MEDFORD VOLLEYBALL - As hoped, competition tough in Orlando
While fun was certainly expected to be part of the trip, so was seeing a different level of competition. Both were objectives were met for the Medford Raiders volleyball team.
Competing in the three-day KSA Events Orlando Fall Classic, the Raiders won their first match Thursday and then were beaten in their last six matches of the tournament by teams from Texas, Oklahoma and Kentucky.
Head coach Ashley Jochimsen-McCarron noted the Blue Bracket champion, Flowermound, Texas featured five juniors who are all garnering NCAA Division I attention.
“Florida was great,” Jochimsen-McCarron said. “We competed against some really really good teams and held our own. We didn’t always have the outcome we had hoped for, but playing at a high level was exactly what we wanted to do and that goal was achieved. We were going to Florida, so we wanted to see good competition and we saw that. We saw schools doubled or bigger compared to our size and we showed them we could compete. It was a great experience and definitely there were great lessons learned.”
The Blue Bracket featured 14 teams split into two seven-team pools. Pool play covered the first two days of the tournament, Thursday and Friday.
Medford opened with Monsignor Pace, Fla. on Thursday morning and earned a 25-21, 25-21 sweep. The Raiders had a chance for a 2-0 start. But Paul Laurence Dunbar High School of Kentucky rallied and took a three-set match to knock Medford to 1-1. The Raiders won the first set 25-23, but Dunbar won the next two 25-19, 15-11.
Stockdale, Texas won the last match of day one. An extended first set went to 3028, then Medford ran out of gas in set two, falling 25-13.
The Raiders wound up facing the top three teams in its pool on Friday. Victory Christian of Oklahoma swept the Raiders 25-17, 25-9. The powerhouse Flowermound team took care of Medford 25-5, 25-8. Finally, JJ Pearce High School, also of Texas, defeated the Raiders 25-21, 25-11.
At the end of pool play, Flowermound was 6-0, followed by JJ Pearce (5-1), Victory Christian (4-2), Paul Laurence Dunbar (2-4), Stockdale (2-4), Medford (1-5) and Monsignor Pace (1-5).
In Saturday’s crossover action, Medford was placed with Owasso, Okla., who was 1-5 in the opposite pool. Owasso swept the Raiders 25-19, 25-15.
Flowermound defeated JJ Pearce 2515, 25-17 in the championship match, while Decatur, Texas beat Grimsley, N.C. in the third-place match 25-18, 25-15.
Medford also competed in the JV pool and went 3-1. The Raiders beat Carmichaels, Penn. 25-11, 25-11, Cornerstone Charter, Fla. 25-13, 25-16 and Springstead, Fla. 25-14, 25-19. The Raiders lost to The Geneva School of Florida 25-14, 25-21.
GNC opener
Medford gets back into its normal routine today, Thursday, when it opens Great Northern Conference play in Raider Hall against Antigo. The varsity match starts at 7 p.m.
The Raiders will head to the Marshfield Invitational on Saturday. The 9 a.m. tournament includes the host Tigers, Abbotsford, Antigo, Ladysmith, Mondovi and Shawano. The JV team will compete in the Prentice varsity invite.
Medford travels to Lakeland for GNC play on Tuesday.
