Sperl reaches 2,000 assists, Falcons down RL
In a busy week filled with nine matches and a number of career milestones, the Abbotsford Falcons improved to 19-11 overall and 3-0 in the Marawood-North conference.
Starting with a key conference win over Rib Lake last Tuesday, the Falcons then went 2-1 at their quad held in Tomahawk on Thursday before going 4-1 and capturing second place at their home tournament held on Saturday.
Setter Faith Sperl also reached some impressive career statistical markers on Saturday as well. The senior, who entered the varsity starting rotation in her freshman year, has been an important part of the Falcons’ quick hitting offense since her arrival. Sperl reached three career marks that demonstrate both the strengths of her multi-faceted game and the success that she and her teammates have found over her four years with the program.
The week prior during the Falcons’ 2-0 win against Coulee Christian in which Sperl recorded 11 aces in just two sets, the senior also reached her 200th career ace. Then during the Falcons’ home tournament on Saturday, Sperl obtained two more milestones, picking up her 1,000th dig in a win over the Spencer Rockets and her 2,000th career assist against Adams-Friendship.
The milestones highlight a career that has already seen Sperl bring home a number of pieces of hardware, including firstteam and honorable mention all-conference awards and a WVCA All-State honorable mention, as well as being a big part of Abbotsford’s first conference championship since 2019 last season.
With a big win over the second-ranked Rib Lake squad, Sperl and the Falcons will be aiming for a second straight conference title as the team pushes into the final weeks of the regular season.
Abbotsford Tournament
A 4-1 day was good enough to earn the Falcons second place in their home tournament over the weekend, where they faced off against the likes of Adams-Friendship, Cadott, Spencer, Mondovi and Rosholt.
The Falcons delivered a trio of sweeps on Saturday. Behind a strong offensive performance from Sperl and Riley Podevels, the former recording five kills and three aces while the latter had eight kills and two aces, Abbotsford was able to get past Adams-Friendship 25-21, 25-19. A trio of blocks from Lauryn Harris and eight hits dug out by Caylee Clement also aided the Falcons in their win.
Abbotsford turned to the trio of Celia Schindler, Harris and Podevels in their 2516, 25-15 sweep of Mondovi, Schindler leading the way with nine kills, Harris adding seven and Podevels picking up six. Sperl’s five aces and 21 assists helped the Falcons nearly deliver a pair of doubledigit losses to the Buffaloes.
A tough battle with Rosholt in the opening set finally broke in the Falcons favor after pushing well beyond the 25-point mark. Abbotsford was able to net the 3129 victory, eventually breaking away from the Hornets in a back-and-forth affair. Though Rosholt still remained resilient, the second set was not quite as close and Abbotsford was able to net a 25-21 win to complete the 2-0 sweep. A five-ace, six kill, 20 assist, 20 dig performance for Sperl had the senior setter making plays all over the court while Schindler delivered a match-high 11 kills for the Falcons.
Abbotsford was also able to rally back for a 2-1 victory over Spencer. While Rockets’ hitter Carmen Krause was difficult to corral at times for the Falcons, Abbotsford was able to shut down most of Spencer’s other options. After falling 2522 in the opening set, the home team delivered a 25-19 win in game number two before dominating the final set, winning 15-6. An eight-kill, six-ace match for Schindler helped push the Falcons towards victory. Campbell Brodhagen finished with five kills on 12 attempts, Podevels added another six kills, and Clement and Sperl had 14 and 12 digs respectively.
The only loss the home team suffered on Saturday came at the hands of Cadott. Behind a strong game from the Hornets’ middle hitter Haley Mathison, Cadott was able narrowly edge out Abbotsford 2-1. The two squads traded the opening sets, Abbotsford winning the first 25-19 and Cadott taking the second 25-21, but the visitors were able to come out on top in the tiebreaker, 15-13.
Schindler led the team with eight kills, Podevels added six and Harris had five. The Falcons racked up 12 aces in the loss, led by five from Brodhagen and three courtesy of Sperl. Harris was in on a pair of blocks and Sperl reached 20 assists in the match.
Tomahawk Quad
Abbotsford picked up a pair of sweeps but came up one set short of their third win of the day last Thursday at the quad hosted by Tomahawk. The Falcons soared past Marathon and Antigo but fell 2-1 to the hosting Hatchets squad.
In their 2-0 defeat of Marathon, the Falcons used 11 aces and a highly effective day from middle Lauryn Harris to win 25-21, 25-19. While the Red Raiders finished the match with one more kill than Abbotsford, the Falcons were more efficient in their attack, committing just nine hitting errors to Marathon’s 13. They also put more pressure on the Red Raiders from the service line, Celia Schindler leading the way for the Falcons with seven aces. Harris had a match-high seven kills and only needed 13 attempts to collect them. Riley Podevels added six more kills and Caylee Clement had three aces.
The Falcons’ 2-0 over Antigo was not quite as close. There was not much the Red Robins could do to stop the Abbotsford attack as the Falcons racked up a .319 hitting percentage and nine aces in the 25-16, 25-13 wins. Schindler led the team with nine kills and Harris and Podevels both had hitting percentages over .400, recording eight and six kills respectively. Clement had three aces and Sperl delivered a 23 assist performance.
Abbotsford was able to bounce back from a 25-17 loss to Tomahawk in the opening set to force a tiebreaker by winning the second 25-19, but the Hatchets were able to hold on for a 15-11 win in the decider. Tomahawk’s Siennah Calkins proved difficult to stop, the senior racking up 15 kills on 21 attempts. Schindler nearly matched Calkins’s total putting up 14 kills herself, but Abbotsford’s attack just could not break through the Hatchets’ defense. The Falcons had two more kills than Tomahawk, but had 90 hitting attempts to their opponents’ 56.
Sperl had a 23 assist, 13 dig match in the loss, Harris was in on two blocks and had two aces and Clement had 11 digs.
Rib Lake, 3-1
The Falcons earned what could be their marquee win of the regular season last Tuesday, defeating the Rib Lake Redmen on the road in four sets. In a match that could, depending on how things play out over the rest of the season, determine the outcome of the Marawood-North, Abbotsford bounced back from a tough first set to win the next three and defeat their conference rivals.
Both squads recognized the potential importance of the match; with Rib Lake already having beaten Prentice earlier in the season, a victory over Abbotsford would all but ensure them a conference championship. Meanwhile, if the Falcons could pull off the win, they would be in control of their own destiny in their journey to repeat as Marawood-North champs.
Tuesday’s contest was the second of back-to-back matches between Abbotsford and Rib Lake. The two squads had just come off a third place match at the Spencer tournament three days prior, a best of three that Rib Lake won 2-0. However, only the results of the bestof- five battle between the two would count towards the Marawood-North standings, giving the Falcons a chance at redemption.
The hosting Redmen had little interest in giving Abbotsford any room to carry that thought early. Rib Lake jumped out to a 5-0 advantage and extended it to 13-4 as the home team continuously put pressure on the Falcons and stifled Abbotsford’s attack with strong play at the net. The Rib Lake advantage grew to 13 at one point as the visitors struggled to find their footing and the Redmen took the first set 25-13.
While the opening had not looked clean, the Falcons appeared to settle in as the game had progressed. The second game started with a kill from Marilyn Hammock, giving the Falcons their first lead of the match, and Celia Schindler followed with another kill to go up 2-0. However, a 4-0 run for the Redmen allowed them to distance themselves from Falcons not long after, going up 9-5. Runs for both squads allowed Abbotsford to creep back into the match in the midgame, knotting things up at 1818.
Three straight points for the Redmen gave Rib Lake what felt like a solid lead, but once again the Falcons refused to go away, getting a key diving play from Campbell Brodhagen that once again tied the game, this time at 21-21. Two rallies later, a serve from Riley Podevels found the back corner of the court and earned Abbotsford their first lead since the early portions of the set. A solo block by Schindler helped the Falcons maintain their slight advantage and a miss by Rib Lake on the next rally secured the 25-23 win.
An ace from Brodhagen and a tip down at the net on an overpass from Hammock capped a four point run that gave Abbotsford an early 9-4 advantage in the third set. Riding the momentum of the second set win, the Falcons continued to lay on the pressure, this time making Rib Lake look out of sorts. Tough serves from Podevels forced mistakes from the Redmen and important kills from Hammock and Schindler on the front line led the Falcons to nine straight points. Another denial by Hammock at the net on an overpass capped the run, putting Abbotsford up 18-5 and forcing a timeout from Rib Lake to try and regroup. While the home team managed to collect themselves, the Falcons maintained their advantage and easily took home the third set, a kill from Podevels ending the game at 25-11.
Putting the last set behind them, the Redmen jumped out to a 5-1 lead to start the fourth set. A kill courtesy of Lauryn Harris stopped the run and brought Faith Sperl to the service line. Sperl delivered an ace and then followed with a surprise attack on the second contact to earn another point for the Falcons. An error by the home team knotted things up at 5-5 and suddenly the Falcons found themselves right back in the game. Another savvy play by Sperl allowed Abbotsford to take their first lead of the contest at 8-7 and an ace by Brodhagen several rallies later opened the lead out to 11-7. The Falcons continued to slowly distance themselves from Rib Lake, getting a big block from Harris to go up 18-11 and a kill from the freshman middle hitter to go up 22-12. Schindler delivered the penultimate point with a kill to go up 24-13 and Abbotsford’s massive lead allowed them to close out the match with a comfortable eight-point cushion.
Key Moment
Podevels’ ace near the end of game two gave Abbotsford the slight edge that they needed to pull out an all important win in the second set. Schindler’s block two rallies later proved invaluable as the senior went one-on-one at the net and pulled out a key point that bounced the lead back to the Falcons following a huge kill from Rib Lake.
Momentum built from the win seemed to carry over to the third set, where Abbotsford was able to completely dismantle the Rib Lake attack, leaving them scrambling to adjust and looking out of sorts for much of the remaining match.
Statistics
The Falcons dominated up the middle on Tuesday, especially in the second set onwards. Middle hitters Hammock and Harris had massive nights for Abbotsford, the former having a career night with 15 kills on 26 attempts and the latter contributing 10 herself. Schindler added seven kills and Podevels finished with four.
Caylee Clement had an impressive day both on defense and from the service line. The senior delivered four aces that helped propel the Falcons’ runs and had a team high 17 digs. Sperl added 16 digs and an ace while Podevels finished with 15 digs and three aces.
What’s Next?
The Falcons will wrap up their regular season by hosting a Marawood-North conference match against Chequamegon next Tuesday, October 7. The Screaming Eagles are 13-14 so far this season but 0-4 in conference play. They are coming off a 3-0 defeat to Phillips on Tuesday evening. The conference finale for Abbotsford will start at 7 p.m.
