ford led 10-7, but a ….

ford led 10-7, but a 5-0 run that included two kills from Clintonville’s Lauren Zwirschitz put Clintonville in front 1210. Clintonville widened the lead to 18-13, but Paulson got the sideline with a kill and, with DeLana Radlinger serving, the Raiders made a move. Paulson got another kill, Hraby found the back line for another and Miller’s attack couldn’t be returned after a deflection, making it 18-17. The Truckers went back up 21-17, but the Raiders didn’t quit and eventually tied it at 24-24. Rau’s roll to the back corner won a tying point again at 25-25, Miller’s roll put Medford in front and a hitting error by Clintonville gave Medford a big 27-25 win.

“In the timeout (down 15-11), we said we need to stay on the attack, Schreiner said. “That’s one of the things we’ve been saying coming out of our timeouts now is attack, because we tend to get timid and get careful versus just going out and hitting the ball. We took a set on the cursed side of the court and then we got to go back over to the other side (where the first two sets were won).”

The fourth set was all Raiders. Miller’s kill made it 5-4 and put them up for good. Paulson’s ace made it 9-5, Rau’s attack to back line got a late touch for a point at 12-6, then two kills from Paulson sandwiched around one from Rau opened up an 18-8 lead. The Truckers scored three points, Medford called a timeout and settled back in, outscoring them 7-2 to finish off a 25-13 win.

On the second-to-last point, Trucker Gracie Pool seemed to have a kill that deflected off Radlinger to the ceiling but Hraby, in the back row at the time, was able to get an arm on the rebound and Miller finished off the point with a winning bump to Clintonville’s back left corner. Hraby then iced it with an ace.

“I was really nervous because when it hits the top you have no idea where it’s going,” Hraby said. “So I kind of tried to follow it and it came down and I just swung one of my arms and it came back into play and I was so excited.”

“We were up 18-11 and I told the girls Clintonville wasn’t going to go away,” Schreiner said. “We needed to keep playing our game and still attack. They did a really nice job of doing that. I thought Allie Paulson had a great game tonight. Delaney had a great night. Cami had a really good game tonight. She did some really smart things with the ball. The girls just really put it together. It was a complete team effort.”

At Tomahawk, Medford (14-19) will face a team that went 12-0 and didn’t lose a set in Great Northern Conference play this fall. The Hatchets (27-7) are led by their dominant senior force in the middle Meghan Scholz, who the Raiders will have to get out of her comfort zone to have a shot.

“One of the things we’ve been working on is blocking,” Paulson said. “Delaney and I, when we’re in the front row, it’s about just finding her and going up with that block.”

“I feel like as long as we can get a little bit of touch on Meghan in the middle our back row has a better chance,” Hraby said.

“I told the girls at the end of this match that we go up to Tomahawk now with nothing to lose,” Schreiner said. “They have everything to prove and we have nothing to lose, so let’s go take our best shot at them.”

Tonight’s winner will face either fourth-seeded Waupaca or fifth-seeded Shawano in the regional final Saturday at 7 p.m.