Two GNC wins set up potential showdown with Mosinee Saturday

The Medford Raiders did not play their best volleyball Sept. 17 in a 3-0 loss at defending Great Northern Conference champion Mosinee, but they’ve taken care of business since then.

That’s given them another shot at the Indians with the possibility of a GNC championship still there.

The Raiders moved to 7-1 in league play Tuesday with a commanding 3-0 sweep of visiting Tomahawk in the final regularseason match to be played this fall in Raider Hall. With the Senior Night win, Medford remained a game and a half behind 9-0 Mosinee, who beat Lakeland 31 Tuesday.

The rematch will come Saturday at Medford Area Middle School in the midst of the GNC’s second Saturday meet of the season. The Raiders will play Lakeland in round one, Mosinee in round two and Northland Pines in round three before closing out the regular season Tuesday at Antigo.

Tuesday’s win was the always coveted team effort with everyone who saw playing time contributing.

“It was just an all-around really good night,” head coach Ashley Jochimsen-McCarron said. “All-around a good team effort. There’s no better time to peak than right now.”

After falling behind 2-0, the Senior Night energy kicked in and the Raiders buried the Hatchets 25-10 in game one. Two aces apiece from Finley Arndt and Toryn Rau and a back-row attack from Aliyah Pilgrim highlighted a big mid-game run that turned an 8-4 score to 21-8 after a Rylee Hraby ace. Pilgrim’s ace finished it.

Medford led 12-11 when Hraby bumped an assist to Rau for a kill from the left side. Rau hit two more attacks off blockers for points and the Raiders took off from there with Taylor Klingbeil getting two kills to help close out Medford’s 25-18 win.

Jochimsen-McCarron said the play of Medford’s middles –– Radlinger and Klingbeil –- was impressive. Klingbeil had a team-high nine attack kills, plus she had two block kills and three digs. Radlinger had eight attack kills, two block kills and was involved in four total blocks.

Having that production took pressure off outside hitter Kayla Baumgartner, who still was a force with eight kills in 24 swings.

“Taylor had one heck of a night,” Jochimsen-McCarron said. “We used our middles a lot.”

It looked like Medford was easily going to win game three when it jumped ahead 14-5, but the Hatchets made a run to get within 16-14. Out of a timeout, the Raiders set up junior Sophia Steinman on the left side and she came through with a key kill that swung the momentum back to Medford. Pilgrim followed with an ace. Arndt’s chicken-wing save eventually led to a Baumgartner kill and a 20-15 lead. Klingbeil got two more kills and Rau’s deflection off a block ended it at 25-19.

Rau had six kills and Megan Schaefer had four to go with 13 assists. Hraby had 14 digs, while Laney Hraby had seven. Arndt had 17 assists. Medford was 68 for 74 in serving (91.9%) with eight aces. Pilgrim had three, while Arndt and Rau had two each.

The Raiders moved to 20-11 heading into the regular season’s home stretch.

Tomahawk fell to 3-5 in league play and 10-16 overall. Rau, Schaefer, Radlinger and Amelia Pernsteiner were the four seniors honored before Tuesday’s match.

Three rounds of GNC matches will take place on the three courts at MAMS on Saturday starting at 10 a.m.

2-3 at Eau Claire

Medford faced some strong competition at the 10-team Eau Claire Memorial Invitational Saturday and came away with seventh place after two wins in five matches.

“The scores this weekend did not reflect our play,” Jochimsen-McCarron said. “We faced some good teams.”

Medford went 1-3 in pool play before sweeping Nekoosa 25-20, 25-22 in the seventh-place match. Klingbeil had six kills, three solo blocks and two block kills in that win. Baumgartner had four kills and Pernsteiner and Rau had three each. Schaefer served six of Medford’s 13 aces. Arndt added four. Rylee Hraby had 10 digs and Arndt had seven assists while Schaefer had five.

The win in pool play was a 2-1 victory over Sun Prairie West. The Wolves took the first set 25-17, but Medford came back with 25-17 and 15-9 wins to take the match. Baumgartner had seven kills, while Rau had four. Schaefer and Arndt had nine assists each. Pilgram had three aces and 12 digs. Rylee Hraby had 19 digs.

The Raiders also went three sets with Altoona, but a couple of breaks went the Railroaders’ way and they took the match 17-25, 25-19, 15-13. Rau and Baumgartner had 10 kills apiece. Arndt had 11 assists while Schaefer had eight. Rylee Hraby had 11 digs in the loss. Radlinger, Klingbeil and Baumgartner were involved in three blocks each.

D.C. Everest opened the tournament by beating Medford 25-17, 28-26. Rau had four kills and Klingbeil had three in that match. Klingbeil had three total blocks, including two solos.

Rylee Hraby had 14 digs. Arndt had 11 assists and two aces. Baumgartner added two aces. Schaefer had five assists.

Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran, the state’s top-ranked Division 5 team, won the pool and finished second in the tournament, falling to Eau Claire Memorial in the title match. The Lancers beat Medford 25-16, 25-18 in pool play. Baumgartner had five kills, Klingbeil had three kills and three solo blocks and Schaefer had five digs and five assists in that match. Arndt had nine assists.

Raiders 3, Hodags 0

The Raiders took care of some GNC business on Thursday, sweeping overmatched Rhinelander 3-0 on the Hodags’ home court.

Baumgartner had 11 kills, Radlinger had eight and Rau had seven to lead the offense, while Arndt set up the hitters with 17 assists and Schaefer had seven. Schaefer had three aces, while Radlinger and Pilgrim had two each. Medford was a perfect 73 for 73 in serves during the match.

Medford got out to an 8-1 lead in game one behind a serving run from Pilgrim. The Hodags clawed back within 13-10, but Rau got a deflection off a block and added another kill, Radlinger and Steinman got kills and Rau hit the sideline to open up a 20-11 lead. Rau and Radlinger got additional kills to help close out the 25-12 opening win.

Baumgartner’s kill off an Arndt assist tied game two at 6-6, Schaefer followed with an ace and the Raiders were off and running from there. Rylee Hraby made a diving save and Laney Hraby made a running save past the baseline to keep a rally alive that ended with Radlinger’s block and a 15-9 lead. Pilgrim, who was 22 for 22 in serving, had an ace in a serving run that put Medford up 21-11 and Radlinger’s kill and ace wrapped the set up at 25-13.

Behind another serving run from Pilgrim, Medford tore out to a 9-1 lead in game three and then, with Schaefer serving, the lead ballooned to 20-3 before the Hodags made a little run against Medford’s reserves. Kills by Ruthie Steinman and Kailyn Haenel stemmed the tide and Rau’s two kills ended the set at 25-14.

Radlinger and Sophia Steinman both registered three total blocks in the win. Rylee Hraby had 15 digs, Pilgrim had five and Arndt had four.

Medford’s Shayla Radlinger (1) and Toryn Rau are both ready for the set that could be coming from teammate Finley Arndt during the Raiders’ 3-0 GNC sweep at Rhinelander Thursday. BOB MAINHARDT/NORTHWOODS RIVER NEWS