Consistency eludes Raiders in 3-4 weekend at the Sprawl
MEDFORD VOLLEYBALL
The Medford Raiders started strong, then went into a four-match slide and finished with two wins during an upand- down weekend at the 40-team Menomonie Sprawl, held at UW-Stout.
The 3-4 record resulted in a 29th-place finish for the Raiders, who sit at 5-5 overall heading into the start of Great Northern Conference play tonight, Thursday.
The conference opener doesn’t get much tougher as the Raiders host 9-1 Mosinee, who took third at the Sprawl, losing only to runner-up Chippewa Falls in three sets. Mosinee has dominated the GNC since Medford won its last title in 2016. The Raiders will try to break the Indians’ 44-match GNC winning streak at 7 p.m.
In Menomonie, the Raiders went 1-3 in Friday’s pool play to land in Saturday’s Blue Devil Division that determined 25th through 32nd place.
They were sharp in their opening match, taking care of an inexperienced Colby squad fairly easily 25-13, 25-18. After a bye, the Raiders drew back-to-back matches against Eau Claire North and St. Croix Central.
The match against the Huskies was a tight, back-and-forth battle. North opened up a three-point lead midway through the first set, Medford tied it at 18-18 on a Katie Brehm kill and 19-19 on a Martha Miller kill and, again, at 22-22 on a Husky error. But the Raiders never got over the top and dropped the set 25-22.
Medford tore out to an 11-3 lead in the second set, but an 11-0 run by North wiped out that lead and, again, the Raiders couldn’t quite recover. They evened the set at 19-19 but never got the lead back in a 25-20 loss.
In the next round, the Raiders ran into a formidable squad from St. Croix Central, who wound up winning the pool and earning the third seed in Saturday’s Gold Division. The Panthers blew out Medford 25-12 in the first set and outlasted the Raiders 25-20 in a much more competitive second set.
After a two-round break, the Raiders could not get on track in their final match against Cameron, who swept Medford 25-14, 25-20.
“I tried mixing things up all day Friday trying to find that right combination,” head coach Cheryl Schreiner said. “We started with what I thought it could be on Saturday morning and ended up finishing with something different at the end of the day. It truly was next athlete up on Saturday when someone struggled.”
Saturday started with a disappointing loss to Colfax, who swept the Raiders 2518, 25-19. After a sluggish start, the Raiders pulled within 18-16 in set one, only to fall victim to another 7-2 run by the Vikings that closed it out. Medford led the second set early 9-4, fell behind 20-14 and then went on a 5-0 spurt to pull within 2019 before the Vikings went on a 5-0 surge to end it.
Momentum was again hard to find early in the next match with Ellsworth. The Panthers led throughout set one and opened up a 23-17 lead, before Medford got a late spark. Emma Brost came off the bench and put up a couple of nice sets, Megan Fredrikson drilled a pair of kills, but the Raiders came up short 25-23.
The shot of momentum, however, carried into game two as Medford finally played with the lead. The Raiders won a key point following a long rally to go up 20-16. They won points to go up 21-16 and 22-17. Brost set up Abbie Frey for a deep corner kill to make it 23-17 and Medford got two more points from there to end the Raiders’ drought 25-17.
Medford led the third set 9-6, but a 5-0 run put Ellsworth up 11-9. The Raiders got a key sideout and then went on a 5-0 run with Laurissa Klapatauskas serving. The Raiders set up Rynn Ruesch for a big kill and Miller was able to punch a shot into a hole for another kill. Miller’s push tip made it 13-11. After the Panthers called a timeout, Klapatauskas served an ace and Miller’s push clinched it 15-11.
The win sent Medford to the 29th-place match against Stevens Point, which the Raiders controlled wire to wire. They were in total command of set one and had many contributors in a 25-12 set-one win. The second set got tight for a moment at 13-11, but the Raiders closed it out on a 12-2 tear to win 25-15.
For the weekend, Miller was the kill leader with 25, while Ruesch had 20, Allie Paulson and Fredrikson had 19 apiece and Brehm and Klapatauskas had 14 each.
Katie Lybert had 52 set assists, while Paulson had 30 and Brost added 10. Gabby Brunner was the ace leader with five. Lybert and Brehm had three aces apiece, while Olivia Krug and Brost had two apiece. Krug led the defense with 49 digs. Klapatauskas had 43, Brunner had 41, Lybert had 37 and Paulson added 31.
Ruesch was the team leader in solo block kills with seven. Klapatauskas and Volleyball tournament
Fredrikson had three each.
The tournament championship match was a battle between Big Rivers Conference rivals as River Falls beat Chippewa Falls 25-21, 25-16. Mosinee downed St. Croix Falls 25-23, 25-18 in the third-place match.
After tonight’s match with Mosinee, Medford will travel to Northland Pines Tuesday for a 7 p.m. GNC match with the Eagles.
BY MATT FREYSPORTS EDITOR
MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS
Medford’s Megan Fredrikson attacks over two Colby blockers Friday at the Menomonie Sprawl.
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MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS
