Fronk, Klapatauskas and Miller land volleyball honors

ALL-GNC VOLLEYBALL

The inexperienced Medford volleyball team got better as the fall progressed and the play of three of those improving players was rewarded by the coaches of the Great Northern Conference.

Senior Marissa Fronk and junior Laurissa Klapatauskas earned All-GNC second-team honors for their play during the shortened 2020 season, while sophomore Martha Miller received honorable mention. It’s the first All-GNC volleyball awards for all three, who came into the year with little varsity experience.

In fact, Fronk and Miller joined junior Rynn Ruesch as the only players on the roster with varsity experience to start the year. Medford started out a shaky 1-3 overall and 2-3 in the GNC, but the Raiders went on a 4-1 late-season run and finished 5-4 in league play, good for third place, and 6-6 overall under fourthyear head coach Cheryl Schreiner after a thrilling five-set loss to Lakeland in an Oct. 22 WIAA Division 1 regional semifinal match.

Serving played a large role in each Raiders’ honor. Fronk led the conference in serving percentage by putting all 97 of her serves in play in nine GNC matches. That included 16 aces and her 0.5 aces per set tied her with teammate Katie Lybert to rank ninth in the conference. Overall, Fronk missed only two serves on the year.

Fronk also ranked fourth in the conference in digs per set at 3.3. She had 110 digs in 33 GNC sets and added 19 more in the Raiders’ three non-conference matches. She had 19 and 16 digs in fiveset wins over Northland Pines and Antigo Oct. 13 and Oct. 8 and 18 digs in a 3-0 win at Rhinelander Sept. 22.

Klapatauskas ranked third in the GNC with a serve percentage of .978. She put 87 of 89 serves in play with six aces. Those two misses were her only ones of the year. She was 42 for 42 in non-conference play, including 20 for 20 in the regional loss.

The junior emerged as an all-around player for the Raiders who had 39 kills in league play and 18 solo blocks. Her GNC attack percentage of .138 led the team’s regulars and her 3.1 digs per set ranked fifth, just behind Fronk, in the GNC. She had 100 digs in 32 sets. Klapatauskas added 17 kills in non-conference play and 17 digs in non-conference play, including 11 and 14, respectively, in the regional match. She had nine kills and 22 digs in the Oct. 13 win at Pines.

Fronk and Klapatauskas were among a list of seven players to earn second-team honors. This year’s first team includes unanimous choices Clare Aulik of Antigo and Brooklyn Montgomery of Mosinee as well as Antigo’s Gracie DeWan, Mosinee’s Abbi Martin and Zoe Gburek, Tomahawk’s Megan Scholz and McKenzie Parnewicz of Northland Pines. Aulik and Montgomery are repeat first-teamers from a year ago. Aulik was voted the GNC’s Player of the Year. The senior led the conference by averaging 2.8 kills per set, ranked fifth in attack percentage at .243 and averaged 0.6 aces per set.

Miller was one of 11 players to earn honorable mention in this year’s vote. She was sandwiched between Fronk and Klapatauskas to rank second in the GNC with a .981 serve percentage (104 of 106). That included 11 aces in league play. She was 52 of 54 with eight aces in non-conference play, including 28 for 28 in the regional loss to Lakeland.

Another all-around player for the Raiders, Miller ranked second in the conference by averaging 4.1 digs per set (119 in 29 sets played) and ranked second among the Raiders in conference kills with 45. Ruesch had 59. Miller had a .134 attack percentage in league play. She also had four solo blocks and four assists. She had nine kills and 22 digs in the regional match with Lakeland.

Mosinee’s Justin Jacobs was named the GNC’s Coach of the Year after leading the Indians to their fourth straight All-GNC

conference title. He won the award for the third time in that stretch. Mosinee went all the way to the WIAA Division 2 sectional final round, where it was swept by St. Croix Falls. The Indians were the conference’s only team to get out of regional play. Antigo finished second in league play with a 5-4 mark.

The league used a different format in the shortened season. After a six-match round robin, the top four teams played another round-robin for nine total matches, while the bottom three teams played each other for eight total matches. Northland Pines was the fourth team in the upper bracket. The Eagles lost all three of their matches in the second round-robin to place fourth at 3-6. Lakeland wound up 5-3 after sweeping its lower bracket matches.