Rib Lake beats Spencer twice, gets Rockets again tonight
RIB LAKE VOLLEYBALL
The Rib Lake volleyball team will get to know the Spencer Rockets well this week.
The Lady Redmen finished seventh while beating the Rockets twice Saturday at the Marathon Invitational. They will face the Rockets again tonight, Thursday, in the home opener at Rib Lake High School at 7 p.m.
Rib Lake finished 2-3 at Marathon Saturday, just missing a chance to play in the championship bracket at day’s end. The host Red Raiders went 5-0 to win the tournament, beating Stratford in the semifinals and Phillips 2-1 in the title match.
Rib Lake went 1-2 in its four-team pool to start the day. Marathon dominated the opening match 25-13, 25-6. Rib Lake swept Spencer 25-22 and 25-16 and then met the Fall Creek Crickets and gave them all they could handle in the match to determine who advanced to the championship bracket. Rib Lake took the first set 26-24, but Fall Creek rebounded and took the next two 25-20 and 15-9 to take the match.
“We had a few nerves coming into the first match against Marathon, but then we played Fall Creek pretty tough,” Rib Lake head coach Heather Weik said. “We made a push in the second set against them but couldn’t handle a few of their stronger hitters. Had we won that match, the day would have looked a lot different.”
Matched against the fourth seed from the opposite pool, Rib Lake was swept 25-21, 25-22 by Northland Lutheran before winning the rematch with Spencer 25-15, 25-17. Spencer was beaten by Thorp in the other consolation semifinal.
“We played Northland Lutheran right after (the loss to Fall Creek) and played defeated going into the bottom bracket with lots of small, untimely errors,” Weik said. “I’m glad we picked it up and won the last match against Spencer while still being able to try different lineups.”
Kamy Annala was Rib Lake’s kill leader for the day with 18. Tessa Weik had seven blocks and 32 assists. Tahlia Scheithauer had 55 digs.
After tonight’s match with the Rockets, non-conference play continues Tuesday at the Greenwood Quad, where the now 4-4 Redmen will match up with the host Indians, Thorp and Tri-County. Play starts at 5 p.m. Rib Lake travels to Edgar for more non-conference play at 7 p.m. on Sept. 8.
