Rib Lake’s senior, two building blocks earn All-North honors

ALL-MARAWOOD NORTH VOLLEYBALL

Rib Lake’s lone senior and two members of its promising freshman class were recognized for their play this fall during the voting process for the 2021 All-Marawood North volleyball teams.

Freshman Tessa Weik led Rib Lake by securing one of the seven second-team spots. Senior Kamryn Annala and freshman libero Tahlia Scheithauer earned honorable mention. The awards follow a season that saw the Lady Redmen go 1-4 in dual matches within this year’s highly-competitive North Division of the Marawood Conference. The Redmen went 9-23 overall under second-year head coach Heather Weik, a slight improvement over their 7-22 mark in 2021. The team’s roster featured seven freshmen whose playing time ranged from a taste of action to full-time duty this fall.

This is the first All-Marawood volleyball honor for Annala and, obviously, for the freshmen as well. Tessa Weik served a bit of a dual role as one of the team’s top offensive threats as a middle hitter and blocker when she rotated into the front row and set the volleyball for teammates when she rotated to the back. She ended the year with 140 kills, 182 assists, 17 block kills and 51 service aces.

“Tessa is a leader on the court and has good court awareness as a young player,” coach Weik said.

Tessa Weik is the only freshman to make this year’s All-North first or second teams. She joins two players from Phillips and Prentice on the second team, along with juniors Sydney Falteisek of Abbotsford and Sophia Coker of Athens.

“I am so proud of how hard this team has worked this year,” Tessa Weik said. “I look forward to the future where we can continue to develop our team and our program.”

Annala was a team captain along with junior Josie Scheithauer and compiled 95 kills, 172 digs, five blocks and 19 aces as an all-around presence on the court for the Redmen.

“We will miss Kamryn’s passion and fire that she brings to the court,” coach Weik said. “Each day at practice she brought great leadership and work ethic to inspire teammates to work at a higher level.”

“I am very proud of the underclassmen for stepping up to the challenges of playing varsity at such a young age. I am excited to see how far they will go next year.”

One of those players filling a big role at a young age was Scheithauer, who anchored the back row as the team’s libero. All-North

She piled up 283 digs and 14 aces.

“I have had such a fun time this year playing with these wonderful athletes,” Scheithauer said. “I hope we can take what we learned this year, keep working hard in the off-season and come in strong next year.”

“As a young player, Tahlia was vital to our back row on defense and on our serve receive this year,” coach Weik said. “She is a player our team needs on the court all the time. Her hustle and determination are second to none. She gives it all in practice and in games.”

The North Division of the Marawood, may have been as tough as it’s ever been. Athens won the league at 5-0 and was ranked the number-one team in the state in Division 4 for much of the year. Defending champion Phillips was knocked off by the Blue Jays early in the year but ended the season playing as well as anyone. Prentice was ranked all season long in Division 4’s top 10 and Abbotsford’s 2-3 league record was misleading as the Falcons featured a formidable squad that included Falteisek and unanimous All-North selection Haylee Soyk up front.

All four of those teams won their matchups in the Marawood Conference Crossover Challenge Oct. 11 in Marathon, a first for the North.

Along with Soyk, Athens juniors Jazelle Hartwig and Addison Lavicka and Phillips senior Kendall Weik were this year’s unanimous picks for the All-North team. Weik was named the Player of the Year. Senior libero Savannah Epping of Athens and senior outside hitter Elsa Schluter of Phillips rounded out the first team.

Tanille Hartwig of Athens was named the North’s Coach of the Year.

“We battled against one of the toughest schedules around this season,” coach Weik said. “We played many matches against highly-ranked teams and I feel we are stronger because of it. After facing these teams, we have our sights set high. We want to continue to work hard as we set high goals going into next season. This starts with a strong culture, belief in each other and more court time. We are excited to see how Rib Lake volleyball will continue to grow.”

Kamryn Annala Hon. Mention

Tessa Weik Second Team