Hornets down Abby in straight sets, 3-0
By Nathaniel Underwood
The Abbotsford Falcons hosted the Colby Hornets for their annual non-conference contest last Tuesday. Unlike their usual early season best-of-five match, this year’s battle between the two rival squads was a rematch, with both having faced off in an early season tournament in Wisconsin Rapids a few days prior. The Falcons came out on top in Rapids, defeating Colby 2-1 in a three set match, but the Hornets evened the season series by sweeping Abbotsford 3-0 in Tuesday’s contest. Solid runs in the middle of the first two sets and Colby’s serving turned the tide in the visitors’ favor. While the Falcons had the advantage from behind the service line when the two teams clashed in Rapids, collecting 14 aces across the three sets played, it was the Hornets who were putting on the pressure with their serves in the rematch. Colby had 14 aces in their sweep and kept the Falcons on the back foot for much of the evening, not allowing them to build any sort of offensive momentum.
An 8-4 run in the middle of the first set pushed the Hornets early lead out to a nine-point advantage. A block from Lilly Brzezinski and a hitting error from the Falcons capped off the run that saw the Hornets leading 22-13 by its end. Another hitting error by Abbotsford eventually closed the book on the first set, giving Colby the 25-15 win.
The Hornets then opened a small two-point lead in the early portions of the second set, but a kill from Reece Nelson tied things back up at 9-9. The Hornets answered right back on the next rally, turning to Daelyn Rieck, who powered through a block for a kill to break the tie. The Falcons managed to tie it again at 10-10, but Colby would go on to score four straight points, with Tori Underwood serving up an ace and Dakota Hoeper dealing up a kill.
The visitors jumped on the opportunity to continue to build their lead, going on to score another five straight points on solid serves from Savana Thomsen, opening up a 19-11 lead. A kill from Riley Podevels capped a small 3-0 run for the Falcons, but kills courtesy of Rieck and Harrison Schmitt stopped the Abbotsford comeback attempt in its tracks. The two squads played evenly into the end game and another kill from Rieck pushed the second set to game point. The Falcons managed to hold on momentarily, winning the next point and getting a solid serve that the Hornets could not handle, but a serving error gave Colby the 25-19 victory.
In the third set, two early aces from Rieck pushed the Hornets to a 3-0 lead early and the visitors pushed their advantage early, drawing the score out to 14-4. While Abbotsford would rally slightly in the mid game with Podevels serving, scoring four straight points, the six point deficit would be all the closer the hosting Falcons would get.
Colby went on an 8-3 run to regain full control of the match, capped with Brzezinski winning a long rally with a kill. Brynn Polivka sealed the deal with the game-point block and the Hornets swept Abbotsford with a 25-13 win in the third set.
Rieck led all scorers with 12 kills. Hoeper added six more for the Hornets and Schmitt was efficient with her 11 attempts, earning five kills and only recording one hitting error. Podevels was the only Falcon with a positive hitting percentage for the Falcons, leading them with five kills. Celia Schindler and Nelson both had four kills each.
Rieck was also the Hornets’ most dangerous weapon from the service area, racking up five aces in the win. Hannah Trush added four more for Colby and Addisyn Weiland had three. Podevels and Campbell Brodhagen had one ace each for Abbotsford, which could not find the same success serving against the Hornets that they had enjoyed in their first 2024 match.
Colby also recorded four blocks, with Brzezinski coming up with two herself and Polivka and Schmitt picking up one each. Faith Sperl and Lauryn Harris combined on both of the Falcons’ blocks.
Hornets take on Auburndale, Rib Lake
Colby traveled to Auburndale to take on the Eagles and Rib Lake last Thursday. While the Hornets lost a close 21 match against Rib Lake in their first contest, they were able to bounce back to sweep Auburndale 2-0.
While the Hornets ended up leading Rib Lake in most statistical categories during their Thursday match, their opponents were able to just edge them out in the final set. After Rib Lake took the first set 25-19, the Hornets roared back with the second, picking up a dominant 25-13 win. Colby was not able to hold on to that momentum heading into the tiebreaker, resulting in the closest set of the match. Rib Lake narrowly snuck out with the 15-13 win, serving Colby their third loss of the season.
Rieck picked up double digit kills in the loss, ending the game with 10 on a .350 hitting percentage. Schmitt and Brzezinski also had hitting percentages over .300, the former picking up six kills and the latter adding four. Thomsen had 24 of the team’s 25 assists and three of their five aces. On defense, Rieck had 12 digs and Underwood added nine while Brzezinski notched the only block.
