Tough stretch in schedule provides lessons for young Redmen

RIB LAKE VOLLEYBALL

The young Rib Lake volleyball team isn’t at a point yet where it’s going to beat a team like Athens in a best-of-five match.

But the Lady Redmen had moments to build from a 3-0 loss to the state’s topranked Division 4 team in their Marawood North opener Tuesday night.

“Our girls played very competitively against a very good team tonight,” Rib Lake head coach Heather Weik said after the loss. “We only missed two serves the whole night which is a great improvement for us. Libero Tahlia Scheithauer handled some tough hits from the Athens front row. I love how our team plays hard until the final point.”

Athens improved to 19-3 overall and 2-0 in the Marawood North with Tuesday’s win. The Lady Redmen slid to 6-12 overall after a difficult eight-day run where they won one of nine matches in four different venues.

“We know our tough schedule that we have been playing will only make us stronger going into the second half of the season,” Weik said.

Playing Athens for the second time in four days, the Redmen got stronger and made more plays as Tuesday’s match progressed. Kamy Annala got them on the board with a kill in the first set, Jennifer Pichea won a point at the net and Josie Scheithauer’s cross-court push got a point to keep Rib Lake within 8-5 early. The Blue Jays opened up a 20-9 lead before Annala got a kill and an ace, but three kills from Addison Lavicka helped Athens close out a 25-14 win in the opening set.

Pichea got a block and Josie Scheithauer’s bump won a point to forge a 3-3 tie at the start of set two, but Athens broke away with an 8-0 run that finally ended when Tahlia Scheithauer’s diving dig went to Tessa Weik for a free ball tip that found the floor in the back corner of Athens’ defense. Josie Scheithauer’s big hit pulled Rib Lake within 12-6, a Pichea kill made it 17-11 and Josie Scheithauer’s kill off a long cross-court set by Weik kept Rib Lake within striking distance at 2115. Camryn Glenzer’s overhand shot got a late point as well before Athens won the set 25-16.

Annala powered a big kill off a Weik assist and served up an ace to help Rib Lake stay within 9-7 early in the third set before Athens got on two big runs that broke the set open and won it 25-13. Rib Lake has a good chance to even its North record tonight, Thursday, when it hosts Chequamegon at 7 p.m. The Redmen will host Phillips Tuesday, also at 7 p.m.

Merrill Invite

Rib Lake knew it would be challenged by some veteran clubs at Saturday’s nineteam Merrill Invitational and did not win a set in its four matches. But again, each of the matches had some shining moments, according to coach Weik.

Rib Lake opened in a three-team pool with Athens and Stanley-Boyd. The Lady Redmen battled the Blue Jays to a 21-21 tie in game one before falling 25-21. Athens won game two 25-15 and then lost 2-0 to eventual runner-up Stanley-Boyd to take second in the pool.

Stanley-Boyd had little trouble with Rib Lake, winning 25-7, 25-6. The Orioles won the initial pool and took second overall, sweeping Merrill in the championship pool and falling to Chippewa Falls in the title match.

“We battled hard against Athens, especially in our first set,” Weik said. “We were tied at 21 and then missed a few serves. We had difficulty handling the outside hitter from Stanley-Boyd and many of their servers. This put us several points behind on many of the runs they made. We talked as a team how important it is for us to play against strong competition, including many ranked teams, to prepare us for the rest of our schedule.”

The two early losses sent Rib Lake to the pool to determine seventh through ninth place. Tomahawk swept the Redmen 25-16, 25-9 and Marathon took them down 25-11, 25-15. Tomahawk swept Marathon to place seventh. Athens finished fourth, Wittenberg-Birnamwood was fifth and Edgar finished sixth.

Edgar 3, Rib Lake 0

At Edgar Thursday, the Redmen stuck with the Wildcats in the first set before falling short. From there, Edgar controlled things and completed a 3-0 sweep in the non-conference match.

The Wildcats won game one 25-21 and rolled to 25-11 and 25-17 wins.

Weik was the team’s kill leader with seven. Josie Scheithauer had four and Annala added three. Weik had three of the team’s six service aces.

Medford’s Megan Schaefer bumps a pass to a teammate during game two of Tuesday’s win over Northland Pines.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS