Hodag volleyball swept by Lakeland, drops matches at Wautoma

Coach Jayme Wyss admitted Tuesday that it’s hard to glance at the Rhinelander High School volleyball team’s win-loss column as injuries continue to pile on what was already a young team to begin with.

Six more losses were added to the Hodags’ ledger when Rhinelander dropped all five matches at the Wautoma Invite this past Saturday before coming home and getting swept by Lakeland in a Great Northern Conference match Tuesday at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.

The losses dropped the Hodags to 1-19 on the campaign. Already without last year’s leading hitter Libbey Buchmann due to season-ending knee surgery, the Hodag attack suffered another blow this past Saturday when junior Ava Rathbun suffered an ankle injury that figures to keep her out of the lineup for at least a couple of weeks.

“We have good stuff. We’re so young, so raw,” Wyss said after Tuesday’s match. “We’re something like 1-19. But, like, do we play like it? I don’t know. We just don’t have that big hitter.”

Wautoma Invite

The Hodags dropped all five of their matches Saturday in the Wautoma Invite. 

Rhinelander went 0-3 in pool play after losses to Lomira, Montello and Three Lakes in straight sets. The Hodags took a set from Wautoma but lost a decisive third set against the hosts before ending the day with a straight-set loss to Rosholt.

“The officials said we looked young but will get good. We honestly put up a good fight, just can’t get the W,” Wyss said.

Wyss noted the Hodags struggled in the opening match, falling 25-20, 25-17. It was a similar story in a 25-15, 25-18 loss to Three Lakes. However, she said the team’s 25-18, 25-16 loss to eventual tournament champion Montello was perhaps is most competitive match of the day. 

“We played way better,” She said. “Apparently we thrive on hard swings and faster tempo. Their coach was yelling at the official for different calls, so I was proud that we were getting under their skin. (We) stayed closer until the end of the sets.”

Rathbun sustained her ankle injury in the first set of the consolation match against Wautoma. The Hodags dropped that set 25-20, but rallied to win the second 25-16 before dropping the finale 15-5. Wyss said losing the team’s top attacker was especially noticeable in the finale against Rosholt, which the Hodags dropped 25-11, 25-16. 

“We didn’t have much fire(power) for the last match, but had a lot of great digs,” she said.

Rathbun had 13 kills and 18 digs prior to her injury. Olivia Ruetz led the team with 16 kills and added eight blocks. Kylie Treder had 34 assists. Tori Stella had 34 digs and five aces. Kayla Skubal added 29 digs and Cassidy Lindner had five service aces. 

Lakeland 3, Rhinelander 0

    Rhinelander’s Olivia Ruetz goes up for a block during a GNC volleyball match against Lakeland at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium Tuesday, Sept. 16. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

With Rathbun out of the lineup, the Hodags did some shuffling of the lineup Tuesday, though that was not enough to get past GNC unbeaten Lakeland.

Ruetz became the team’s featured hitter and the Hodags moved Stella from libero to an all-around position. Wyss said both showed some bright moments in those roles. Ruetz finished Tuesday’s match with three kills, only one error and attacked at 22%. Stella, while lacking the height of most front row players, had a team-best four kills, hit at 18% and added a block while recording seven digs.

“Olivia has put it together recently and has just become so incredible to have out there,” Wyss said. “So originally, the intent was to have Libbey in a position where she would be my strongest hitter and then it became Ava and now it’s Olivia. And so my rotation lineup shifts based on who’s my strongest hitter. 

“Tori, you could tell was super nervous, whenever she was in the front, ‘I don’t know how I’m gonna handle this.’ She went positive (in attacking percentage), she had back row hits. She’s like, ‘I just feel uncomfortable. Like, I want to be a part of the play. If I was back row, like, Oh, we’re out of a system. It’s me. Oh, wait, it’s not me. I got to let everybody else do the job.’”

Lakeland pulled away in the first set, jumping out to a 15-7 lead . Rhinelander got within 19-15 on a Maddie Paulson kill followed by back-to-back T-Bird errors. Lakeland responded with three straight points to restore a seven-point lead and eventually took the opener 25-17.

Though Rhinelander never led in the second set, it was close the majority of the way. The Hodags trailed 18-17 and had the serve, but an error by Stella on the serve triggered a 7-0 run that included four Lakeland kills as the T-Birds took a 2-0 lead in the match.

Rhinelander scored the first point of the third set for its only lead of the night, but Lakeland went on an 11-3 run from there to take control and cruised to a 25-11 victory in the finale.

Wyss said Tuesday’s effort was better than a 25-14, 25-9 performance against the T-Birds in a non-conference invite the previous Thursday in Prentice. 

“You know, their outsides are hitting cross, their right sides are a little bit tougher. They’ll hit line or work that line seam shot. And I felt like we struggled a little bit more there, but I mean, we’re moving so much better,” she said.

Freshman Kylie Treder recorded 10 assists and six digs for Rhinelander. Skubal, who moved to libero with Stella taking an all-around spot, had a team-high nine digs. Stella had the team’s lone ace.

Up next

The Hodags hosted Prentice and Amherst in an invite Thursday that concluded after press time for today’s edition. See RiverNewsOnline.com for a recap and read a fill report in the Tuesday, Sept. 23 edition of the River News. 

Rhinelander is slated to travel to Medford tonight for a Great Northern Conference matchup, however Wyss said Tuesday it was possible that the game, which was originally scheduled to take place outside at Raider Field, may be postponed. 

The match was still on as scheduled as of press time for today’s edition.

Lakeland Times sports writer Brett LaBore contributed to this report. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].