“The girls are improving at a good clip this season,” head coach Wade Oehmichen said. “We had some heavy feet and low energy starting the match versus Rib Lake, but the girls pulled it together on the second game making good corrections. Those last games to 15 are always tough because a few made plays can make or break the rest of the match.”
“Rib Lake has a spectacular team and a wonderful
See ABBY VS COLBY VOLLEYBALL/ Page 18
ON THE ATTACK - Dakota Hoeper sends a shot down the line for one of her six kills in the Hornets’ victory last Tuesday.
STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD
DENIED - Abbotsford’s Reece Nelson quickly reacts to the block by Harrison Schmitt during last Tuesday’s match between the Falcons and the Hornets.
STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD
SNEAKING AROUND THE BLOCK - Riley Podevels slips a shot just over the tape, notching one of her team high five kills.
STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD Abby vs Colby volleyball
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coach,” he continued. “She has those girls fearless and scrappy. Where most teams start to tip and tense up when the score gets close, those girls take big swings and stay aggressive and that is a hard trait to instill in these young players, so I commend her on a great job done.”
A 2-0 victory in straight sets perhaps does not do justice to how close the match between the Hornets and Auburndale truly was, as both games played between the two squads went past the 25-point mark. Colby came out on top 26-24 in both, thanks in part to their cleaner serving, picking up just three serving errors to the Eagles nine. The Hornets’ defense also played well, committing no dig errors, two ball-handling errors, and three serve receive errors compared to eight dig errors, one ball-handling error and five receiving errors from Auburndale.
Underwood and Rieck led the defensive effort in the back row, putting up 13 digs each, while Brezinski was part of four blocks, combining with Thomsen on three of them and recording a solo block as well. Rieck also led all scorers with eight kills, Hoeper was second on the team with four and Schmitt and Brzezinski added three each. Weiland led the team with two aces.
“The Auburndale match was also hard fought, going a point extra each game,” Oehmichen said. “The girls executed well and some of the girls had exceptional games, including our two middles Lilly Brezinzski and Harrison Schmitt. The Auburndale ladies played very well and with their tremendous scrappy defense, they will go very far this season.”
The Hornets will return to the court on Saturday, Sept. 14 when they travel to Sparta for a tournament. Their first Cloverbelt-East match will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 17, when they travel to Neillsville to take on the Warriors.
Abbotsford goes 2-2 in matches at Marshfield tournament
The Falcons are now 5-6 this season after going 2-2 in a tournament held in Marshfield on Saturday. Their wins came in a 2-0 victory over Ladysmith and a 2-1 triumph over Mondovi while they were swept by Marshfield and fell 2-1 to Shawano Community.
Abbotsford narrowly came out with the win in their first game against Ladysmith, sneaking out with a 26-24 victory, but dominated in the second set, winning 25-11.
They came up with nine aces in the two games, getting four courtesy of Schindler, two from Caylee Clement and Marilyn Hammock and one from Sperl. Schindler and Podevels ended the match with a team-high five kills each and Podevels and Harris combined for the sole block by the Falcons.
Modovi got the jump on Abbotsford in the first game, taking a 25-11 win, but the Falcons closed out the match strong, winning the second set 25-15 and the third 15-8.
Fourteen kills from the combination of Schindler and Podevels and 10 team aces powered Abbotsford to the victory. Six different servers had at least one ace in the match, Podevels leading the way with three. The sophomore also led the team in serve receives, recording 17 without an error, and in digs, where she and Sperl had eight each.
Marshfield proved to be a difficult opponent and while the Falcons were able to hang with the Division 1 squad in the first set, losing by five points 25-20, the Tigers completely controlled the second game, defeating Abbotsford 25-7. The hosts of the tournament were effective in their attack, posting a team hitting percentage of .273, and the Falcons struggled to find holes in their defense, recording just 10 kills in the match. Podevels had four of those kills and Schindler added another three. Sperl picked up three aces and she and Harris combined for the Falcons sole block.
Like in the Mondovi match, the Falcons fell behind early against Shawano Community, losing the first game 25-14, but bounced back in the second set, winning 2520. They could not quite seal the deal against the Hawks, however, falling 15-9 in the tiebreaker.
The Falcons will be back in action at home on Thursday, Sept. 12 when they take on Gilman at 7 p.m. The Pirates are 5-5 so far this season, having lost to Mercer and Rib Lake in their most recent matches.
SETTING UP THE DEFENSE - Abbotsford’s Marilyn Hammock looks to make things difficult at the net for Colby’s Dakota Hoeper.
STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD
