MEDFORD VOLLEYBALL - HIGH ENERGY EFFORT

It isn’t often where a volleyball team can come out on the wrong end of a 3-0 sweep and feel pretty good about it.

Tuesday was one of those rare cases for the Medford Raiders.

The Mosinee Indians, who brought back three All-Great Northern Conference award winners this year, including 2024 co-Player of the Year Bridget Frye, and then added a big-time hitter in 6-1 freshman Pacyn Stoffel, got the sweep at Raider Hall. But Medford made the second-ranked team in the state in Division 2 work for it and hopefully got back on track after a shaky stretch coming out of the team’s Florida trip in late August.

“We were aggressive,” Medford head coach Ashley Jochimsen-McCarron said. “Our back row, wow, they sure worked hard. The digs that happened, just everything that happened. We definitely can’t complain.”

The back row did its best against Mosinee’s formidable front row and the team racked up 60 digs in the three-set match, led by 24 from libero Rylee Hraby. Finley Arndt and Kayla Baumgartner had 10 each.

Baumgartner, the other 2024 GNC co-Player of the Year, looked more like her old self after missing some time earlier in the month and had 13 attack kills and a block kill with just two errors in 20 attacks.

Maybe most importantly, Jochimsen-McCarron said, was the energy the team got back to playing with.

“We played so well regardless of the outcome and that’s what we said,” Jochimsen-McCarron said. “Our goal going into today was bringing the energy and bringing the environment. Then after that, whatever happens, happens. It’s not that we didn’t care about the win or the loss. But our goal was to bring the high energy and we executed that.”

Taylor Klingbeil and Baumgartner got kills to start the match and Baumgartner tooled a blocker to give Medford a quick 3-1 lead in the opening set. The Raiders had a 7-5 lead after a Sophia Steinman bump fell in the back corner of Mosinee’s defense, Ruthie Steinman served up an ace and Arndt’s push found another back corner.

A Klingbeil kill made it 10-10, but the Raiders lost contact after that and dropped the set 25-15. They came out firing in the second set when Aliyah Pilgrim had two aces in a 6-0 serving run to start it. Mosinee quickly caught up at 7-7, Medford got the next two points on a Baumgartner tip and a win from Kailyn Haenel at the net over Mosinee’s Abbi Kluz.

Then the Indians took off with a 13-4 run that made it 20-13. But after a timeout, Medford made a run with Klingbeil and Baumgartner both getting kills in a 5-0 spurt that made it 20-18. That was as close as Medford got in a 25-19 final.

Game three was close throughout with neither team ever leading by more than two points. Mosinee couldn’t return another tough serve from Pilgrim and the Raiders led 13-11 midway through. Baumgartner’s back-to-back kills put Medford up 15-14 and Klingbeil’s block on Kluz put Medford up 21-20. The Raiders got to set point with a 24-23 lead, but Mosinee got two clutch kills from the left side and Olivia Schroeder got a middle block to end it at 26-24.

Arndt had 18 assists for Medford. Pilgrim had two aces and Ruthie Steinman added her ace. Medford had just three errors in 56 serves. Klingbeil had four kills. Avery Losiewicz and Arndt had two each.

Haenel had three solo blocks and finished with six total blocks. Klingbeil had four block kills and was involved in seven total blocks.

Stoffel had 19 kills for Mosinee, while Frye had 12. Schroeder was part of four blocks for the Indians, while Paetyn Jirschele had 37 assists.

Now 1-2 in the GNC and 7-11 overall, Medford looks to carry the momentum into the second half of September and still thinks it can have a big October.

“We’re back to our base now,” Jochimsen-McCarron said. “Each one of the girls has an important role. From Rylee, Aliyah and Laney (Hraby’s) digs to Finley’s digs and Kayla and Taylor stepping up and really hitting the ball. Everybody did well. Ruthie had some great aces in there. We got some big blocks. It was so good. They said it was more fun tonight because we had the energy.”

Outdoor match Friday

Medford is at Waupaca tonight, Thursday, for a nonconference match against a program that has had solid teams the past few years. Friday, weather permitting, the Raiders and Rhinelander Hodags will stage outdoor match on Raider Field Friday with JV play starting at 5:30 p.m., followed by varsity under the lights at 7 p.m. If it rains, the matches will be moved inside.

Medford travels to face a much-improved Northland Pines team Tuesday in GNC play.

“We’ll come back stronger, we’ll bounce back and we’ll continue to work,” Jochimsen-McCarron said.