Abby sweeps Bluejays, goes 3-2 in Spencer tourney
The Abbotsford Falcons volleyball team improved to 12-9 on the season after going 4-3 over the past week. The squad picked up a key conference victory over Athens last Tuesday evening, sweeping their Marawood-North foe, before falling to Columbus Catholic on Thursday. They then went 3-2 in tournament play in Spencer on Saturday, claiming victories over Coulee Region Christian, Manawa and the hosting Rockets squads before falling to Rib Lake and Auburndale.
Spencer Tournament
It was a solid showing for the Falcons in Spencer, where the squad worked their way into the championship bracket after collecting three victories in pool-play.
Abbotsford cruised to a 2-0 sweep of Coulee Region Christian, claiming 25-4 and 25-8 set wins. Their opponents could not handle the tough Falcons’ serve, led by an impressive performance from Faith Sperl. The senior setter collected 11 aces on 18 serves in just two sets, helping pave the way for Abbotsford’s dominant day against the West Salem private school. Lauryn Harris, Riley Podevels and Celia Schindler all had four kills each and the Falcons ended the match with a .371 team hitting percentage.
Their second contest was a bit closer, but Abbotsford was still able to emerge victorious. After splitting the first two sets, defeating the Wolves 25-15 before falling 25-23 in the second game, the Falcons came out on top in the decider, winning 15-10.
Harris had a strong match on the attack for Abbotsford, racking up 12 kills on 24 attempts. Sperl and Schindler both had six kills each and Podevels added another five. The Falcons racked up nine aces in the win, Schindler leading the way with three and Ella Schreiber picking up two.
While Abbotsford was able to sweep the Rockets, it was one of their closest matches of the day. The Falcons were able to narrowly edge out the hosting squad in both sets, winning 25-22 and 25-23.
The Rockets were slightly more effective at the net, thanks in part to a strong hitting performance from senior Ema Schultz, who had nine kills on just 13 attempts, and an ability to limit hitting errors. Spencer finished the match with eight such mistakes while the Falcons had 16 as a team.
However, Abbotsford was stronger from the service line, picking up 11 aces to the Rockets’ six and finished with seven more kills overall.
Caylee Clement and Sperl led the way in the serving barrage from Abbotsford, the former collecting four aces and the latter adding three. Harris once again led the Falcons in kills, recording eight, while Schindler finished with five and Campbell Brodhagen had four. Sperl had the most digs for Abbotsford, ending the match with 10. Podevels and Clement both had six each.
Unforced errors once again came into play for the Falcons in their semi-final match against Auburndale. While they were able to record more kills and aces than the Eagles, Abbotsford also had 19 hitting errors and 12 errors from the service line.
A 9-2 run for the Eagles in the first set allowed them to pull away for an eventual 25-18 victory, but not much separated the two Marawood squads in the final two games. A kill from Schindler in the midgame of set two gave the Falcons their largest lead of the game at 13-10 and a 20-17 lead for Auburndale was the biggest advantage the Eagles held. Abbotsford was able to work their way back into the contest, knotting the game at 20-20 on a kill from Sperl before taking the lead for good on another ace from the Falcons’ setter. While Auburndale was able to tie things at 24-24, two mistakes by the Eagles gave Abbotsford the 26-24 victory.
Six straight points for Auburndale in the middle of the third set turned out to be the difference maker in the tiebreaker game. The Falcons eventually worked their way back from a 13-8 deficit but ultimately fell 15-13 in the final set.
Harris and Schindler had nine and eight kills respectively while Sperl accounted for five of the Falcons’ 10 aces. She was also part of two blocks, had 11 digs and 23 assists.
Abbotsford pushed Rib Lake in the second set of their match, but a dominant performance from their Marawood-North rivals in the first game and rally in the second were enough for Rib Lake to sweep the Falcons, defeating them 25-13 and 25-22.
An ace from Sperl gave Abbotsford a 17-13 advantage in the second set, but a 9-2 run for Rib Lake flipped the
See ABBOTSFORD VOLLEYBALL/ Page 13 tables, giving the Falcons’ opponents an advantage heading into the final stretch. A kill courtesy of Podevels brought Abbotsford back within one at 23-22, but Rib Lake won the final two points to take the match.
