WIAA DIV. 4 VOLLEYBALL - Redmen unable to slow down Rebels after beating Abby in 4

WIAA DIV. 4 VOLLEYBALL

It’s always good to have options and top-seeded Wabeno-Laona had three powerful choices it could set to while ending the Rib Lake volleyball team’s season Saturday evening.

The hard-swinging trio of Lily Terry, Allison Albrecht and Brynn Yaeger recorded 11 kills each and led the Rebels to a 3-1 victory over the fourth-seeded Redmen in the WIAA Division 4 regional final played in Wabeno. The Rebels secured their third win of the season over the Redmen with the first two coming in Wisconsin Dells Sept. 13-14.

This time, the Redmen forged a 1-1 tie with a 25-21 win in game two, but Wabeno-Laona won the pivotal third game 25-20 and outscored the Redmen 10-3 down the stretch in game four to clinch the match 25-15.

Rib Lake’s much-improved 2024 season ended at 24-14. The Rebels improved to 36-8 and will host thirdseeded Edgar tonight, Thursday, in a sectional semifinal with the winner facing one-seed Pittsville or five-seed Auburndale in the sectional final Saturday.

Terry set the tone for the home team in Saturday’s first set. The Rebels’ junior middle got two early block kills and two attack kills in Wabeno-Laona’s opening 94 run. The lead stayed in the four- to fivepoint range until the end of the set when two more Terry kills and an ace from Reese Connor opened up a 23-14 lead. Yaeger’s spike couldn’t quite get dug up by Rib Lake’s Tahlia Scheithauer as the Rebels closed out the set 25-16.

Game two turned after Wabeno-Laona libero Holly Gilligan served an ace to bring the Rebels within 13-12. Coralee Glenzer got a kill for Rib Lake and Megan Komarek served an ace. After the Rebels got it to 1514, Rib Lake went on a big run with Camryn Glenzer serving, opening up a 2314 lead. Glenzer finished the run with two aces. She also had a key dig that led to a Madilyn Blomberg winner at 19-14.

One kill from Yaeger and two from Terry gave the Rebels hope at 24-19, but Weik’s kill finished it off at 25-20.

Rib Lake couldn’t seize the momentum, however, going into the third set. An Addison Gumz ace tied it early at 5-5, but a 12-6 spurt gave the Rebels a 20-12 lead. Albrecht’s kill made it 22-14 and Connor rolled an ace off the net, something Wabeno-Laona did a handful of times in the match, for a 23-15 lead. Rib lake got within 23-19 but got no closer than that.

Needing to win game four to keep hope alive, Rib Lake got within 12-10 when Blomberg’s light push found a hole. Camryn Glenzer’s kill made it 15-12, but an Albrecht kills, followed by a Yaeger kill and a net ace from Gilligan signaled the end was near. Albrecht’s kill made it 2012, Yaeger put down two kills for a 22-13 lead, the she got a block kill at 23-15. Her kill ended the match.

Weik had 10 kills to lead Rib Lake. Blomberg had seven and Camryn Glenzer had six. Weik had 14 assists and Gumz had 11.

Tahlia Scheithauer had 11 digs, while Camryn Glenzer and Gumz had 10 each. The Redmen, though, weren’t able to slow the Rebels down much at the net. Madelyn Anderson had two solo blocks, but the Redmen didn’t get much besides that in the blocking department.

Rib Lake put 69 of 77 serves in play (89.6%) with seven aces. Weik had three of them. Komarek and Scheithauer had two each.

The Redmen will say goodbye to Gumz, but should bring back the rest of their varsity roster in 2025, which will be extremely senior heavy.

In Thursday’s regional semifinal match, Rib Lake came out firing, let down for a game and a half and then got back on track in a 3-1 home win over fifth-seeded Abbotsford.

The Redmen swept the Falcons in regular-season play back on Sept. 24, but that was the only Marawood North loss for Abbotsford, who wound up sharing the conference title with Prentice.

This time, the teams split the first two sets. Rib Lake rallied from a 12-3 deficit in the third set, winning it 26-24 and the Redmen closed it out with a solid fourth set 25-21.

“We were feeling great,” Tessa Weik said after the win. “We were focused on just doing our thing. Let’s stay up, swing hard, talk.”

Confidence is something head coach Heather Weik said the coaches stressed with the players in the eight-day break the team had since its last regular-season match.

“It’s playoff time, hopefully we have the confidence,” she said. “We’ve been preaching confidence. I think coming into it, now they see it. If they’re confident, they’re going to hit harder, they’re going to move faster. And they’re supporting each other so much.”

Confidence was certainly gained by Rib Lake’s freshman middles Anderson and Komarek, who played like playoff veterans. Anderson had 10 kills and three total blocks. Komarek had eight kills and five service aces.

“I was really impressed,” Heather Weik said. “Megan came in and had some nice serves. Madelyn just found her sweet spot. She had that confidence and she knew she could do it.”

“I’m really proud of everybody,” Tessa Weik said. “Our freshmen came up clutch. They hit the ball hard. I’m really proud of them. Everybody just passed the ball and got the job done.”

Rib Lake blew game one wide open behind a serving run from Komarek that included an ace, a dump point for Weik and several saves defensively that kept points alive as the Redmen took a 13-6 lead.

“It was everyone going all-out,” said Scheithauer, the team’s libero who led Rib Lake with 19 digs.

“Nothing was hitting the floor in the first set,” Heather Weik said.

Anderson found her groove by twohand tapping an Abbotsford overpass on a hard serve by Gumz. Anderson got a block kill and an attack kill on another free ball. Gumz set up Weik for a kill that made it 22-8. Weik added points on a tip and a push and Komarek got the clincher with an easy tap of a free ball to end the set at 25-10.

A Weik ace tied set two at 4-4, but Abbotsford went on a little 6-3 spurt and led the rest of the way and tied the match at a set apiece with a 25-18 win.

“Our serve receive struggled a little bit and then with their quick offense, we struggled a little bit,” Heather Weik said “But we made up for it with some really good back row plays.”

The quick sets from Faith Sperl to Marilyn Hammock in the middle were a key part of Abbotsford’s offense for much of the match.

“You just have to get ready really fast,” Scheithauer said.

After Abbotsford took its 12-3 lead in the third, Rib Lake went on a 5-0 run that seemed to get the Redmen back on track. Blomberg and Weik had multiple kills and Anderson’s kill tied it at 16-16. From there, the lead see-sawed until Abbotsford got set point at 24-23 but missed a serve. Scheithauer’s diving save kept the next point alive, which Rib Lake won, and Weik got a left-handed tip off Sperl’s attempted block to clinch it at 26-24.

“Tessa helped us a lot with court awareness and just smart moves,” Heather Weik said. “We’ve been working on a new rotation for a few weeks now and putting it into play and changed some things up and I think it’s finally becoming comfortable and they’re owning it.”

Komarek’s booming kill tied the fourth set a 5-5, then she served back-to-back aces to put Rib Lake in the lead. The Falcons nudged back ahead 17-15, but Anderson had two kills and a block and two Abbotsford errors put Rib Lake on top 21-17. Anderson had two more kills, Komarek had one and Camryn Glenzer’s tip ended it at 25-21.

Weik led Rib Lake with 16 kills and she had 15 assists and 18 digs. Gumz had 15 assists and 17 digs. Blomberg had five kills, six digs, four assists and three aces.

Camryn Glenzer has an uncontested attack opportunity as Abbotsford is unable to put up a block during game one of Thursday’s 3-1 regional semifinal. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS