Raiders get stronger as Sprawl Invite progresses
MEDFORD VOLLEYBALL
Medford’s volleyball coaches fully expected there would be some eye-opening moments for their inexperienced squad last weekend and there were at the 40-team Menomonie Sprawl, held on the campus of UW-Stout.
The good news in their eyes was that the Raiders didn’t let some early trouble derail them and they got better as the tournament progressed.
Medford went 2-5 and tied for 33rd place in the two-day event, ending on a high note with two straight wins on Saturday.
“I spent this weekend trying different lineups and getting more varsity experience for our newcomers,” Medford head coach Cheryl Schreiner said. “The improvement between Friday and Saturday was extremely noticeable.”
The results put the Raiders at 5-7 heading into their Great Northern Conference opener tonight, Thursday, at Lakeland. Varsity play is set to start at 7 p.m.
Medford was one of three GNC teams in the Sprawl this past weekend. Lakeland went 2-5 and tied for 29th place, while Mosinee was 5-2 and tied for 17th.
River Falls and Chippewa Falls met for the championship for the second straight year and, again, River Falls defeated their Big Rivers Conference rivals to win the tournament. A third BRC team, Hudson, won the third-place match over Columbus Catholic.
Hudson was the winner of Pool E on Friday, which included Medford, Oshkosh West, Cadott and Grantsburg.
Oshkosh West opened play with a 25-22, 25-13 win over Medford, then Medford played a solid first set against Hudson but eventually got swept 25-20, 25-14.
Medford took its last two matches of day one to third sets but came up empty in both. Grantsburg took its match with the Raiders 25-19, 21-25, 15-10. Cadott dropped the Raiders in the final match of the day 25-21, 17-25, 15-9.
In a change of tournament format, all 40 teams began Saturday’s play in the championship bracket. Despite going winless Friday, the Raiders’ two set wins boosted them to the 33rd seed and they faced 32nd-seeded New Richmond in the opening round for the right to play topseeded River Falls in the round of 32.
The Raiders came out a bit groggy after the early return trip to Menomonie for the 8 a.m. match and the Tigers took advantage at the end of both sets, eking out 25-21 and 25-23 wins.
The loss knocked Medford to a fourteam consolation bracket. The Raiders got their first notch in the tournament win column by taking care of North Crawford 25-18, 25-23 and then finished with their best-played match of the tournament, outlasting Ellsworth 15-25, 28-26, 15-12.
“We came out flat footed against New Richmond Saturday but then really picked it up against North Crawford and Ellsworth,” Schreiner said. “It was a good feeling to walk out with that last win under our belt. It showed we have great potential.”
Martha Miller was Medford’s kill leader for the weekend with 43, while Allie Paulson had 22 and Delaney Hraby had 19. Behind that senior trio, sophomore Toryn Rau and junior Rachel Wesle added 14 and 12 kills respectively.
After tonight’s match with Lakeland, Medford heads to Mosinee on Tuesday for its first crack at the five-time defending GNC champions. The home opener follows on Sept. 13 against Northland Pines.