Schindler had a solid performance for Abbotsford, recording nine kills on 19 attempts, but the Falcons weren’t able to generate much offense outside of the senior outside hitter in the match. Sperl had three of Abbotsford’s four aces and Harris recorded the only block. Schindler had nine digs while Clement, Podevels and Sperl all had seven each.
Columbus Catholic, 3-0
In a matchup with perennial Cloverbelt-East champion Columbus Catholic, the Falcons could not quite keep up with the fifth-ranked Dons, falling in straight sets, 25-17. 25-21 and 25-18.
Mistakes serving and hitting hurt Abbotsford’s offensive efforts as they accumulated 24 hitting errors and 11 service errors over the course of the match. Gaps in the Dons’ defense were difficult to find at times, the Falcons ending with 26 kills on 99 attempts and a .020 team hitting percentage.
Harris had a solid day for the Falcons attack, collecting nine kills on 22 attempts. The sophomore also was in on all three of Abbotsford’s blocks. Marilyn Hammock added another four kills and Schindler also had four.
Clement led the team with three aces in the loss while Sperl picked up two. Schindler, Podevels and Harris all had one each. Podevels had a team-high 11 digs, Clement was also in the double-digits with 10 and Sperl finished with nine.
Athens, 3-0
The Falcons picked up their second Marawood-North conference victory last Tuesday, defeating Athens in a 3-0 sweep at home.
Abbotsford kept the Bluejays on the back foot for much of the evening, delivering enough pressure on offense to make up for mistakes at the service line and at the net. While the Falcons ended the match with 23 hitting errors, they also racked up 43 kills and played from ahead for much of the match.
A flurry of serving mistakes for both squads had Athens with a slim lead in the early going of the first set, but multiple kills from Hammock helped the Falcons score four straight points to go up 10-7. While the visitors managed to knot things up at 10-10, a breakpoint kill from Schindler put Abbotsford up 13-11 and gave them the lead for good. A kill from Harris finished off the first set and the Falcons notched a 25-21 victory.
An ace from Schindler put Abbotsford up 5-4 early in the second set and a kill from Podevels capped a 8-2 run that put the Falcons up 10-6. Athens once again closed the gap, bringing themselves back within one at 15-14, but a breakpoint kill for Brodhagen curbed the Bluejays’ threat. Aces late from Schreiber and Podevels helped the Falcons take the second set 25-18.
A pair of aces for Sperl and a kill courtesy of Harris helped Abbotsford take a 5-3 lead in game number three. However, an 8-2 run for the visitors gave them their largest lead of the match at 15-9. The Falcons quickly worked their way back into the set, going on their own 9-2 run. Schindler earned a kill from the back row to tie the game up at 17-17 and Podevels gave the home team the advantage with another kill on the next volley. Neither team could gain much of an upper hand heading into the final stretch. With the game knotted at 24-24, Harris delivered an important kill for the Falcons before Sperl closed the book on the Bluejays with a match-winning serve that the Athens defenders could not handle.
Statistics
Schindler led all scorers with 12 kills, Harris also finished in double-digits with 10 and Podevels had nine to her name. Hammock ended the night with seven kills.
Sperl had three of the Falcons’ six aces, recorded 31 assists and had a team-high 15 digs in the win. Clement picked up 13 digs and seven assists and both Schindler and Podevels had nine digs each. Harris and Brodhagen combined for Abbotsford's sole block.
What’s Next?
The Falcons will travel to Tomahawk on Thursday, Sept. 25 for a quad tournament, potentially facing off against Marathon, Prentice, Antigo, Newman Catholic and the hosting Hatchets. Antigo currently holds a 5-11 record while the Red Raiders and Tomahawk are both hovering just below .500 with records of 8-9 and 10-11 respectively. Prentice has bounced back from a somewhat tumultuous early-September to win six straight matches and bring their record to 14-5 and Newman Catholic is the thirdranked team in Division 5 with a 14-13 record.
Matches are to begin at 4 p.m.
