Abby grabs comeback win over Hornets

The Colby Hornets volleyball team hosted the Abbotsford Falcons last Thursday evening in a non-conference clash between the two neighboring schools. While the home Hornets took two of the first three sets, Abbotsford rallied to win the final two games and take the match 3-2.

The two squads entered the match looking for a slight course correction. The Falcons had opened their season 9-1 but had gone 2-4 over their last six matches. Meanwhile, Colby held a 3-9 record heading into the showdown, though they had just picked up a big win over conference opponent Gilman two days earlier.

The visiting Falcons took a quick lead in the first set, going up 6-2 to establish a cushion between themselves and the Colby squad. While the two teams played relatively even from those early rallies until the midgame, a huge run for Abbotsford would change the complexion of the set.

With Sydney Falteisek and Sommer Brodhagen serving, the Falcons went on a 10-1 run, going from a 13-11 lead to a dominant 23-12 advantage. While the Hornets mustered a small run of their own at the end of the set, the deficit was too great to overcome and the visitors took the first game 25-17.

The second set saw the Falcons taking an early 11-7 advantage, winning a few breakpoints to establish the four point advantage. A 6-2 run by Colby erased that lead, however, capped off by a kill from Lydia Decker to tie the game at 13-13.

Neither team was able to gain command over momentum over the next few rallies, but the serving of Harrison Schmitt shifted the game in favor of the Hornets. Coming in with the score tied at 17-17, the Colby junior delivered three straight aces to break the stalemate. The home team then scored three more times with Schmitt at the service line, taking a 23-17 lead. Colby’s Savana Thomsen hammered a hit through Abbotsford’s block to finish off the Falcons 25-20 and knot the match at one set apiece.

Abbotsford once again got off to a hot start in set number three, scoring six of the game’s first seven points. Colby then went on a 7-2 run of their own, a block from Kylie Orth and Daelyn Rieck tying the game at 8-8. Falcons’ hitter Briseida Escalera kicked off a small Abbotsford run by knocking back a Hornet overpass, but it would be all Colby the rest of the set.

Down 12-9, the home team went on to outscore the Falcons 16-4 in their most dominant stretch of the match. Colby’s serving and offensive attacks kept Abbotsford from settling into their quick sets, a situation that certainly suited the home team. Thomsen once again scored the game winner for the Hornets, making a play at the net to dump the ball on Abbotsford’s side, giving Colby the 25-16 win.

With their backs against the wall, the Falcons needed to find a way to hold on to the early advantages that they had taken in the first three sets.

For the fourth straight set, the visitors led through the beginning portions of the game. A kill from Calley Ruesch put Abbotsford up 9-3, but, as they had so often, the resilient Hornets forced their way back into the game, managing to tie the game at 15-15. Two errors from Colby stopped the run in its tracks and Abbotsford leapt at the opportunity to expand their lead. A good serve from Falteisek turned into an overpass for Colby, which Abbotsford’s Oriah Harris was able to knock down at the net. Another error from the home team gave the Falcons a 19-15 lead.

A timeout seemed to allow Colby to regroup and get back on track. A kill from Rieck would bring the Hornets back within one at 22-21, but that would be all the closer Colby would get. With the set on the line and needing a win to force a fifth and final game, Falcons’ setter Faith Sperl went to Falteisek up the middle. The pair executed the quick set to perfection and Falteisek’s hit found an open spot in Colby’s defense, allowing Abbotsford to take the 25-23 victory.

In a race to 15 points in the tiebreaker set, the Falcons’ early offense proved to be a difference maker. While Colby managed to cut down a five point deficit down to a 10-8 lead for Abbotsford, the Hornets could not quite keep pace with the visitors down the stretch. The Falcons showed off the versatility of their offense, getting kills from Ruesch, Brodhagen and Escalera over the final five points of the match. With the Falcons up 14-10, Escalera’s cross court shot sealed the deal, tipped by Colby’s blockers at the net before slicing out of bounds outside of the reach of any defenders.

The win was big for an Abbotsford squad that only had one win in which they needed to come back from being down in sets. They were 1-5 in such situations before Thursday’s match against the Hornets.

“I think we showed a lot of grit,” Abbotsford head coach John Kreeger said following the tightly contested match. “Colby has improved so much over the last year, and for us to be able to stay engaged and battle back to win the last two sets is a really solid win for us.”

“We also showed we could win in different ways,” he continued. “We usually want to be the aggressor and set the stage with our tempo, but we won last night with our defense and unrelenting scrappy play. Being down in a loud gym, it’s easy to give up. Our team showed that they are ready to finish matches, and we are never out of a game.”

While Colby came up short of the victory, there was still a lot for the Hornets to take away from the match with their crosstown rivals.

