RIB LAKE VOLLEYBALL - Slow start hurts Redmen in crossover; Weik hits assist milestone

RIB LAKE VOLLEYBALL

The Rib Lake volleyball team’s second match of the season with Edgar ended like the first, with the Wildcats winning 3-1 Tuesday in the fourth-place match of the Marawood Conference Crossover Challenge, held at Marathon.

The Redmen weren’t at their sharpest in the first two sets, yet still nearly got the first one. Their passing settled down leading to more consistent offense in game three, which they won handily, and it carried into game four, but a close loss there ended the match.

Rib Lake completed its regular season at 23-13.

Seeding for the WIAA Division 4 postseason tournament took place Wednesday night. Regional play is set for next week with matches on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday nights.

While Tuesday’s match didn’t exactly give the momentum boost into the tournament the team was looking for, Rib Lake head coach Heather Weik said the team is still hopeful it can make a regional run, like it did last year, and she’s happy with how the team keeps adjusting while Weik continues to tinker with lineups and rotations in search of just the right mix for tournament play.

Rib Lake had an early 10-8 lead in game one and the set remained close the rest of the way. Tessa Weik’s block of Edgar’s Shiloh Karlen tied it at 14-14 and her push found the floor in the back corner of Edgar’s defense to pull the Redmen within 16-15. But Rib Lake wasn’t able to get back into the lead from there, falling 25-22.

Rib Lake was out of sync from the start in game two, falling behind 6-1. Camryn Glenzer served two aces to start a comeback effort that got as close as four at 18-14 following a Madilyn Blomberg winner. But Edgar got back-to-back aces from Naquene Ellenbecker, kills from Emery Borchardt and Ella Baumgartner and an ace from Brandi Halvorsen to close out the 25-16 set.

Tessa Weik went on a serving run midway through game three, allowing the Redmen to pull away from an 11-11 tie. Megan Komarek had a kill and a block in the run, which put the Redmen up 18-11. Coralee Glenzer and Madelyn Anderson had kills and Weik finished off the set with two kills as Rib Lake got back into the match with a 25-16 win.

Game four was another back-and-forth battle. Edgar surged ahead 16-11. Out of a timeout, Weik’s push found a hole and she served two aces as the Redmen got within 16-15. Coralee Glenzer got a kill and Camryn Glenzer served back-to-back aces to tie it at 21-21 and an Edgar error put Rib Lake in front by one. But Edgar got two kills from Baumgartner and the last one from Ellenbecker to clinch the match at 25-23.

Lakeland 3, Rib Lake 2

Weik notched the 1,000th assist of her high school career during the third set, but, unfortunately, the Redmen fell just short in a five-game non-conference thriller with Lakeland Thursday in the regular-season home finale.

The Thunderbirds swung the match in their favor by winning a lengthy third set 30-28 and overturned an early three-point deficit to take game five 16-14 to win the match.