Hodag spikers fall to GNC-leading Mosinee

The Rhinelander High School volleyball team was unable to keep up with Mosinee Tuesday night, falling to the GNC leaders in straight sets 25-11, 25-13, 25-17 on the road.

Mosinee improved to 21-3 on the year with the win as it currently sits as one of the top teams in Division 2. Rhinelander fell to 1-22 on the season with the defeat.

“They’re really good and they can pound the ball and they have much bigger girls than us. And they had a big block. They have a lot of really, really great things going for them,” Hodag coach Jayme Wyss said. 

Mosinee never trailed in the match. It led wire-to-wire in the first set, made a big late run to pull away in the second and jumped out to a 18-3 lead in the third set before the Hodags staged a late run to make that final score respectable.

Though Rhinelander scored the fewest points in the first set it was, statistically, its best in terms of offense. Five of the team’s 11 kills on the night came in the first and it was the only one of the three sets where the team had a positive attacking percentage, hitting .130 for the set. 

“The first set wasn’t that bad. And then it was like the middle, the whole middle (of the match), somewhere in there just completely fell apart. Going into third set, just really, really struggled, where it was like, I didn’t know if we were going to hit double digits at third set,” Wyss said. “So the end of that third set, at least we could end on a respectable note, of like where we were playing (competitively).”

Mosinee’s offense was also at its best in the opening set, hitting at a .407 clip with 15 kills. Rhinelander never strung together back-to-back points in the opener as Mosinee took it. 

Down 7-2 early in the second set, the Hodags got back within 12-20 before Mosinee closed the set on a 13-3 run. 

“The middle stuff, it just felt like, this is old Rhinelander, like where you’re just being sloppy and not smart and it’s ugly volleyball and we can’t do anything,” Wyss said.

Rhinelander trailed by as many as 16 points, down 22-6, in the third before closing the match on an 11-3 run.  

“The fact that, like, we could at least gain some energy and momentum back (was positive),” Wyss said.

The Hodags, still without junior Ava Rathbun (ankle) were led in the attack by another junior, Olivia Ruetz. She had four kills in the first set alone and finished with five kills on the night to go with a pair of block assists. Tori Stella, Kenzie Paulson and Corynn Waksmonski each had two kills on the night. Rhinelander finished the night minus-.035 in attacking percentage with 13 errors, compared to 11 kills, in 57 total chances. 

Kylie Treder paced the Hodags with seven assists. Kayla Skubal had seven digs and the team’s lone service ace. 

Freshman Pacyn Stoffel led Mosinee with 11 kills in the match. Mosinee, as a team had 36 kills on the night and hit at a .208 clip.

The Hodags are back in action Saturday as they travel to the Phillips Invite. GNC play resumes next Tuesday when the Hodags host Northland Pines. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].