Falcons go 2-3 in Marshfield tourney

The Falcons volleyball team faced a gauntlet of tough foes over the last week of play. A non-conference match against Division 2 Waupaca (12-3) last Tuesday was followed by a tournament in Marshfield featuring the home D1 Tigers (17-1) and a D2 Shawano (13-1) team, as well as another Division 2 foe in Antigo.

After starting their season 7-0, the Falcons dropped to 9-4 following the tournament, though the experience gained while facing some quality foes will hopefully prove to be useful as they move into the next portion of their schedule.

Marshfield Tournament

Abbotsford traveled to Marshfield for a six-team tournament this past Saturday. The Falcons went 2-3 in their matches, picking off Antigo and Ladysmith while falling to Marshfield, Shawano and Mondovi.

The Falcons swept in both of their wins, defeating both Antigo and Ladysmith in straight sets.

In their match against Antigo, the Falcons took the first set by a score of 25-20 and they would eventually take the second, but the Red Robins did not go down quite so easily the second time around. Abbotsford would need 30 points to finally set down their foes as a tight back-and-forth between the two squads ensued as they pushed past the 25-point mark.

Sommer Brodhagen did a little bit of everything for the Falcons in the victory. The senior led the team in both digs and kills, picked up nine assists, recorded a block assist and had one of the team’s four aces. Sydney Falteisek was effective on offense, coming away with six kills on 11 attempts for a .545 hitting percentage.

Their match with Ladysmith did not quite have the same dramatics, but Abbotsford still came away with the win. They won the first set 25-17 and while their foes once again put up more resistance in the second set, the Falcons did not need to exceed 25 points, winning 25-21.

Brodhagen once again proved to be effective as both a setter and on the outside, recording 11 assists and eight kills with a .500 hitting percentage. Fellow setter Faith Sperl recorded her tournament high assist in the contest, ending the match with 13.

Falteisek led the team in digs with six while also picking up six kills on 10 attempts. Oriah Harris was also quite effective for the Falcons attack, coming up with four kills on seven opportunities and Calley Ruesch had three aces from the service line.

The Falcons had to battle back in their next match against Mondovi, and while they nearly completed the comeback, the Buffaloes managed to squeak out the win. After falling 25-20 in the first set, Abbotsford had their backs against the wall. The team responded by winning the second set handily, 25-15 and had seemingly reclaimed momentum. However, a close final game once again exceeded the normal confines of a set, though this time the Falcons found themselves on the wrong side of the 19-17 final.

The Falcons’ offense struggled to get into a solid rhythm. They ended the game with a negative hitting percentage as a team, with 20 hitting errors proving to be a tough obstacle to overcome, especially when paired with eight service errors and five serve receive errors.

Harris was Abbotsford’s most effective offensive weapon, ending the game with a team high six kills. Claudia Garcia and Caylee Clement both had solid defensive games, picking up 12 and 11 digs respectively.

While they largely played cleaner in their other two losses, Abbotsford could not quite match the firepower of Marshfield and Shawano. The latter defeated the Falcons in straight sets, 25-18 and 25-15 and while Abbotsford pushed the hosting Tigers in their first set, they could not quite find a win, falling 27-25 and 25-12.

Brodhagen and Falteisek proved to be Abbotsford’s best option on offense against Shawano, with Falteisek leaving the match with a .625 hitting percentage and Brodhagen leading the team with seven kills. The Falcons also had a season high five blocks as a team in a bestof- three match against the Hawks, with Falteisek and Ruesch both coming away with three assists and Celia Schindler adding two of her own.

Ruesch and Harris both had five kills to lead the Falcons against Marshfield. Falteisek had a team high nine digs and Caylee Clement followed with seven of her own.

Waupaca, 3-1

Last Tuesday, Abbotsford invited the Waupaca Comets into town for a nonconference match. The visitors came out on top in three of the four sets and handed the Falcons their first loss of 2023.

The first set saw Waupaca’s offense putting a lot of pressure on Abbotsford’s receiving and pass game, often not allowing them to set up their ideal, quickhitting offense. Focusing on feeding their top outside hitter, sophomore Peyton Carlson, the Comets forced the home team onto the back foot almost immediately. The Falcons eventually regained their footing, but the first set still went to Waupaca, 25-17.

The home team then came out on top in the most lopsided set of the match in the second set, cruising past the Comets with a final score of 25-13. The final was so drastic to what had occurred in the first set that it appeared that the home team had flipped the match into their favor heading to set number three.

Unfortunately for the Falcons, rather than dwelling on the stunning second set, Waupaca seemed to put it behind them and came out to win both sets three and four by solid margins, claiming 25-16 and 25-18 victories.

While the overall statistics appear very similar, Abbotsford could not quite find an answer to Carlson. She recorded a kill on nearly 50 percent of her attempts, leaving the game with 24 to lead the Comets by a large margin.

On Abbotsford’s side, Brodhagen once again had a jack-of-all-trades kind of performance. She led the team in kills, recording 13, was tied for the team lead in aces with Ruesch and Falteisek with two, was part of a block, dug out nine spikes and recorded 12 assists. Ruesch and Falteisek also had solid all-around evenings for the Falcons, picking up nine and eight kills respectively and leading the team in digs with 12 and 14 each. Garcia also had 12 digs and Harris and Schindler came up with key blocks on the defensive end, ending the game with four and three block assists respectively.

SERVING UP AN ACE -Briseida Escalera delivers a serve to the visiting Comets last Tuesday. She recorded one ace in the contest.STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD