stead. The Hornets would use ….
stead. The Hornets would use it to tie the game on the following rally. With the game tied at 24-24, the officials once again needed to confer on an Abbotsford block that landed out of bounds. The initial call appeared to give the point to Colby, but after some discussions, the play reversed, with the first referee seeming to indicate that the Colby hitter had tipped the ball on its way back down.
Now with the lead and a chance to end the game, Abbotsford went to their senior middle hitter, Soyk, who landed the finishing blow with a powerful hit down the middle that could not be corralled by the Hornets’ defense. This time, the result was obvious, with no need for review. The Falcons’ student section rushed the court to celebrate the hard fought 26-24 victory, another year of bragging rights secured.
Much like on the final play of the match, the Hornets did not have an answer for Soyk’s offense for much of the evening. Whether hitting from the net or the back row, the senior was extremely difficult to stop, accumulating 19 kills on a .324 hitting percentage. Escelara had the second most kills for the Falcons with eight and Ruesch made the most of her opportunities, getting six kills on 13 chances.
The Falcons had 12 aces, the second most for a five set game this year, though their 18 service errors were by far the most they’ve had. Escelara led the team with six aces and Ruech had four herself.
Defensively, Fuentes-Rivera led Abbotsford in digs, recording 12 over the course of the match. Freshman Faith Sperl had 11 and Soyk contributed 10.
Willner once again led the Hornets’ offense, recording 12 kills on 27 attempts and three errors. Harrison Schmitt added nine kills of her own and Thomsen finished with seven.
Weiland and Thomsen finished with three aces each.
For the second loss in a row, hitting and service errors would haunt the Hornets. 13 errors while serving added to 21 hitting errors resulted in a combined 34 unforced points for the Falcons. Abbotsford also struggled in this area, mostly resulting in a wash, but it was something that either team could have taken advantage of.
Defensively, Willner had 16 digs and Thomsen came in with 10 of her own. Junior Lydia Decker had three total blocks, with two solo blocks and one assisted.
Clintonville Invite
After the cross-town battle, Abbotsford took a trip to Clintonville on Saturday, September 17 to play in the Clintonville Invite. There, the Falcons posted a 2-3 record which gave them fifth place at the event. The Falcons started off with losses to Southern Door, Ripon and Shawano before rebounding to beat St. Mary’s Catholic and that same Shawano team.
Abbotsford vs. Athens
Abbotsford then returned home and dropped a heartbreaker to Athens on Tuesday night. The Bluejays are ranked second in the Division 4 according to the Max-Preps girls volleyball rankings. The Falcons dropped the first set to the Bluejays but battled back to take the next two sets and a 2-1 lead.
The Falcons were unable to close out the match as they dropped the fourth set by a score of 16-25 and the fifth set by a tally of 8-15.
The Hornets had the weekend off but traveled to Neillsville on Tuesday where they lost to the Warriors, 3-0.
Colby will face Greenwood on Thursday at the Dick Gunderson Memorial Gymnasium before joining the Falcons in the Abbotsford volleyball tournament on Saturday beginning at 9 a.m.
