Mustangs power past Raiders; team has tough day at Merrill
MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS
MEDFORD VOLLEYBALL
Consistent play remained hard to find Tuesday for the Medford volleyball team during a four-set loss to Menomonie in non-conference play in Raider Hall.
The Mustangs took the first two sets in relatively convincing fashion, but Medford came back with its best stretch of the night in set three to extend the match. But the momentum didn’t last as Menomonie closed things out 25-18.
Medford fell to 7-10 overall but, according to head coach Cheryl Schreiner, did improve in some areas against a solid opponent.
“I was really happy with the way our setters used our hot hitters and our passing was good enough to support that,” she said. “A lot of times if our passing is off we can’t get the middles involved. Rynn Ruesch was on fire tonight so it was nice to see our passing get our hot hitters involved. I thought our defensive movement was better than it was over the weekend. Their communication was better.”
Ruesch brought the heat early with three kills in a 9-5 spurt that put Medford ahead 15-14 in game one. The teams went back and forth until the Mustangs pulled away from an 18-18 tie thanks to an Evelyn Uetz ace, a couple of kills from Ashleah Quilling, a terrific save by libero Emily Anderson in a rally that ended with a Medford error and an Anderson ace.
The Mustangs ran away from a 7-7 tie early in game two and took a commanding lead in the match with a 25-14 win.
A Quilling kill put Menomonie up 12-9 in set three, but Katie Brehm’s kill and Martha Miller’s winner off a blocker gave the Raiders a spark. Miller and Ruesch got kills to tie it at 14-14. Lybert’s push tip put Medford ahead 16-15 and a Megan Fredrikson kill put the Raiders up 18-16. Fredrikson and Brehm added kills down the stretch in Medford’s 25-20 set win.
The Raiders took an 8-5 lead in game four after consecutive aces by Gabby Brunner, but Quilling’s big block on Paulson started a 3-0 run for the Mustangs that tied it. Medford scored once, then Menomonie got ahead and stayed ahead.
“It’s just one step at a time,” Schreiner said. “The girls have to learn how to finish now. That third set when they did close the door, they need to take that feeling and use that to motivate themselves going into the next couple of sets.”
Ruesch led Medford with 11 kills in 27 attacks. Fredrikson added nine kills, while Miller and Brehm had three apiece. Lybert had 12 assists and Paulson had 11. Paulson and Brunner both had two of Medford’s five aces. Olivia Krug had the other one. Brunner, who wore the libero jersey for the first time this season, led the Raiders with 40 digs. Miller had 19 and Krug had 14. The Raiders only had three service errors in 60 attempts.
The Raiders are off until Saturday when they host the first Great Northern Conference meet of the fall at Medford Area Middle School. The meet starts at 10 a.m. and will feature three rounds of bestof- five GNC matches. Medford will face Tomahawk, Lakeland and Antigo.
On Tuesday, the Raiders will host Rhinelander for Parents Night and the Cancer Awareness Night.
“There is so much talent, it’s putting that puzzle together. It just seems like it’s never the same puzzle, if that makes sense,” Schreiner said. “It will be all tough teams that we’ll see Saturday. If we can build some more momentum in conference would be great.”
1-3 at Merrill
The Raiders got off to a good start at Saturday’s 12-team Merrill Invitational, but their opening win over Cochrane-Fountain City wound up being the only one they got in four matches. The Raiders finished eighth overall in the final standings and fourth in the Silver Bracket.
Chippewa Falls won the tournament title, sweeping the host Blue Jays 2-0 in the Gold Bracket championship match, Stanley-Boyd beat Tomahawk 2-0 in the third-place match.
Medford’s 1-1 record in the first round of pool play put the Raiders in the Silver Bracket. The Raiders swept Cochrane-Fountain City 25-18, 25-18 in their opening round, pulling away with a key run midway through each set.
In the first one, Medford trailed 15-13, but took the lead behind a serving run by Paulson that included four aces and put the Raiders ahead 21-16. Laurissa Klapatauskas got a key block to get the Raiders to game point.
Game two was tight with Medford leading 13-12 when the Raiders broke it open with an 8-3 run that included a couple of kills from Fredrikson.
Medford faced head coach Kris Krug and her Merrill Blue Jays next. After an early 8-8 tie, it was all Merrill in set one, which ended at 25-13. Down 15-13 in game two, Medford went on another serving run by Paulson that included an ace and took an 18-15 lead. A point from Brehm and a Ruesch block helped the Raiders to go up 23-18, but Merrill stormed back with seven straight points to steal the set 25-23.
Wittenberg-Birnamwood was the first opponent in bracket play. The Raiders got out in front 7-3 in set one, but the Chargers scored eight straight to go ahead 117. Emma Brost served Medford back to an 11-11 tie, but the Chargers took off from there for a 25-18 win. Game two was back and forth most of the way. Fredrikson pounded two winners off blockers, Klapatauskas got a kill and Paulson served an ace as the Raiders went up 21-18, but a big block kill got Wittenberg-Birnamwood charged up again and it rallied for a 25-22 win to complete the sweep.
Against Marathon, a Brehm kill got Medford within 12-11 in game one and the Raiders eventually tied it at 16-16, but two Ava Krueger kills got Marathon rolling and it took the opener 25-19. Marathon tore out to an 18-8 lead in game two, but with both teams subbing liberally, the Raiders reserves led a run that got them back into it. Brunner hit a couple of tough serves and Hailey Fisher got a kill and a block kill at the net and Ruesch got a winner to roll over the net as Medford tied it at 23-23 and 24-24 but couldn’t quite get over the hump in a 26-24 loss.
