Hornets ousted from playoffs in Nekoosa
After winning the first two sets of their first round playoff matchup with the eighth-seeded Nekoosa Papermakers, the ninth-seeded Colby volleyball team needed just one more victory to pick up their first playoff win since 2020. The Papermakers were not about to just let their season end either, however, and the team rallied at home. They went on to complete a reverse sweep of the Hornets, winning the final three sets and knocking Colby out of the playoffs.
Through those first two games, it looked like Colby would translate their second half success into the playoffs. After a tough first few weeks to their season, the Hornets put together a solid conference campaign, finishing second in the Cloverbelt-East with a 6-1 record. They had also played well in tight matches, going 5-3 in contests that went to a final third or fifth set.
However, Colby could not find a way to put away the Papermarkers on Tuesday night, as the home team refused to go down without a fight.
“It was a tough loss, as they all are at the end of the season,” head coach Wade Oehmichen said. “The girls played very well last night and we were up against a very talented Nekoosa team lead which had some of the more talented attackers we’ve seen all season. We definitely let up on the third game and nerves and fatigue got us on the last two. I think being away from our home court also played into the momentum swing for Nekoosa as they did have a very active crowd there.”
Nekoosa was the first to strike, taking a 9-3 lead in the first set. The Hornets rolled with the first blow and went on a 7-1 run of their own to tie the game at 10-10. While the Papermakers managed to momentarily pull away once more, another 5-0 run for Colby brought them right back into contention. A block by Lilly Brzezinski and Savana Thomsen gave the Hornets their first lead of the match, going up 17-16. The two teams went back and forth, but a few kills from Daelyn Rieck turned the game in Colby’s favor. Rieck’s final spike gave the Hornets their first set win, coming ahead 25-21.
The two teams looked evenly matched in the second set, neither team able to extend much control over the game. Colby’s late game prowess once again gave them the edge, however.
Nursing a small 20-18 lead, the Hornets closed out the game by scoring the final five points of the match. Lydia Decker started the run with a kill from the left side, Rieck added two more kills herself and Kylie Orth landed the final blow, sending a Papermaker overpass back over the net and finding the floor to give the visitors the 25-18 win and a 2-0 set advantage.
However, the momentum of the match was going to begin to swing in the direction of Nekoosa. The home team took a 12-4 lead in the third set, a deficit that Colby could never quite recover from. The Papermakers claimed the 25-17 win and had seemingly turned the tables on the Hornets. They slowly but steadily built up leads in the final two sets, finding slightly more consistency than Colby could muster and ultimately took them 25-17 and 15-9.
The Hornets finished their season with a 14-16 regular season record. While they will miss the services of a number of seniors next year, Colby’s deep rotation means that they will also have the opportunity to return a significant portion of this season’s squad.
“Honestly I couldn’t be more proud of this group, they are very talented and we definitely got the most of out the girls as the season progressed,” Oehmichen said. “Expect our group to return and build on the successes from this year; the program has a bright future ahead of it. We are going to miss the talent and positive leadership we got from our seniors, but they served as great role models to all of the underclassmen.”
