Another tight GNC match for Raiders
MEDFORD VOLLEYBALL
The Medford Raiders took two of the first three games, but couldn’t deliver the knockout punch Tuesday in a five-set loss at Tomahawk.
In another match typical of the evenness being displayed this fall among the teams in the middle of the Great Northern Conference pack, the Hatchets gave themselves a regular-season split with the Raiders and took over second place in the league standings. The Hatchets are 5-2, two games behind 7-0 Mosinee.
Medford fell into a third-place tie with Lakeland at 4-3. Those teams are a game ahead of 3-4 Northland Pines, who swept Antigo Tuesday for the second time in 11 days.
Antigo (1-6) visits Raider Hall tonight, Thursday, for Senior Night with varsity play scheduled to start at about 7 p.m.
In a 3-1 win over Tomahawk Sept. 18, the Raiders served and dug well enough to neutralize the Hatchets’ front line, anchored by their outstanding junior middle Meghan Scholz. The Raiders were on their way to doing it again Tuesday by taking game one 25-23 and game three 25-19. In between, Tomahawk took game two 25-16.
But momentum turned Tomahawk’s way in game four as the Hatchets built a 12-point lead and held on for a 25-18 win to send the match to the decisive fifth game.
Medford got out to a 5-2 lead, but Tomahawk tied it at 7-7 and the teams exchanged points until it was 10-10. There, with Scholz rotated back into the front row, the Hatchets went on a pivotal 4-0 run that put them in command. Medford got two points, including a Gabby Brunner ace, to get within 14-12, but Tomahawk got the next point on a Scholz kill to end it.
Four of Medford’s seven GNC matches have now gone the distance. The Raiders are 2-2 in those matches with wins over Pines and Antigo. Lakeland, who Medford gets Tuesday in Minocqua, won its five-set matchup with the Raiders on Sept. 18.
Rynn Ruesch had a strong night at the net for Medford with team-highs of 15 attack kills and three block kills. She had just three errors in 34 attacks for a strong .353 attack percentage. Megan Fredrikson had eight kills in 26 swings, while Laurissa Klapatauskas, Katie Brehm and Martha Miller had six kills apiece. Allie Paulson had five.
Brehm and Klapatauskas had two block kills each. Miller had a team-high 28 digs, Olivia Krug had 24 and Klapatauskas had 18.
Medford had another strong night at the service line with just four errors in 85 attempts (95.3%). Paulson had four aces and had a big serving run to key the game-three win. Katie Lybert, Brunner and Miller had two aces each. Paulson had 18 assists, while Lybert had 16.
