Athens, Edgar get crossover wins

SPORTS

They beat their Marawood foes in Marathon

By Casey Krautkramer

Athens senior Jazelle Hartwig on Tuesday was determined to not let her team lose to Marathon in the fourth set in the Marawood Conference thirdplace crossover match at Marathon High School. She scored three of the Bluejays’ last four points, including the game winner. Her tip kill gave Athens a 25-16 set win to take the match, 3-1, against Marathon.

“Yes of course we badly wanted this win,” Jazelle Hartwig said after beating the Red Raiders. “We didn’t do so well in the first set but then we really kicked things into gear. We just kept having a level head and we knew that we needed to swing hard at hitting the volleyball, because our offense works well when we swing hard at the ball.”

Marathon got off to a great start by beating Athens, 25-23, in the first set on Tuesday but it was all Athens from that point forward in the match. Athens easily won the second set, 25-11, before winning the last pair of sets by identical 25-16 scores.

Jazelle Hartwig led Athens with 22 attack kills against Marathon while senior Sophia Coker added 11. Senior Faith Nowak paced the Bluejays with four serve aces and Jazelle Hartwig had two. Sophomore Sy’Rih Hartwig led Athens with two solo blocks and six block assists. Sy’Rih Hartwig also led the Bluejays with 15 ball handling assists and Jazelle Hartwig had 13 assists. Sophia Coker paced Athens with 20 digs on defense while Jazelle Hartwig contributed 16, Sy’Rih Hartwig 14 and junior Danica Diethelm 11.

Individual Marathon volleyball player statistics were not available when the newspaper was printed. The WIAA volleyball seed meetings for both Athens and Marathon were planned to take place on Wednesday night after the newspaper was printed.

Jazelle Hartwig believes Tuesday’s match win against Marathon sets up the Bluejays well for the playoffs next week.

“I think it’s huge,” she said. “Obviously we just want to be at the top of our game right now. This is the time when we need to peak and give it our all on the volleyball court.”

She describes what the key is for Athens volleyball to advance far in the playoffs again this season.

“I think we need to stay together and keep our heads in the right mentality,” Jazelle Hartwig said. “We need to keep encouraging each other and continue to work our offense. Our passes lead to our offense and then we are unstoppable.”

Athens now has a 26-11 match record while Marathon is 14-10 this season. Athens is ranked sixth in this week’s Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches Association’s Division 4 poll. Marawood Conference teams Newman Catholic is ranked third in Division 4 while Prentice is fourth and Wisconsin Rapids Assumption received honorable mention. Newman Catholic beat Prentice, 3-1, in the conference’s secondplace crossover match on Tuesday in Marathon.

‘Cats down Lady Reedman

Edgar’s volleyball team on Tuesday picked up a big 3-0 win against Rib Lake in the Marawood Conference’s fifth-place crossover match at Marathon High School.

Individual Edgar volleyball player statistics were not available when the newspaper was printed. Edgar now has a 14-11 match record this season.