Tough outing at Greenwood Quad
RIB LAKE VOLLEYBALL
The Rib Lake volleyball team nearly stole their first set of the night and then struggled to hang with their competition the rest of the way Tuesday in a fourthplace finish at the Greenwood Quad.
Plainfield Tri-County, who is off to a solid 8-1 start to the season in non-conference play, went 3-0 to win the Quad. The Penguins knocked off Thorp in three sets, taking the third one 15-13 and swept Greenwood and Rib Lake. Thorp finished 2-1, sweeping Greenwood and the Redmen.
Rib Lake opened the tournament by facing the host Indians and fell behind 16-9 when kills by Danielle Mann and Emma Winter gave the team a spark. The deficit was 20-15 when Kamy Annala got a kill. After a missed serve, Mann got another kill and then Molly Heiser went on a serving run that included kills from Mann and Winter and her own ace that tied the set at 21-21. The teams traded points until Greenwood got two in a row to hold on for a 25-23 win.
A Lauren Pelnis ace had Rib Lake up 5-3 in the second set. It was tied 9-9 when the Indians went on an 8-0 run that was finally ended by an Emily Rodman kill but also put Rib Lake in a hole it could not dig out of in a 25-15 loss.
The Redmen did not find any momentum against the Penguins, falling 25-9 and 25-4.
Against Thorp, Rib Lake again did its best work late in the first set, cutting a 23-15 deficit to 24-22 before the Cardinals got the clinching point. Thorp got its revenge for a 2-1 loss suffered against the Lady Redmen at the Aug. 28 Marathon Invitational by completing the sweep with a 25-11 win in set two.
“Had we been a little more disciplined at the serving line, we could have come out on the other side of some of the close losses,” Rib Lake head coach Heather Weik said. “Molly Heiser works so hard and hustles after each ball as the setter. She came up with a lot of nice sets out of position that we were able to turn into attacks. Kamy Annala is doing a nice job capitalizing on some big points on the outside. She is learning to see the court well. Kyla Kennedy and Reagan Reinhardt continue to be so valuable to our defense as they control the back row.” Now 4-7 overall, the Redmen will see more tough competition in the next week. The stretch starts tonight, Thursday, when Rib Lake hosts Edgar in a Marawood Conference crossover for its 2021 home opener. The match is set to start at 7 p.m.
On Saturday, Rib Lake will play in the 12-team Merrill Invitational, which starts at 9 a.m. That tournament features strong small-school programs like Athens, Marathon, Tomahawk and Stanley-Boyd as well as large schools like Merrill, Chippewa Falls, Bay Port and Medford.
From there, Rib Lake begins Marawood North competition by hosting Athens at 7 p.m. on Tuesday and then traveling to Chequamegon on Sept. 16.
Thursday’s non-conference match at Spencer was postponed.
“We are going to continue to put an emphasis on our culture as we overcome the losses and look ahead to our competition, our communication on and off the court, and work together as a team toward successful conference play,” Weik said.