“We saw tremendous performances from a number of the girls, but Tori Underwood and Harrison Schmitt had exceptional nights,” head coach Wade Oehmichen said. “Tori studied the defense game plan and easily played her best game of the season, digging up almost everything Abbotsford hit at her. Harrison came in as a serving specialist, which is a difficult task to ask being cold off the bench, for her to serve as well as she did was outstanding, very proud of them both.”

“The large and quite rambunctious crowd I think played into our performance in the first game, but after the ladies calmed into the match we played exceptionally,” he continued. “I will hand it to Abbotsford, they are a great team with a great group of girls. Their quick offense and serving strategies kept us on our toes all match even with all of our planning.”

Rieck and Ruesch led their respective teams with 11 kills each. Orth and Thomsen had nine and eight kills for Colby and Falteisek, Brodhagen and Escalera all had seven for the Falcons. Schmitt led the Hornets with five aces and Brodhagen had four for Abbotsford.

On defense, Sperl recorded 17 digs for Abbotsford, followed by 15 for both Falteisek and Caylee Clement. Underwood had 29 digs for Colby and Rieck added 20 of her own. Harris and Ruesch both were part of three blocks and Thomsen led the Hornets with three of her own.

Following their road win over the Hornets, the Falcons went on to capture four more wins over the past week of play.

This past Saturday, Abbotsford traveled to Augusta for a quad with the hosting Beavers as well as Necedah and Nekoosa. They made short work of the home Augusta squad, winning in straight sets, 25-12 and 25-18.

Both Necedah and Nekoosa proved to be more of a challenge for the Falcons, but they walked away with 2-1 victories over both the Cardinals and the Papermakers.

Abbotsford took the first set 25-18 against Necedah but dropped the second game 25-23 before sneaking away with the 15-12 win in the tiebreaker. They then needed to come back against Nekoosa, who won the first set of their match 25-21. The Falcons shook off the loss to win two straight sets, 25-19 and 15-9.

They then faced off against conference opponent Rib Lake on Tuesday evening at home. While it appeared that Abbotsford would dominate the match following their comfortable wins in the first two sets, the visitors made things interesting once they settled into the flow of the game.

Abbotsford’s 25-17 win in the first set was largely fueled by a run in which they scored 13 straight points. In the second set, the Falcons held a 21-11 lead before eventually winning 25-18. While neither of the first two sets had been close, the fact that Rib Lake had managed to eat into those large leads before Abbotsford could close the book on the sets was perhaps a sign that the visitors could prove dangerous.

The Falcons did not have the luxury of a large lead in the third set and another late game push from Rib Lake tipped the odds in their favor. The visitors went on a 13-4 run to close out the third set, taking a 25-16 victory.

In an extremely tight fourth set, the Falcons ultimately came out victorious, taking a 25-23 win to take the match 3-1.

The win over Rib Lake gave Abbotsford five straight victories and brought their overall record on the season to 15-5. Next, they are scheduled to host a tournament this Saturday, Sept. 23, which is to begin at 9 a.m.

Two Cloverbelt victories

While the Hornets would have liked to pick up a win over Abbotsford, they did grab a pair of Cloverbelt matches against Gilman and Neillsville to open their conference schedule. Colby launched successful comeback efforts in both matches, pulling off an especially impressive three straight wins to defeat the Warriors at home on Monday evening.

In their first Cloverbelt match of 2023, which was held in Gilman last Tuesday, Colby fell behind the Pirates by dropping the first set 25-19. The two teams then swapped wins, with the Hornets taking both the second and fourth sets 25-17 and Gilman grabbing the third game 25-23. The pattern was broken in the decider, however, as Colby emerged victorious, 15-9. Thomsen and Decker led the team in kills with 14 and 10 respectively and Underwood had a team high 31 digs in the win over the Pirates.

On Monday, it looked like Colby had perhaps let a match slip through their fingers. After leading late in the first set, Neillsville came back to win 25-23 and then followed it up with a 25-21 win in the second set. However, Colby went on to complete the reverse sweep of the Warriors, winning 25-16, 26-24 and 1510.

The Hornets are now 4-10 overall but are 2-0 in conference play and have proven they can be competitive in their last few matches.

They will look to add another Cloverbelt win to their resume on Thursday when they travel to Greenwood to take on the Indians. The start time for that match is 7:15 p.m.

CELEBRATION IN COLBY - Briseida Escalera is swarmed by her teammates after a big spike in the fifth set of Thursday night’s match against the Hornets. The senior had the game winning kill for the Falcons a few plays later.STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD

PINPOINT ACCURACY -Josie Higley delivers a perfect back set for her teammate on Thursday.STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD

THROWING UP THE BLOCK -Sommer Brodhagen and Oriah Harris look to make things difficult for Colby’s hitters.STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD