Redmen get third set, but not much else goes right in loss to Falcons

RIB LAKE VOLLEYBALL

Whether it was the relatively inactive stretch in their schedule, a recent injury, homecoming week or some other unknown factor, Rib Lake head volleyball coach Heather Weik left Abbotsford Tuesday wondering where her real team was.

The Lady Redmen that hit the court Tuesday likely weren’t favored to win the match in most observers’ eyes, but it also wasn’t expected that the Falcons would simply have their way with Rib Lake in the first two sets before the Redmen showed some life in a too little, too late 3-1 Marawood North loss.

“That was not us at all,” Weik said after the team fell to 0-3 in North Division play and 5-14 overall. “They took us right out of it. We saw a hint of it in the third game. But that’s exactly what I just told them. This was not us.”

A plethora of double contact violations, poor serve receives and errant hits led to a quick 25-9 loss in the opening set. Rib Lake got points at the net from Emma Winter, Danielle Mann and Josie Scheithauer to start game two with a 3-2 lead, but before long, Abbotsford opened up a 15-9 lead following a Lydia Carlson ace, widened it to 20-10 when Sydney Apfelbeck hit the back line for another ace and finished off a 25-12 win with an attack kill and a tip from Briseida Escalera.

The positive of the night was that the Redmen didn’t quit and fought for a 25-23 win in the third set. They got off to a 4-1 start behind a kill from Winter, a Molly Heiser ace and two winners from Lauren Pelnis. After Abbotsford tied it at 1010, Rib Lake went on another little run. Heiser’s ace made it 13-10 and Mann’s ace made it 15-11. The Falcons got within 1615 when Olivia Hammel pounded a shot off Rib Lake’s block, but Kamryn Annala got consecutive kills to put Rib Lake back up by three.

Mann served three aces to lead Rib Lake. Annala was a perfect nine of nine in serving, Mann was eight for nine and Heiser was nine for 11 with an ace.

A push by Apfelbeck gave the Falcons a 19-18 edge, but Annala’s kill tied it. Abbotsford took a 22-20 lead on a Hammel ace, but she missed her next serve after a Rib Lake timeout and that opened the door for the Redmen, who used three Falcon miscues and Winter’s kill to close out the set.

The momentum, unfortunately, didn’t carry into set four. Abbotsford jumped ahead 8-1 13-3 and 18-7 and wasn’t threatened after that in the 25-14 clincher.

The Falcons are 1-1 in the North and 16-8 overall.

Since going 1-3 at the Merrill Invite on Sept. 11, Rib Lake has only played three matches in a rare mid-season lull, and two of those have been without senior libero Kyla Kennedy, whose elbow injury is causing some rotational adjustments to be made.

“We truly missed having Kyla Kennedy in the back row, especially on serve receive,” Weik said. Winter led Rib Lake with seven kills, Annala had five, Scheithauer had four and Pelnis, Heiser and Mann had three apiece.

Rib Lake’s schedule will get busier starting Saturday with a three-match Marawood Conference crossover event in Edgar that starts at 10 a.m. Rib Lake will face Edgar, Wisconsin Rapids Assumption and Newman Catholic there. The Redmen host Prentice Tuesday and a make-up date for a Sept. 16 postponement at Chequamegon has been set for next Thursday, Oct. 7. Rib Lake heads back to Edgar for an invitational on Oct. 9.

“We are going to persevere and learn from our performance to better ourselves each day as we get ready for some more tough competition in the next few weeks,” Weik said.