fairly effective at, but you lose out on some of her. She leading us in kills and she had two errors, but she still swung at 25%. Ecstatic about that,” she said. “Ellie, this is only her second varsity match and again, just dominating when she’s in the front. It would have been nice to see her get the ball more. Like, she got the ball seven times, stayed clean. Staying clean makes a big difference. So she swung at 29%.”

Kylie Treder was back in the lineup after missing last Thursday’s match (knee) and recorded seven assists while Addy Wiczek had four assists. 

Senior Kayla Skubal led the team with 10 digs and was 11 for 11 serving with a pair of aces. 

“She served the most and had the most aces with two, and no missed serves. What a difference that makes,” Wyss noted. “We didn’t have many missed serves, only three missed serves all night, which is pretty impressive.” 

    Rhinelander’s Kenzie Paulson goes up for an attack during a GNC volleyball match against Merrill at the Jim Miazga community Gymnasium Tuesday, Oct. 7. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Tuesday was Rhinelander’s Pink Out game for breast cancer awareness. The Hodags wore pink jerseys for the match and there were raffles and events throughout the evening to support the cause. 

It was part of a greater initiative throughout the Great Northern Conference that will culminate at tomorrow’s GNC tournament in Eagle River. Money is being raised for Breast Cancer Recovery, an organization helps breast cancer survivors heal emotionally through inspiring, survivor-led retreats that provide comfort, connection, and support at every stage of breast cancer. Money raised from the initiative will go to sponsor retreats for those in GNC communities inflicted by the disease.

Initial reports from the team indicated that $1,250 was collected during the evening and the conference has raised nearly $3,800 so far.

The Hodags (2-29, 0-7 Great Northern) were locked into the No. 8 seed for tomorrow’s tournament regardless of Tuesday’s outcome. Rhinelander will face top-seeded Mosinee first after the Indians locked up the top seed with a straight-set win at Lakeland on Tuesday. Lakeland finished as the No. 2 seed, followed by Medford. 

Rhinelander could possibly see Merrill again in second round, or Northland Pines, as the Bluejays finished with the No. 4 seed and Pines was No. 5. Tomahawk will enter the tournament as the sixth seed and Antigo will be the seventh seed. 

Rhinelander will close out regular season play with a non-conference match against Hurley this coming Monday at the Miazga Gym.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].