Red Raiders sweep Lady Redmen

Bluejays able to edge Wildcats in a five-set match

By Casey Krautkramer

Marathon’s volleyball team shortened its long bus ride to Rib Lake on Thursday by sweeping the Lady Redman in sets to win the match.

The Red Raiders won straight sets by scores of 25-20, 25-19 and 25-16, which made co-head coaches Nicole Schneider and Lynelle Love very happy.

“It’s always great to win a match in three sets when we are on a long road trip,” Schneider said. “The girls are starting to get into a rhythm and feeling comfortable playing together.”

Junior Vanessa Krueger led Marathon with 16 attack kills. Senior Hope Krautkramer had nine kills and juniors Alyssa Hall seven and Allison Wokatsch six. Sophomore Ashley Phakitthong paced the Red Raiders with two ace serves, 29 pass assists and 29 digs on defense. Vanessa Krueger had 15 digs, Wokatsch 11 and Hall 10.

Athens rallies past Edgar

After losing the first two sets, the Athens volleyball team stormed back to defeat Edgar in five sets to win the match on Thursday.

Edgar won the first two sets, 25-15 and 25-19, at home but Athens rallied to take the next three sets by scores of 25-22, 25-17 and 15-12. Bluejays head coach Tanille Hartwig was proud of her team’s grit in obtaining the comefrom- behind match victory.

“We definitely started the night off a bit hesitant and playing tight,” Hartwig said. “As soon as we settled in a bit, we loosened up and found our rhythm. We had our ups and downs, but I was very impressed with the mental toughness our team showed in winning the last three sets. With a fairly young team, I’m never sure how they’re gong to react in pressure situations. In this case, our team did what they needed to do to come out on top and earn themselves a nice win.”

Shauna Belter led Athens with 13 attack kills, followed by Siarra Hart with eight and Addison Lavicka seven. Lavicka paced Athens with three ace serves, while Grace Johnson and Hart had two each. Belter led the team with two solo blocks and Lavicka with three block assists.

Johnson paced the Bluejays with 25 digs followed by Belter with 19, Lavicka 13 and Jazelle Hartwig 10. Lavicka led the team with 17 assists and Jazelle Hartwig added 14.

Sophomore Reagan Borchardt led Edgar with 18 attack kills and 15 digs, while senior Makenna Guden added 14 digs. Freshman Kyra Anderson paced the Wildcats with three ace serves against the Bluejays.

Edgar also lost its road match to Auburndale on Sept. 22. The Wildcats started out good by winning the first set, 25-22. Auburndale, however, won the next three sets by scores of 25-17, 25-21 and 25-19.

Borchardt also paced Edgar with 14 kills and 16 digs against Auburndale, while sophomore libero Natalie Krause had 13 digs. Sophomore Kendalyn Dahlke led the Wildcats with 21 assists.

Edgar head coach Evan Krebsbach described how his team is performing thus far this season, following two straight match losses to Athens and Auburndale.

“The season is going well as far as talent-building wise; if the game were based on talent alone then we’d be going in a different direction,” Krebsbach said. “We are really starting to see what we can do when we’re physically and mentally in the game, but now we need to fine tune things and work on our consistency to win the battles.

“We have some solid competition coming up in our schedule and at this point I’m not worried as much about winning as I am about growth, which will bring us to the finish line.”

The Athens volleyball team swept Ashland in three straight sets on Sept. 22 at home. The Bluejays won sets by scores of 25-23, 25-23 and 25-15.

Shauna Belter led Athens with 30 attack kills. Addison Lavicka added 19 kills, Siarra Hart 13, Jazelle Hartwig 11 and twins Sydney and Sophia Coker with nine apiece.

Lavicka paced the Bluejays with three solo blocks and Jazelle Hartwig added two. Lavicka also led the team with nine assists, while Hart paced Athens with nine digs against the Oredockers.

Stratford downs Marathon

Stratford’s volleyball team swept Marathon in straight sets on Sept. 22 in Marathon by scores of 25-20, 25-19 and 25-20.

Senior Lauryn Nagel led Stratford with 12 attack kills and fellow senior Mikayla Guldan added 10. Senior Tanaya Schillinger paced the Tigers with five ace serves end eight digs. Senior Breanna Ackley led the team with two solo blocks. Senior Abby Oertel had 13 assists and Nagel had 12 in the match win against the Red Raiders.

Allison Wokatsch and Ashley Phakitthong led Marathon with two ace serves each. Hope Krautkramer paced the Red Raiders with 10 attack kills, Phakitthong with 28 pass assists and Vanessa Krueger with nine digs Stratford downed Colby on Sept. 21 at home in three straight sets by scores of 25-11, 25-8 and 25-11. Guldan led the Tigers with five aces and two solo blocks. Autumn Oertel and Megan Wiese collected two aces each. Schillinger paced the team with 10 kills and Abby Oertel with 11 assists.

The Tigers lost a road match against Prentice in three straight sets on Sept. 17. Guldan led Stratford with 16 kills, while Nagel and Schillinger added 14 apiece. Ackley had two solo blocks and Autumn Oertel had seven digs. Nagel paced the team with 27 assists and Abby Oertel had 24.

Marathon swept Athens in straight sets on Sept. 17 in Athens by scores of 25-18, 26-24 and 25-18. Wokatsch led the Red Raiders with four aces while Van- essa Krueger paced the team with 16 kills and 15 digs.

Grace Johnson paced Athens with three aces. Shauna Belter led the team with nine kills and Jazelle Hartwig and Sophia Coker with two assisted blocks each. Lavicka had 14 pass assists and Hart recorded 18 digs.

‘Jays silenced by Crickets

Athens lost three straight sets against Fall Creek on Saturday at home by scores of 27-25, 25-19 and 25-14. The Crickets have been one of the best volleyball teams in the state during the last few years.

Grace Johnson led Athens with seven serve aces and 17 digs. Shauna Belter paced the Bluejays with nine attack kills and Addison Lavicka led the team with eight pass assists and nine digs.

Athens will play a home match against Stratford at 7 p.m. this Thursday, Oct. 1. Each athlete from both teams will receive four tickets for their family and friends to attend. There won’t be any tickets available for sale at the door.

Win in the Cards for ‘Cats

Edgar downed Wausau Newman in straight sets on Tuesday in Wausau.

The Wildcats swept the Cardinals by scores of 25-14, 25-20 and 25-21 to win the match.

Reagan Borchardt led Edgar with four ace serves and 14 attack kills, two blocks and nine digs. Kendalyn Dahlke paced the teamn with 19 assists and she added two aces and five digs.

Red Raiders beat Royals

Marathon won its road match, 3-1, at Wisconsin Rapids Assumption on Tuesday.

Ava Krueger led the Red Raiders with eight aces. Vanessa Krueger, paced the team with 13 kills and she tied with Ava for the team lead in digs with 13. Vanessa Krueger added three aces.

Ashley Phakitthong led Marathon with 29 assists. Hope Krautkramer added 10 kills.

AGGRESSIVE NET PLAY-Marathon senilor Hope Krautkramer (10) spikes the ball against Rib Lake on Thursday.SN PHOTO/MATT FREY