Wildcats hoping for more success
Squad narrowly missed state last season
By Casey Krautkramer
Edgar varsity volleyball head coach Evan Krebsbach’s high intensity personality rubs off on his volleyball squad. Krebsbach and the Wildcats are motivated as ever to succeed this season, coming off last year in which Edgar came very close to playing in the WIAA Division 3 state tournament.
Krebsbach is in the midst of his third year as Edgar’s head coach, or fourth if you count the dreaded COVID season. His assistant coaches are Jody Davis and Kirstin Christianson at the developmental levels of junior varsity 1 and junior varsity 2. Krebsbach has brought in former Athens and Medford head varsity volleyball coach Cheryl Schreiner, who is an Edgar native, as his Wildcats varsity assistant coach this season.
“We are blessed to have her and we appreciate everything she brings to the table,” Krebsbach said. “We adore her energy, knowledge and compassion. She brings Christmas morning energy to practice every day. The athletes have responded to her extremely well! I am really lucky with the coaching staff that I’ve been gifted.”
Krebsbach describes the following top returning varsity volleyball players this season: “My top returning players this season are all-conference senior outside hitter Emily Murkowski, senior middle blocker Brooke Imhoff, senior opposite hitter Makayla Wirkus and allconference senior utility player Kyra Anderson,” he said. “These four players have been in the varsity mix since they were freshmen. They’ve been in huge games. They’ve been battle tested and they’re true examples of Edgar excellence and leaders.”
Edgar has the following new varsity players this season: “We have a slew of newcomers to the court and team,” Krebsbach said. “Senior setter Autumn Christianson is doing a nice job on the court. Junior Emery Borchardt is flexing her muscles and turning heads. We also have some youth who are all starting in the rotation with a trio of sophomores in middle blocker Ella Baumgartner, setter Addy Nowak and libero Kaitlyn Hartnady.”
Krebsbach said he and the players returning from last year are not dwelling on how last season ended with a 3-2 loss to Wittenberg-Birnamwood in the WIAA Division 3 sectional championship in Auburndale.
“We bring back five starting players, essentially, in the mix from last year’s sectional championship team who also I might add won conference and regionals,” he said. “We don’t ever talk about that sectional final game against Wittenberg- Birnamwood. I don’t see the point of talking about it because we did everything in our control to put us in a position to win that game. Things out of our control dictated the outcome. It was devastating, we grieved the loss and it was emotional. We don’t bring up sadness and we really don’t use it as motivation either. I try not to lead by motivation but instead by inspiration. Those girls on the court that night were an inspiration and those athletes were what I want to draw energy from because they were incredible. I don’t see the point in feeding motivation off anger, sadness and grief. I personally don’t think about that game.”
“The returning girls are different. They are wired different and it’s a beautiful thing. The leadership, energy and style of play is different. We’re not looking ahead that far of what we can accomplish in a couple months, but instead we want to collect good habits and win gold medals each day at practice. I believe that’s the true level of success. The journey and the company, not the destination and the outcomes will take care of themselves.”
‘Cats drop pair of matches
Edgar has lost its last two Marawood Conference South matches. Edgar fell, 3-0, on Sept. 12 at Wisconsin Rapids Assumption. Edgar also lost, 3-1, to Newman Catholic at home on Tuesday during Parent’s Night.
Newman Catholic is ranked fourth in this week’s Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches Association Division 4 poll and Assumption is ranked ninth.
