ALL-MARAWOOD NORTH VOLLEYBALL - Improving Redmen pick up more spots on All-North teams

ALL-MARAWOOD NORTH VOLLEYBALL

The Rib Lake volleyball team began the 2024 season with a goal of reversing last year’s 13-27 overall record. The Redmen came pretty close, finishing 24-14 and reaching a WIAA Division 4 regional final match for the second straight year.

Along the way, they picked up two more individual awards than last season in the vote for the 2024 All-Marawood North volleyball teams.

Juniors Tessa Weik and Tahlia Scheithauer lead the list of six award winners from Rib Lake, earning spots on the seven-member All-North first team for the first time. Weik gets there after two second-team awards in her first two varsity seasons. Scheithauer hits the first team after being on the second team last fall and getting honorable mention the season before.

Four Redmen earned their first All-North awards after the team went 3-2 in conference play under fourth-year head coach Heather Weik, good for a two-game improvement over last year and a thirdplace tie with Phillips in the final standings.

Senior Addison Gumz and junior Madilyn Blomberg both earned spots on the seven-member All-North second team, while twin sisters Coralee and Camryn Glenzer, also juniors, received Rib Lake’s two honorable mention spots for 2024.

Tessa Weik remained a team leader, excelling as an all-around player for the Redmen.

At the net, Weik recorded a team-high 303 kills in 101 sets played for an average of 3.0 per set. Of that total, 59 kills came in Rib Lake’s five conference matches. Her kill percentage in 973 total attacks was a strong .311. With 130 errors, her overall attack percentage was a solid .178. At the service line, Weik had just 38 errors in 360 attempts for an .894 serve percentage that included 53 aces, another teamhigh.

Not only did Weik lead the team in kills, she split the setting duties with Gumz and finished with 347 total assists, an average of 3.3 per set. She had 72 of those assists in league play for an average of 72 per set. Weik ranked second on the team with 295 digs for the season, an average of 2.9 per set. Rib Lake had five players this season with 200 digs or more, all of whom are among the all-conference players.

Weik had a season-high 16 kills in Rib Lake’s 3-1 WIAA Division 4 regional semifinal win over Abbotsford on Oct. 24. She had 14 in a 3-1 loss at co-conference champion Prentice on Oct. 1, 14 in a 3-0 conference win at Athens on Sept. 10 and 13 in a 3-1 non-conference loss at Edgar Sept. 26.

She had a season-high 24 assists, including the 1,000th of her prep career in a 3-2 non-conference loss to Lakeland on Oct. 10. She had 22 assists in a 3-1 home loss to Phillips on Sept. 17. Weik had a season-high 18 digs in the playoff win over Abbotsford.

Scheithauer remained Rib Lake’s leader in digs and got her first-team spot as the conference’s best libero. Seemingly able to get to just about any ball at times, Scheithauer finished the year with 410 digs overall, an average of 4.1 per set. She got 92 of those in conference play with an average of 5.1 per set. She was charged with just 62 serve receive errors in 774 chances, put up 33 assists and had 31 service aces, while serving at an .860 success rate with 38 errors in 272 serves. Seven of Scheithauer’s aces came in conference play.

Scheithauer recorded the 1,000th dig of her career during the team’s Sept. 17 loss to Phillips and is now closing in on 1,200 with one more year to go. She had 28 digs in that match with the Loggers. She had 37 digs in the Sept. 26 match with Edgar, 23 in the loss to Lakeland, 19 in the playoff win over Abbotsford and 18 in a 3-0 sweep of the other North co-champion in their regular-season match on Sept. 24.

Joining Weik and Scheithauer on this year’s All-North first team are seniors Kali Heikkinen of Prentice and Mataya Eckert of Phillips and juniors Faith Sperl and Celia Schindler of Abbotsford and Sy’Rih Hartwig of Athens. Eckert was named the 2024 Marawood North Player of the Year, while John Kreeger of Abbotsford was named the Coach of the Year after leading the Falcons to their surprise conference co-championship at 4-1. Abbotsford beat Phillips and Prentice late in the year to earn that tie and the top seed from the North in the Marawood Crossovers held Oct. 15 in Marathon.

Gumz, the senior who got the most playing time on this junior-dominated squad, piled up 395 assists overall in 101 sets played, an average of 3.9 per set. She was credited with 85 conference assists, for an average of 4.7 per set. Another solid defender for Rib Lake in the back row, Gumz had 216 total digs, including 50 in conference play. She chipped in offensively with 38 aces and 14 kills.

Gumz was an outstanding server with a .955 serve percentage with 17 errors in 381 serves.

The highest assist totals for Gumz came in conference play. She had 24 in a 3-1 home win over Chequamegon on Oct. 8 and 22 at Prentice. Gumz put up 15 assists in the regional win over Abbotsford and had 17 digs in that match. She had 12 digs at Athens and in the Phillips loss to help her case to earn a spot on the second team.

Blomberg took a noticeable step forward from her sophomore to junior season. She emerged as one of Rib Lake’s top offensive threats as an outside hitter with 165 kills, the second-highest total on the team, and she ranked second in aces with 48. She racked up 211 digs and set up teammates with 47 assists as well.

Blomberg notched 33 of her kills in conference play, averaging 1.8 per set. Ten of her aces and 48 of her digs, 2.7 per set, came in North matches.

Among the efforts that gained Blomberg notice were her 11 kills in the 3-1 win over Chequamegon and her nine kills, four aces and 16 digs along with 18 for 18 serving in the Prentice match. She had four kills, three aces and 15 digs against Phillips and five kills, six digs, three assists and two aces in the regular-season win over Abbotsford.

Camryn Glenzer was another player who did a little bit of everything for the Redmen this season, whether it was in the middle, on the outside or in the back row. She finished with 107 kills, including 27 in league play, 39 aces, 125 digs and 23 total blocks. Glenzer had 10 digs in three of Rib Lake’s last four matches, had nine kills against Phillips and 11 in the match with Lakeland and three aces against Chequamegon. Coralee Glenzer ranked third on the team with 226 total digs in 101 sets played and she racked up 124 kills, including 21 in conference play. Glenzer’s overall serve percentage was .930 with only 12 errors in 172 attempts, plus she had 14 aces. She added 22 assists and was part of five total blocks. Glenzer had a season-high of 12 kills in the Phillips match, plus she had 11 digs against the Loggers. She had seven kills and 14 digs in the Sept. 26 match at Edgar and six kills and five digs against Lakeland. Glenzer had 14 digs in a 2-1 nonconference win over Deerfield on Sept. 13 and four kills and four digs in Rib Lake’s season-ending 3-1 loss at eventual sectional champion Wabeno-Laona in the regional final. Like Rib Lake, Phillips and Prentice were regional finalists in their respective WIAA tournament brackets. Prentice got to its Division 5 sectional final on Saturday where it was swept by Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran, the top-seeded team at this weekend’s state tournament.

Rib Lake aims to take yet another step forward in 2025 when it will feature a very experienced and deep senior class, while middles Megan Komarek and Madelyn Anderson could make a push toward adding their names to the all-conference list in the near future after their strong freshman seasons.

Tahlia Scheithauer First Team

Addison Gumz Second Team

Madilyn Blomberg Second Team

Camryn Glenzer Hon. Mention

Coralee Glenzer Hon. Mention