Edgar gets crossover sweep; Rib Lake 2-2 at Saturday invite
RIB LAKE VOLLEYBALL
MATT FREY
SPORTS EDITOR
The week may have ended with three losses, but it was a week that instilled some much-needed confidence for the Rib Lake volleyball team going into WIAA Division 4 tournament play next week.
The Lady Redmen concluded Marawood Conference play Tuesday with a 3-0 loss to Edgar in the fifth-place match of the league’s crossover event held at Marathon. It was the second sweep of the season for the Wildcats over Rib Lake. The difference in this one being the Redmen got stronger as the match went on, rather than when they wore down late in the Sept. 7 match held in Rib Lake.
The Marawood South won four of the six crossover matches Tuesday, but the North got the big one with Phillips sweeping Stratford to win the overall conference championship. Athens took down Marathon 3-1 in the third-place match for the North’s other win.
Tuesday’s loss left Rib Lake at 10-25 for the season, but four recent wins have given the Redmen a boost with one competition left in the regular season, Saturday’s home triangular. The recent wins shot Rib Lake up to the sixth seed in the WIAA Division 4 sectional half-bracket and have given the Redmen a firstround home match this coming Tuesday against 11th-seeded Flambeau.
The winner will face either thirdseeded Turtle Lake or 14th-seeded Bruce in the Oct. 21 regional semifinal with the higher seed hosting. Post-season matches start at 7 p.m.
The triangular Saturday starts at 10 a.m. with Rib Lake facing Ladysmith and Spencer.
As for Tuesday’s match at Marathon, the Wildcats took the opening set handily at 25-14, but then Rib Lake picked up its game and made Edgar work it. The Wildcats held the Redmen off 25-23 and 25-22 to complete the sweep.
Jennie Pichea continued to lead Rib Lake in kills, registering 11. From there the production was balanced with Tessa Weik getting four kills and Coralee Glenzer, Josie Scheithauer, Camryn Glenzer and Madilyn Blomberg getting three each. Weik had 20 assists, while Josie Scheithauer and Camryn Glenzer had three each.
The Redmen weren’t as sharp as usual at the service line, with 10 errors in 59 serves (83.1%). They did have six aces with Blomberg having three and Coralee Glenzer adding two.
Defensively, Camryn Glenzer had Rib Lake’s lone solo block of the match. Tahlia Scheithauer led the back row with 14 digs, while Weik and Addison Gumz had six each and Isabella Fallos and Coralee Glenzer had four apiece.
The South’s wins Tuesday included Newman Catholic 3-1 over Prentice in the second-place match, Wisconsin Rapids 3-1 over Abbotsford in the fourthplace match and Auburndale 3-0 over Chequamegon in the sixth-place match.
2-2 at Edgar
Rib Lake stretched a modest winning streak to four before dropping two matches to finish fourth in Saturday’s six-team Edgar Invitational.
The Redmen won their opening pool with a 2-1 upset of Abbotsford and a 2-0 victory over Auburndale and advanced to the championship bracket.
There, Rib Lake was swept by Colby and then lost a rematch to Abbotsford 2-0.
In the win over Abbotsford, Rib Lake stormed back from a 25-20 loss in game one and took the next two 25-20 and 15-13 to win the match.
Five players had at least three attack kills for the Redmen, led by Pichea’s nine. Coralee and Camryn Glenzer had five each, while Weik and Blomberg both had three. Weik had 21 assists and Camryn Glenzer had five.
Rib Lake connected on 57 of 60 serves (95%) and had 12 aces, a big part of the win. Coralee Glenzer had four aces, while Tahlia Scheithauer, Blomberg and Avery Niemi had two each. Camryn Glenzer had 19 digs, Tahlia Scheithauer had 14 and Gumz added 10.
The sweep over Auburndale came with identical scores of 25-17.
Blomberg had six kills, Niemi had four and Pichea and Coralee Glenzer had three each in that win. Weik had 16 of the team’s 18 assists and she had two aces. Camryn Glenzer led Rib Lake with four aces. Tahlia Scheithauer had nine digs while the Glenzer twins had five each, Weik had six and Fallos had four.
Colby ended Rib Lake’s winning streak with a 25-15, 25-16 sweep and then knocked off Edgar 2-1 in the championship after losing to the Wildcats 2-1 in pool play.
Against the Hornets, Rib Lake only had seven attack kills with three apiece coming from Pichea and Coralee Glenzer. Weik had six assists. Tahlia Scheithauer had 13 digs, while Fallos had seven.
Abbotsford then got its revenge in the third-place match, winning 25-16, 25-23. Pichea had eight kills in that match, Coralee Glenzer had three and Blomberg and Weik had two each. Pichea had a solo block. Weik had 13 assists and Tahlia Scheithauer had 11 digs, while Camryn Glenzer had seven.
Redmen 3, Wildcats 0
On Thursday, Rib Lake earned its second straight sweep, taking down host Northland Lutheran 3-0 in non-conference play, two days after doing the same to Chequamegon.
The Lady Redmen were in total control at the outset, winning the first set 2511. The Wildcats played better in the second set and pushed Rib Lake to the end but the Redmen prevailed 25-22. Rib Lake carried that momentum into the third set and dominated again 25-13.
“We played great defense, especially in the first and third sets,” Rib Lake head coach Heather Weik said. “It’s nice to see our digs are turning into attack points.”
It was a solid hitting night for Rib Lake, who had 35 kills and just 18 errors in 100 total attacks. Pichea led with nine kills, Camryn Glenzer had seven and Josie Scheithauer, Blomberg and Tessa Weik put down five apiece. Pichea had two solo blocks with Scheithauer and Camryn Glenzer getting one each. Weik set up hitters for 26 assists, while Blomberg had three.
Rib Lake served at a 90.4% success rate (73 of 80) with 11 aces. Coralee Glenzer had six of the aces and Tahlia Scheithauer had two. Tahlia Scheithauer had 15 digs in the win, Weik and Camryn Glenzer had nine apiece and Gumz had eight.
“Tahlia, Jennie and Tessa were solid again,” coach Weik said. “Camryn Glenzer played well defensively and hit the ball hard, and Cora served well again.”
Coralee Glenzer Tahlia Scheithauer
