Rib Lake notches a ‘W’ to finish first meet

LOYAL VB QUAD

For the first time since Oct. 22, 2019, the Rib Lake volleyball team was a winner Tuesday night in a varsity match.

The Lady Redmen closed Tuesday’s season-opening Loyal Quad with a 2-0 sweep over the host Greyhounds 25-18, 25-17 to finish 1-2 for the night.

While the program’s losing streak wasn’t a long one due to last year’s signifi cantly shortened season –– just eight matches –– getting a W on the first night was big for the Redmen, according to new head coach Heather Weik, who also picked up her first win in that position.

“They were so happy about that,” Weik said. “They needed a little bit of that success.”

Rib Lake opened the night against perennial Eastern Cloverbelt Conference power Columbus Catholic, who rolled to a 25-14, 25-9 sweep and went on to beat Loyal 2-0 and Osseo-Fairchild 2-1 to win the quad.

Osseo-Fairchild, who also beat Loyal, beat Rib Lake 25-9, 25-12 in the second round.

“Those teams were pretty tough,” Weik said. “They had really tough hitters and were very scrappy teams. We struggled a little bit against them, but we were able to get back to being ourselves against Loyal. That was a positive thing. We started hitting the ball really hard and picking up some really good digs.”

Rib Lake’s last varsity win was a fiveset victory at Wild Rose in a 2019 WIAA Division 4 regional match. The team was just 0-7 in their COVID-altered 2020 season.

Rib Lake is at the eight-team Marathon Invitational Saturday, which starts at 9 a.m. and includes its usual field of teams that includes Fall Creek, Phillips, Stratford, Spencer, Northland Lutheran and Thorp. The Redmen will visit Spencer for a 7:15 p.m. non-conference match on Sept. 2.