Two Rib Lake seniors get All-Marawood mention

ALL-MARAWOOD NORTH VOLLEYBALL

Two members of Rib Lake’s eightplayer senior class received honorable mention in the voting process for the 2021 All-Marawood North volleyball teams.

Setter Molly Heiser and libero Kyla Kennedy are Rib Lake’s award winners after the team went 1-4 in dual matches within this year’s highly-competitive North Division of the Marawood Conference. After going 0-7 overall in a brief Covid-affected 2020 season, the Redmen went 7-22 overall in a full season this fall, including a 3-1 conference win at Chequamegon on Oct. 7.

Heiser earned her first All-Marawood volleyball award. She was Rib Lake’s full-time setter and one of the team’s strongest servers, often leading the team in aces. One of those highlights was a three-ace, no-error serving night in a 3-0 loss to Athens on Sept. 14.

She finished the year with 107 assists, 39 digs and 19 aces.

“Molly was our consistent, strong and resilient setter this year who played all around the rotation,” Rib Lake head coach Heather Weik said. “Molly played every single point of every match we played this whole season. She worked so hard and celebrated each time her teammates succeeded.”

“I am thankful to have had the opportunity to play with these ladies this season,” Heiser said. “This team is one of the most hard-working and dedicated teams I have played on and I forever cherish that. This was a great season to end my volleyball career.”

Kennedy was the team’s libero and was off to a solid start with 13 digs against Edgar on Sept. 9 and 19 digs against Athens on Sept. 14. But after eight matches and 61 digs, a severe elbow injury suffered in practice on Sept. 20 ended her season prematurely. Kennedy also earned honorable mention as a junior.

“Kyla brought constant energy and hustle to each and every practice and match,” Weik said. “As a libero, she gave her all in every play. Her season fell short due to an injury in practice when she was doing just that, giving her all.”

“My team and I have grown together since middle school and I was glad to finish the end of my career with each of them and the amazing opportunities I got growing with them,” Kennedy said.

The upper half of the North Division was competitive. Phillips won the division with a 5-0 record and won three Marawood crossover matches on Oct. 2 before falling to Marathon in five sets in the Marawood Conference championship match on Oct. 12.

Athens, Abbotsford and Prentice all went 3-2 in league play and 1-1 against each other. Prentice went on to win a WIAA Division 4 regional championship before falling in a 3-2 thriller at Mercer in its sectional semifinal match. Phillips (35-10) got to the regional final level in Division 3 tournament play before it lost in four sets to St. Croix Falls, a Division 2 state qualifier in 2020.

Phillips took half of the eight firstteam spots on the All-North team, led by the conference’s Player of the Year Jada Eggebrecht. Sophomore libero Kacy Eggebrecht, junior Elsa Schluter and senior Brianna Guzinski were the other Loggers to nab first-team honors.

Prentice’s sophomore libero Leah Nehls and outstanding freshman hitter Kali Heikkinen were first-team selections, along with Olivia Hammel of Abbotsford and Jazelle Hartwig of Athens.

Colin Hoogland of Phillips was named the North’s Coach of the Year.