Colby volleyball aiming for Cloverbelt-East title
2023 squad graduate, the Hornets are loaded with experience heading into the 2024 campaign.
First team all-conference outside hitter Daelyn Rieck is back and will likely continue to be Colby’s primary source of offense. The junior led the team in kills last year and will likely draw the most attention while still providing some additional hitting prowess when necessary. Senior libero Tori Underwood will once again serve as an anchor for the Colby defense after leading the team in digs and earning an all-conference honorable mention last season.
See COLBY VB PREVIEW/ Page 16
By Nathaniel Underwood
The Colby Hornets volleyball will be setting their sights on the top of the Cloverbelt- East and beyond as they return a large portion of the squad that took second in the conference last season.
Despite having several members of their
2024 COLBY HORNETS VOLLEYBALL TEAM - This year’s 2024 Colby Hornets volleyball team is, in the back row, left to right, coach Brian Bruesewitz, Gabby Kaiser, Jada Voelker, Madison Meyer, Kierslyn Orth, Cadence Meyer, Megan Kosik, Lilly Brzezinski, Savana Thomsen, Hannah Trush, Brynn Polivka, Lydia Pupp, Riley Lutye, Myla Schoelzel and coach Amanda Oestreich. In the middle row, left to right, are manager Brady Underwood, Sheily Perez Cabrera, Katie Kalmon, Allyson Blasel, Calleigh Cook, Dakota Hoeper, Angelique Hernandez, Tori Underwood, Madison Geiger, Aaralyn Hernandez, Camila Meraz Albarran, Kyanna Gwiazda, Carla Lozeno Perez and coach Liz Baumgartner. In the front row, left to right, are coach Wade Oehmichen, Caelynn Cook, Romina Perez, Rylee Carr, Kya Rinehart, Thalia Campa Mata, Harrison Schmitt, Addisyn Weiland, Jaidyn Corrista, Ericka Slusser, Gabriela Salgado, Lurex Garcia and coach Jenny Wussow.
STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD from opposing blocks as she sets up to be the focal point of the Hornets’ attack.
Senior Savana Thomsen earned secondteam all-conference honors last year while serving both as a setter and outside hitter for the squad. With fellow setter Josie Higley having graduated, Thomsen will likely slide more into the role this season, Colby VB preview
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Senior middle hitter Lilly Brzezinski and senior outside hitters Hannah Trush, Harrison Schmitt and Dakota Hoeper will return to the Hornets attack. Brzezinski was the team’s second leading blocker last season while Trush was a weapon from the service line, leading the team in aces in 2023. Senior defensive specialist Addisyn Weiland will join Underwood in the back line and junior Brynn Polivka will enter the rotation as well.
“We’ve got a lot of seniors this year,” head coach Wade Oehmichen said. “It’s a lot of familiarity, we know the strengths and weaknesses of all the kids at this point, so it’s very fun. We’ve got girls that have played with our system here for a while now.”
“The strength of this team is going to be not only the familiarity with the coaching staff and system, but with each other,” he added. “They’ve played with each other for a long time. We did lose five seniors from last year, but coming back we’ve got a lot of returning players from last year and some have really taken some steps up from last season.”
The Hornets took a step forward as a team in 2023, going from a 6-20 record in 2022 to a 15-17 campaign last year. They were especially dominant in the Cloverbelt- East, where they held a 6-1 record and took second behind only an undefeated Columbus Catholic squad. With many of the key pieces from that 2023 team returning, Colby appears poised to make another run for the conference championship this season.
To reach that target, the Hornets will need to continue to play with intensity throughout prolonged matches, something that Oehmichen noted was an aspect that hurt the team at times last year.
“In big games, we would perform tremendously at the beginning,” he said. “We would win the first two games and then we would lose the next two. We took four or five matches to five games last year, and that’s how we ended up losing to Nekoosa in the playoffs last year. I think that it was an exhaustion factor.”
“We had a ton of the girls come to the weight room and play in leagues throughout the summer and we are seeing some of the dividends already,” he continued. “So I think our stamina will be better this year.”
The Hornets saw their first action of 2024 in a tournament held in Wisconsin Rapids over the past weekend, where they went 2-2 in four best-of-three matches. They started off with a 2-0 victory over Northland Pines, downing them with relative ease 25-17 and 25-16. Hoeper led the team with eight kills and Trush had five aces in the victory.
While they fell 2-0 in their next match against Reedsburg, Colby bounced back by defeating Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln 25-12 and 25-19 in straight sets. Schmitt recorded six kills to lead the team while the Hornets served up 14 aces, getting four from Underwood and three courtesy of Rieck.
The Hornets closest match of the day came against Abbotsford. After falling 2519 to the Falcons in the first set, Colby came back with a 27-25 win in the second game to force a tiebreaker. They could not maintain their momentum in the final set, however, and ultimately fell 15-8 in the third game.
Rieck had a match-high 11 kills against Abbotsford while Underwood recorded 13 digs and Thomsen added another 10. The Hornets struggled against the Falcons serve, however, allowing 14 aces to their Marawood foes.
Colby will be back in action on Thursday when they travel to Auburndale for a quad, taking on the Eagles and Rib Lake. The start time for the event is 5 p.m.
