Hodag volleyball goes 1-5 in Wisconsin Dells

The Rhinelander High School volleyball team won just one match last weekend, but it was enough to push the Hodags into the middle-tier bracket 24-team Friendship Tournament in Wisconsin Dells.

That win was a three-set victory over Oshkosh North in Friday’s crossover pool. The Hodags closed out that day on a positive note after suffering straight-set losses to Dodgeland, Sevastopol and Auburndale earlier in the day. Rhinelander then lost both of its matches in bracket play Saturday, falling in straight sets to Cambridge and Riverdale.

Hodag coach Jayme Wyss said, more than anything, the Labor Day weekend tournament was about giving a young Hodag squad some more experience before kicking off the Great Northern Conference slate. 

“There’s good elements and I’m just going to have to remind myself a lot, we are young,” Wyss said of a varsity roster than is includes five freshmen. “We have a lot of work to do. But there’s a lot more hope than like having a bunch of seniors and being like, we got a lot of work to do. So there’s good and bad. I don’t know. I think it’s just going to be a tough build.”

The highlight of the weekend was Friday’s narrow three-set win over Division 1 opponent Oshkosh North. After taking the first set 25-21, the Hodags dropped the second 25-15 but responded late in the third to pull out a 15-12 win in the decisive set. 

“Oshkosh North was fun. But again, it was just so intense,” Wyss said. “We won that first set and then,  we were not getting there on the second set. Third set it’s like you’re fighting tooth and nail every single point. Just hang in there, stay focused, play clean. It was play clean, play smart. I felt like we just played really clean and that’s, that’s what did it.” 

The Hodags finished second in their crossover pool after falling to Auburndale 25-18, 25-11. Rhinelander started the day going 0-2 in its initial pool, falling to Dodgeland 25-11, 25-15 and Sevastopol 25-23, 25-19.

On Saturday Rhinelander was swept 25-9, 25-21 by Cambridge and 25-20, 25-15 by Riverdale. The win against Oshkosh North pushed Rhinelander into a higher bracket, but Wyss said that was good for the development of her squad.

“It got us in the silver bracket and maybe we would have had more wins today if we wouldn’t have won yesterday. But at the same time, we’re getting pushed and we’re seeing what’s out there,” she said.

The weekend’s matches likely marked the last for senior Libbey Buchmann, who was set to undergo a procedure on her knee this week that’s expected to cost her the remainder of the volleyball season. She finished the tournament with eight kills, 40 assists, 34 digs and nine service aces. 

Losing Buchmann, its lone all-conference player from last season, makes a young Hodag squad even younger. Wyss commended her team for its heart and scrappiness and said, while it figures things out on offense will need to rely on defense to stay in points, sets and matches. 

“We have long volleys with teams. And it’s not just like they’re killing us one after another. We’re digging, moving,” she said. “And I feel like when we really struggle, it’s more because of our errors than us just not being able to respond. Sometimes, we get really beat down and we’re playing too reactive. But, really, it just comes down to our errors. I told the girls, ‘You can, you can beat good teams if you have good defense, you play smart, and you play clean.’”

Junior Ava Rathbun led the Hodags with 22 kills over the six matches, and was the only player to record multiple kills in every match. Aside from her presence up front, Wyss said Rathbun has taken steps to become more of a six-rotation player for the team — as evidenced by her team-high 41 digs over the weekend in the back row. 

“Ava played so well in the back. She was playing middle back and she would go all the way out to the corners picking up stuff on a deep line hit,” Wyss said. “Just really proud of how well she played.”

Junior Olivia Ruetz and freshman Corynn Waksmonski each finished the tournament with 12 kills, with Waksmonski adding four blocks. 

Freshman Kylie Treder, who figures to be relied upon more at setter in Buchmann’s absence, had 30 assists on the weekend. The Hodags had plenty of defensive contributions. Junior Cassidy Lindner had 37 digs, while seniors Kayla Skubal and Tori Stella had 28 and 27 digs, respectively. Skubal, who is playing through a back injury, added five service aces on the weekend — four of which came in the team’s final match against Riverdale.

The Hodags (1-9, 0-0 Great Northern) opened conference play last night at home against Tomahawk in a match that concluded after press time for today’s edition. The Hodags will travel to Antigo this coming Tuesday for another GNC contest. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].