Athens, Edgar get sweeps; Rib Lake beats Pines at Merrill

The Rib Lake volleyball team hosted Athens Tuesday in the first Marawood North dual meet of the fall and put together some solid stretches but just not enough of them to take down the Blue Jays, who earned a 3-0 sweep.

The teams squared off for the second time in four days. Athens earned a twogame sweep in Saturday’s Merrill Invitational. This time, Athens swept the bestof- five match 25-17, 25-13, 25-16.

The Blue Jays improved to 1-1 in the North and 13-7 overall with the win. Rib Lake is 5-12 overall.

“We made some great runs at them but just couldn’t quite overcome the streaks they went on,” Rib Lake head coach Heather Weik said. “We had some definite momentum blocks with some ball handling calls and hitting errors. If the momentum would have kept in our favor there would have been a much different outcome. Athens deserves a lot of credit too for picking up some crucial digs on our harder hit balls.”

Weik credited her back-row defenders for a solid effort in the loss.

“Kyla Kennedy had an outstanding performance in the back row with 19 digs,” Weik said. “She and Reagan Reinhardt make an awesome team in the back row with their communication and teamwork. Molly Heiser continues to have consistent serving with no errors and three aces.”

Rib Lake continues Marawood North play Tuesday at 7 p.m. with a tough challenge at pre-season North favorite Phillips. A Marawood North match tonight, Thursday, at Chequamegon has been postponed.

1-3 at Merrill

Rib Lake finished second in the Bronze bracket and 10th overall at Saturday’s 12-team Merrill Invitational with one win in four matches.

The Lady Redmen landed in the Bronze bracket after going 0-2 in pool play to start the day.

In their opener, the Redmen tore out to a 16-9 lead over Athens, but the Blue Jays stormed back with seven straight points to the tie opening set. Rib Lake went ahead 19-16, gave up six straight points and then couldn’t recover in a 2522 loss. Game two was close early. Josie Scheithauer’s kill got Rib Lake within 8-7 and Emma Winter’s kill closed a gap to 11-9. A Kamy Annala kill made it 18-14, but Athens went on a 6-1 surge that was too much to overcome in a 25-17 final.

Tomahawk then controlled set one 25-15 and consistently held a four- to sixpoint lead through game two before winning 25-16.

The Redmen opened bracket play with a close match against Northland Pines. Game one went back and forth from start to finish. Rib Lake led 18-16, 20-18 and 2220, fell behind 23-22 and then rallied to win 25-23 with a Winter tip being the key point that put Rib Lake ahead.

Rib Lake led the second set 8-3, 13-7, 1711 and 20-13 before reaching set point at 24-20. The Eagles made it interesting by scoring three straight points, but Anna- la’s kill sealed the 25-23 and a 2-0 sweep. Northland Pines beat Merrill’s JV 2-0 to finish third in the Bronze bracket and 11th overall.

Rib Lake’s win over Pines set up the Bronze final for ninth place against Cochrane-Fountain City, which the Pirates won to complete their 2-2 day.

Chippewa Falls won the tournament title by sweeping Merrill 2-0 in the Gold bracket final and Tomahawk 2-0 in the semifinal. Stanley-Boyd beat Tomahawk 2-0 to place third.

Athens won the Silver bracket to finish in fifth place with a 3-1 record. The Blue Jays beat Marathon 2-0 and Wittenberg- Birnamwood 2-1 in bracket play after losing 2-1 to Tomahawk to start pool play.

Edgar 3, Rib Lake 0

Rib Lake fell to a solid Edgar squad 3-0 Thursday in its home opener for 2021.

The Redmen got out to a quick 5-0 lead in the first set, but couldn’t sustain it and eventually lost 25-17.

The Wildcats dominated set two 25-7 and finished the sweep with a 25-19 win in set three.

“We battled back in the first set and came within striking distance but couldn’t quite find the lead,” Weik said. “We struggled recovering on their blocks. We held our own in the last set as we made several adjustments in defense. We are continuing to work on being more disciplined on serve receive so we can capitalize on set plays. We did take pride in our serving with only five errors.

Danielle Mann led the offense with eight kills, while Heiser had 10 set assists. Kennedy led the back row with 13 digs.

Josie Scheithauer hits over the block attempt from Athens’ Sydney Coker Saturday in Merrill.

Medford’s Autumn Krause bumps up a pass during Tuesday’s third set.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS