Raiders keep swinging, get by the Hodags in four sets

MEDFORD VOLLEYBALL

The Rhinelander Hodags hung tough by digging hard and being opportunistic when opportunities presented themselves at the net Tuesday, but the Medford Raiders turned to power when they needed it and prevailed 3-1 in a good Great Northern Conference match at Raider Hall.

Freshman Kayla Baumgartner, seemingly growing more confident and swinging harder in each match, led the Raiders’ attack with 13 kills, including two big ones that helped seal the deal late in game four. But she had help as Cami Rau had nine kills, Shayla Radlinger and Rachel Wesle had five kills each and Toryn Rau added four to go along with a season-high seven block kills. Baumgartner had two block kills and Wesle had one. The win puts Medford back above .500 in league play at 4-3 and bumps the Raiders to 1318 overall. Rhinelander, who broke the program’s 62-match GNC losing streak last week, fell to 1-6 and 12-14 but showed the Hodags are no longer a squad to take lightly.

“Rhinelander was digging our hard hit balls and put up some nice blocks,” Medford head coach Ashley Jochimsen-McCarron said. “The girls worked hard to adjust their hitting to hit those open spots. Serving was a bit of a struggle but we used our hitting placement strength to help us get points when serves were out.”

All four games were close in a match that could’ve gone either way.

In the opener, Medford jumped ahead 5-1, trailed 13-12 and took a 15-13 lead on Toryn Rau’s block kill. Shayla Radlinger got a kill off a Rachel Wesle assist to put Medford up 18-17, but the Hodags got on a run, keyed by two Lexi Robinson kills to go up 21-19. Medford got within 23-22 on a Cami Rau kill, but Rhinelander got the next two points and won it 25-22.

Game two was the only set of the night where a team led wire to wire. Medford was that team, shooting ahead 12-5 at the start, capped by back-to-back aces from Baumgartner. Radlinger, Cami Rau, Wesle, Toryn Rau and Baumgartner all swung and connected on heavy hits in the back half of the set, which the Raiders won 25-20, holding off a late surge by the Hodags.

Rhinelander led through the first half of set three, but Medford caught the Hodags at 11-11. Toryn Rau’s block on Kelsi Beran put Medford ahead. Cami Rau’s winner off a block tied it at 13-13 and Toryn Rau’s tip put the Raiders in front, only to be countered by three straight Hodag points that gave the guests the lead at 16-14.

But the set turned on an ace by Megan Schaefer and two more from Baumgartner that made it 20-17. Toryn Rau put the punctuation mark on the 25-19 win with a kill and a block for two of the last three points.

Baumgartner had back-to-back kills to stake Medford to an 8-4 game-four lead, but the Hodags charged back and took a 12-10 lead on a Callie Hoerchler kill. Cami Rau’s kill put Medford on top 13-12 and was followed by a Toryn Rau block. The Hodags grabbed a wave of momentum and led 19-18 when Medford got an off-speed tip from setter Finley Arndt to tie it, a hard-hit kill from Baumgartner to take the lead and a Schaefer ace. Another booming kill from Baumgartner made it 23-19 and she got to slam a free ball off a tough serve by Schaefer to give Medford match point. Rhinelander got two points to get within 24-21 but Rylee Hraby’s dig led to a bump by Aliyah Pilgrim that was misplayed by Rhinelander’s back row to end it.

As Jochimsen-McCarron said, Medford’s serving success rate was off a bit at 82% (69 of 84), but the Raiders made up for it with 13 aces. Baumgartner had four, Arndt had three and Toryn Rau, Pilgrim and Schaefer served up two apiece. Schaefer led Medford with 12 assists, while Arndt had nine, Wesle had three and Rylee Hraby added two. Hraby had 22 digs from her libero position, Pilgrim had 14 and Arndt had nine.

The Raiders head to Tomahawk tonight, Thursday, for their third matchup of the month with the Hatchets. They won the GNC matchup 3-1 in Antigo on Sept. 16. The Hatchets currently sit in second place in the standings at 5-2, a half-game ahead of 4-2 Lakeland and a full game ahead of Medford.

The Raiders will host Antigo Tuesday in their Cancer Awareness Night match and it will be Youth Night as well. Varsity play starts at 7 p.m. while the JV match at Raider Hall starts at 5:30 p.m.