Falcons go 2-3 in home tourney, bounced by Rib Lake
By Nathaniel Underwood
The Abbotsford Falcons had a busy schedule over the past week, taking on Marawood-North foe Rib Lake before traveling to Tomahawk for a quad and then hosting their own tournament on Saturday. The Falcons went 2-7 in those contests, hitting a midseason snag after sitting around .500 for the first half of the schedule.
Abbotsford Tournament
After a few tough losses over the week, Abbotsford bounced back a bit in their tournament held on Saturday, picking up two wins. The hosting Falcons defeated Spencer and Rosholt but fell to Loyal, Cadott and Stratford to go 2-3 on the day.
The offense was smooth in Abbotsford’s victory over Spencer. The Falcons recorded a team hitting percentage of .222 in the 25-15, 25-20 sweep of the Cloverbelt-East squad They were led by Celia Schindler, who recorded 11 kills on just 19 attempts and ended the match with a .474 hitting percentage.
Marilyn Hammock and Reece Nelson both added five kills each in the win and Riley Podevels and Lauryn Harris both had three. Faith Sperl led the team in aces and assists, picking up three aces from the service line while setting up 24 of the team’s 26 kills. Caylee Clement picked up another two aces for the Falcons.
The match against Rosholt was a bit more closely contested. The Falcons were able to knock off the Hornets in the first set, defeating them 25-23, but Rosholt bounced back in the second, sneaking away with a late 27-25 win to force a final game. Abbotsford took the tiebreaker, edging out the Hornets by four points to notch their second match victory 15-11.
Schindler was once again the focal point of the offensive attack, converting 13 of her 37 attempts into kills. Hammock added six more and Nelson ended the game with five. Sperl showed off her skill from the service line, racking up five more aces in the victory while Schindler and Halie Vanluven picked up two more each. Clement dug out 12 hits and Margo Pogodzinski and Faith Sperl had nine digs each. Pogodzinski also received the most serves, handling 15 without an error to set up the Falcons offense.
The Falcons got off to a hot start against Loyal, taking early momentum and grabbing a 1-0 lead in the match by nearly doubling up the Greyhounds 25-13. Loyal bounced back from the first set loss, however, and defeated Abbotsford 25-22, 15-13 to reverse sweep their hosts. While Abbotsford continued to be effective on offense, posting a team hitting percentage of .232, they could not quite keep up with Loyal in the later half of the match.
The tournament hosts were less effective in their other two losses, falling 25-20, 25-15 to Cadott and 25-16, 2520 to Stratford. While the Falcons had two more kills than Cadott in their match, they also had 13 hitting errors to the Hornets’ seven. Nine service errors also hurt the Falcons in their match against Cadott. Abbotsford ran into similar problems against the Tigers, putting up more hitting errors, 11 to eight, and service errors, nine to six, than their opponents. Stratford also doubled up the Falcons in aces, picking up eight to the home team’s four.
Tomahawk Quad
Abbotsford went 0-3 in matches in the Tomahawk quad held last Thursday, suffering defeats to Marathon and Antigo in pool play before dropping a third match after being matched up with Newman Catholic.
The Falcons could not get much going in their opener against Marathon. Through the two sets played, Abbotsford managed just seven kills and ended the game with a negative hitting percentage, committing 15 hitting errors. While Marathon had their own issues with control, picking up 11 hitting errors of their own, they were able to find gaps in the Falcon defense more often, picking up 24 kills on 75 attempts.
Abbotsford found more room to work with in their match against Antigo, but errors continued to be an issue. The Falcons found offense from a variety of sources, racking up 27 kills over the course of the match and no one player had more than six. However, 20 hitting errors across the match added up. The Red Robins opened with a 25-20 victory but Abbotsford was able to answer in the second set, picking up a 25-21 win. Antigo got the best of the Falcons in the final, however, winning 15-11.
Harris led the team with a .500 hitting percentage, getting six kills on 10 attempts. Schindler and Podevels both had five kills each and Nelson added another four. Both Harris and Hammock recorded solo blocks and Clement and Neveah Treankler led the defensive efforts with 15 and 13 digs respectively.
In their final match against Newman Catholic, the Falcons could not quite match up with the offensive firepower of the Fighting Cardinals, falling in straight sets 25-16 and 25-21. Newman ended the match with 10 more kills than Abbotsford and seven more aces, allowing them to overcome their nine service errors.
The Falcons put together four total blocks in the two sets, with Nelson putting up two blocks by herself. Sperl collected three of the team’s four aces and Schindler and Podevels combined for over half of the team’s 12 kills, finishing with four and three respectively. Sperl also had the most digs on the team with eight.
Rib Lake, 3-0
Abbotsford suffered their first conference loss of the season last Tuesday after falling to Rib Lake on the road.
The Falcons were able to push their Marawood-North
See ABBOTSFORD VOLLEYBALL/ Page 14
ON THE ATTACK - Celia Schindler slices the ball across the net as she spikes it from the back row against Cadott.
STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD Abbotsford volleyball
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foe past the 25-point mark in the first set but Rib Lake was able to hold them in check for the rest of the evening, winning in three straight sets 26-24, 25-14 and 2518.
While Abbotsford was close to the Redmen in many statistical categories on Tuesday, Rib Lake edged them out in most of them, resulting in a victory for the home team. Rib Lake finished the game with 32 kills on 116 attempts compared to the Falcons’ 26 kills on 123 attempts, had eight aces to Abbotsford’s five, and had less errors both hitting and serving.
Schindler led the team with 10 kills and Harris added another seven for the Falcons. Clement and Sperl accounted for all of Abbotsford’s aces, with the former picking up three while the latter had two. The two also led the team in digs, Clement ending the game with 17 and Sperl with 15.
BALANCING ACT - Marilyn Hammock, left, and Riley Podevels, right, watch as the ball teeters on the net after a tip during the Falcons’ match against Cadott in their home tournament on Saturday.
STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD
