Falcons cap regular season with 3-2 run

The Abbotsford Falcons went 3-2 in their final week of play before the WIAA tournament begins. The team defeated Assumption in the Marawood crossover event and went 2-2 in the Edgar tournament held on Saturday. They finished with a 21-15 record overall in the regular season.

Assumption, 3-2

Tuesday evening, teams from the Marawood-North faced off against their counterparts from the Marawood- South in a crossover event held in Marathon. Abbotsford, which had taken fourth in the tough North conference were paired with the South’s fourth place finisher, Assumption. Just like in their match two weekends ago, Abbotsford and the Royals took each other to the maximum number of sets, and in very similar fashion, the Falcons needed to battle back in order to claim the victory.

Assumption, who won the first set in the match between the two teams in the Marawood crossover event held in Abbotsford, started off hot again. They defeated the Falcons in the first two sets, 25-22 and 25-17.

Now in a deep hole, Abbotsford needed to start digging themselves back out. With their backs against the wall, the Falcons delivered a momentum changing third set, where they crushed the Royals 25-12.

This victory set Abbotsford up for the reverse sweep. In a tight game four, the Falcons outlasted Assumption 2523 to force a final set. In another closely contested game, Abbotsford once again came out on top, 15-13 completing the comeback to take the match 3-2.

Edgar Tournament

The Falcons faced off against four different teams on Saturday, taking down the likes of Rib Lake and Bruce but taking losses from Edgar and Auburndale.

The Falcons won handily in their victories over Bruce and fellow Marawood- North member Rib Lake. In the match against Bruce, Abbotsford won in straight sets, 25-7 and 25-9. The Red Raiders provided little resistance on either side of the ball, with the Falcons racking up 11 aces and 21 kills in just two sets.

Haylee Soyk led her team with nine kills and had an impressive .467 hitting percentage. Briseida Escalera had four kills and Calley Ruesch added three. Escalera had four aces and Sydney Falteisek recorded three.

Rib Lake offered only slightly more of a challenge. Abbotsford dispatched their conference foes in two sets as well, winning 25-13 and 25-12.

Soyk and Sommer Brodhagen led the Falcons in a variety of statistical categories. Soyk recorded seven kills and seven digs and Brodhagen had three aces and 10 assists. Brodhagen was also tied for second on the team in kills with four while recording a .571 hitting percentage.

Rib Lake did themselves no favors, ending the match with a negative hitting percentage due largely to 13 hitting errors over the course of the match.

The Edgar Wildcats avenged a loss to Abbotsford in a Marawood crossover event held a week prior, taking down the Falcons in straight sets, 25-20 and 25-16.

In their first match, Abbotsford managed to keep down Edgar’s top offensive weapon, Reagan Borchardt, but this time they seemed to have no answers for the senior middle blocker. The Wildcat senior had 12 kills and six aces in the two set match. The Falcons also did not help themselves, recording 14 hitting errors. Soyk had four kills and four aces to lead the team and Adriana Fuentes-Rivera had eight digs.

Finally, they had a tough match with Auburndale, falling in two sets by the same score, 26-24.

Both teams showcased some excellent defense, especially the Eagles, which ended the match with 63 digs. The Falcons held the advantage in both aces and blocks, but eight service errors and 15 hitting errors undid their leads in those categories.

Fuentes-Rivera led the Falcons defense with 11 digs, Falteisek followed with 10, and Brodhagen had seven. Escalera had four more aces in the match and Falteisek had three. There were ten block assists for Abbotsford, with Soyk leading the way with three and Brodhagen, Falteisek and Ruesch adding two each.