Hornets deliver against Neillsville to win 3-1

The Colby Hornets volleyball team went 2-3 last week, getting a win in their conference opener against Neillsville before picking up one win in their tournament on Saturday in Sparta. The Hornets are now 9-9 overall and hold a 1-0 record in the Cloverbelt-East.

Sparta Tournament

While Colby remained competitive throughout the day in Sparta, they could not quite seem to find the victories they needed to pull out match wins on Saturday. They defeated Sparta 2-0 but fell to Mauston 2-1 and were swept by Cashton and an Arcadia squad that they had defeated 2-0 a week prior.

The Hornets won 25-18, 25-21 in their sole match win over Sparta. While the offense was not as effective as they have been at other points in the season, tallying 16 kills to 13 hitting errors on 64 attempts, Colby played well enough to force the Spartans to make mistakes. Daleyn Rieck had five kills, two aces, and nine digs to lead Colby in all three categories, Brynn Polivka added four kills and one block and Cadence Meyer had three kills, one ace and five assists. McKenzi Meyer added seven digs and two kills and Zoe Kaiser finished with seven digs and nine assists.

After cruising to a 25-16 victory over Mauston in their first set, the Hornets could not pull out a close second set, falling 27-25. The Golden Eagles then finished the match with a 15-12 win in the tiebreaker.

Cashton’s offense proved difficult to deal with in the Hornets’ 25-20, 25-18 losses to the Eagles. While Colby managed a decent .176 hitting percentage, their opponents were highly effective on the attack, racking up 24 kills on 56 attempts while registering seven hitting errors for a .304 hitting percentage. Cashton also doubled up the Hornets at the service line, delivering 10 aces to the four for the Hornets. Rieck had a strong showing for Colby, racking up 10 kills on 23 attempts and Polivka added another four on 11 attempts. Rylee Carr led the squad with two aces.

In a rematch with Arcadia, the Raiders jumped out to a 2520 win in the first set and while Colby battled back in the second, they ultimately fell 27-25. Rieck, Kaiser and Elizabeth Perez all finished with nine digs each, Rieck adding 11 kills and two aces to her totals while Zoe Kaiser led the team in assists with 12.

Neillsville, 3-1

It was a strong showing for the Hornets in their opening conference match against Neillsville last Tuesday evening. The hosting Colby squad leaned on their senior leaders as they defeated the Warriors 3-1.

It was an impressive showing for Rieck, who the Hornets turned to often against their conference rivals. The senior outside hitter registered an impressive 30 kills in the match on 52 attempts. Polivka provided a solid second option for Colby, getting some key kills when the Hornets needed them most.

The Hornets were the first to break away in the first set, getting an early offensive boost from Rieck and Zoe Kaiser to go up 7-3. The Hornets maintained that advantage and used kills from Zoe and Gabby Kaiser, as well as a pair of aces from Cadence Meyer to go up 15-7. The Warriors slowly but surely worked their way back into the match, cutting Colby’s lead down to three late, but a perfectly placed ball from Polivka along the line earned the Hornets a 25-21 win.

Neither team was able to gain much separation for much of the second set. An early 3-1 lead for Colby was their largest for much of the game while a 17-15 lead for Neillsville was their largest. A pair of backto- back kills for Polivka knotted the game back up at 17-17 and kick started a key run for the Hornets. A block from Taebyn Lieders helped break the tie in favor of the home team and a pair of hitting errors by the Warriors gave Colby the largest lead either team had held throughout the set. A block and a kill from Rieck later made the game 24-19 and McKenzi Meyer finished off Neillsville with a set-winning kill on the next volley.

Colby was unable to overcome a 4-0 start for the visitors in set number three. While the Hornets pulled back within one numerous times in the set, at 8-7 and then later between Neillsville’s 15th and 18th points, they were never able to earn the breakpoint they needed to tie the game. The Warriors held on to win the third set 25-21, but may have exhausted themselves in doing so.

It was complete domination for the Hornets in the fourth and final set. Rieck opened the set with a trio of kills to give Colby a 3-1 advantage and the Hornets continued to feed their senior hitter throughout the set. While the Warriors were able to hang tough through the beginning portions of the set, a huge run for Colby led to a blowout. With Carr at the service line and Rieck in the front row, Neillsville seemed to have no answers for either. The Hornets scored 13 straight points to close out the match as Carr and Rieck led Colby’s offense to a 25-10 victory.

Key Moment

While the Hornets never trailed in the deciding fourth set, Neillsville had worked their way back to within two points at 12-10. The Hornets responded with a clean kill from McKenzi Meyer on their first attempt on their next volley to stop the small Warriors run. The kill also started the impressive 13-0 run for the Hornets which featured six kills from Rieck and three aces courtesy of Carr.

Statistics

Rieck came through with 30 of the Hornets 51 kills and she did so while having just six hitting errors for a .462 hitting percentage. Polivka was second on the team with eight kills of her own, McKenzi Meyer had five and Gabby Kaiser recorded four.

Carr and Rieck both had four aces in the win, Cadence Meyer added two more and Polivka and Romina Perez both had one each.

On defense, Rieck collected two solo blocks and Lieders and McKenzi Meyer both had one solo block and combined for an assisted block on another. Zoe Kaiser had a team high 17 digs, Rieck picked up 15 and McKenzi Meyer added 11.

Zoe Kaiser also collected a career-high 38 assists in the victory. Cadence Meyer added six more for the Hornets.

What’s Next?

The Hornets will make their way down to Baraboo for another tournament in southern Wisconsin this coming Saturday, September 20. The tourney is slated to begin at 8:30 a.m.