Raiders earn four awards; Ruesch surges to the first team

ALL-GNC VOLLEYBALL

Medford seniors Rynn Ruesch, Olivia Krug and Katie Lybert earned awards for the first time, while junior Martha Miller got honorable mention for the second year in a row in last week’s voting for the 2021 All-Great Northern Conference volleyball teams.

Ruesch turned a strong second half at the net into a spot on the seven-player All-GNC first team, while Krug earned the second-team spot for the libero position and Lybert got honorable mention.

The awards follow a third-place finish this fall in the GNC for the Raiders. They were 8-4 in league play and, after a slow start to the year, got over the .500 mark overall, finishing 17-16 under fifthyear head coach Cheryl Schreiner. The Raiders won the program’s first WIAA tournament match since 2017, sweeping Northland Pines, before they ran into GNC champion Mosinee, who went 33-4 this season and made it to the WIAA Division 2 sectional final round, where it finally lost to Luxemburg-Casco.

Ruesch averaged 2.2 kills per set in 46 sets played during Medford’s 12 GNC matches to rank ninth among conference hitters, but, more impressively, she became very efficient with her attacks as the season progressed. Ruesch tied Mosinee’s Jenna Placek for third in league rankings for attack percentage. Her percentage of .259 included 103 kills and just 43 errors in 232 attacks.

Ruesch also registered 0.6 blocks per set with 29 blocks –– either solo or assisted –– in league play. That tied her for eighth in the conference. Ruesch had 15 kills and three solo blocks in a 3-2 loss at Tomahawk on Sept. 28, 12 kills and three block assists in a 3-2 win over Antigo on Sept. 18 and 10 kills and three solo blocks in a 3-0 sweep of Northland Pines on Oct. 9. She had 10 kills, three solo blocks and a block assist in the playoff sweep over Pines on Oct. 19.

A four-year varsity letter winner, Ruesch’s first All-GNC honor puts her on a first team that includes unanimous picks Megan Scholz of Tomahawk and Abbi Martin of Mosinee, along with Placek and Claire Selenske of Mosinee, libero Kayleigh Parilek of Antigo and sophomore Meg Pfannerstill of Lakeland. Scholz is a junior. The rest are seniors. Martin and Scholz are the only repeat first-team choices from 2020.

Scholz led the conference with an impressive .466 attack percentage (156 kills and 27 errors in 277 attacks) and with 3.6 kills per set. Martin was second at .286 and 3.2.

Selenske, however, earned the coveted Player of the Year award for her allaround play with the Indians, who went 11-0 in league play. Mosinee’s Justin Jacobs earned his fourth Coach of the Year during his team’s current five-year reign atop the conference.

Krug gave Medford steady play in the back row in her second season as the team’s primary libero. She tied for sixth in the conference rankings with 3.8 digs per set with 177 in 46 sets played. She added five service aces in league play and six kills.

Krug had 30 digs when Medford survived Antigo’s five-game threat on Sept. 18 and had 24 digs in five-set losses to Lakeland and Tomahawk.

Lybert averaged 3.1 assists with 133 in 43 sets played, which ranked eighth in the league. She shared primary setting duties with junior Allie Paulson, who had 123 assists in conference play. Lybert added 95 digs and a team-high 26 service aces in conference play, one more than senior Gabby Brunner. Lybert had 23 assists, a kill, three aces and 16 digs in the come-from-behind win over Antigo in the final match of the GNC meet Sept. 18 in Medford that seemingly was the turning point in the Raiders’ season. She had 17 assists, 15 digs and four aces in the rematch with the Red Robins on Sept. 30, a 3-1 Medford win.

Miller earned honorable mention after ranking 10th in the conference with an attack percentage of .193. That included 67 kills and 26 errors in 212 attacks. Not only an offensive threat, Miller ranked second in the GNC with 4.6 digs per set, notching 205 in 45 sets played. Miller had seven service aces, eight solo blocks and eight block assists in league play. She had eight kills and 12 digs in the Oct. 9 win over Pines and six kills, 41 digs, two solo blocks, two block assists and an ace in the 3-2 win over Antigo on Sept. 18.

Tomahawk finished second this year in league play at 9-3. Mosinee was the only GNC team to get past the second round of the WIAA Division 2 tournament, winning its fifth straight regional championship. The Indians, however, lost in the sectional final round for the third straight year.