Spencer defeats Thorp, Northland Lutheran

The Spencer High School volleyball team (pictured at right) traveled to Marathon this past Saturday and got a lot of playing experience at the start the season. They also picked up a win.

In their first match, played best out of three, the Spencer Rockets narrowly lost to Fall Creek, 25-19, in the first set and then 25-17 in the second set. Spencer’s second match was more lopsided, as Spencer lost to Stratford 25-12 and 25-17. In the third match, Spencer took on Rib Lake, losing 25-12 in the first set but rallying back to win the second set 25-22. That drew the match to a third set, which Spencer lost 15-5. The Rockets found victory in the fourth set, defeating Thorp handily with set scores of 25-14 and 25-12.

In their final match of the day, the Rockets faced Rib Lake once more. The first set was close, with Rib Lake winning 25-22. Unfortunately for Spencer, Rib Lake also took the second set, 25-20, to win the match overall.

Over the course of the day, Spencer’s Alina Jackson, Shelby Frisch and Hannah Schreiner each had five ace serves. Hallie Meyer and Carmen Krause had four. Schreiner had the best server rating, with no errors on 27 attempts. Meyer and Jackson had the next best server rating of 95.1%, each with just two errors on 41 attempts. Frisch had a rating of 91.7%, with two errors on 24 attempts. Schreiner also had the best serve-receive rating, with just one error on 14 serve-receive attempts.

Ema Schultz and Krause led the team in kills, with 24 and 22, respectively. The next closest was Schreiner with eight.

Autumn Davis was the team’s go-to blocker, with her completing eight blocks, including six assists and two solo blocks. Krause was next with five blocks, all assists.

Meyer led the team in assists, with 40. Lydia Lou was next, with 13.

Northland Lutheran Two days before the tournament, on Aug. 29, Spencer travelled to Kronenwetter to play Northland Lutheran. That got the season started on a high note, as Spencer swept the best-out-of-five match, winning the three sets 25-14, 25-10 and 25-17.

Kruase had five ace serves. Alexa Stange had the highest server rating, with no errors on five serves. Jackson also had a high rating, 94.4%, serving 18 times with only one error. Krause and Schultz each had nine kills. Stange had the best serve-receive rating as well, with no errors on 16 serve-receive attempts.

Emma Nieman had two blocks, one of which was an assist. Schreiner had one block. Meyer had the most digs, with 14. Stange had 10.

VALORIE BRECHT/STAFF PHOTO