The Tomahawk volleyball team picked up another GNC sweep on Tuesday, then turned in a solid performance in last weekend’s 32-team UW-Oshkosh Invite.
The Hatchets captured six matches while dropping just one, but since the loss came in the quarterfinal round of cross-over play, a tie for fifth was the best they could do.
They opened with Friday’s pool play sweep of Hartford (25-18, 25-17), Cedar Grove/Belgium (25-11, 25-17) and Baraboo (25-12, 25-23). They knocked off Lodi in Gold Bracket play 21-25, 25-17, 15-7, before falling 25-22, 25-16 to Waupun. THS bounced back with triumphs over Beaver Dam (25-17, 25-11) and Luxemburg/Casco (27-25, 25-16).
“I’m very happy with our finish overall,” THS coach Amanda Charles said. “Oshkosh is always a very competitive and challenging tournament and it was good for us to see that competition at this point in the season.
“When we played Waupun, the girls were not in sync. Waupun is a very good team and they exploited our weaknesses. We didn’t serve as well that match because we didn’t have enough room to jump serve and the girls let that fact take them out of the game almost immediately. We needed to pick up another area of our game because we couldn’t serve like we normally do, but that wasn’t the case. It was a good learning experience for the girls. I would rather that we have that lesson now instead of later in the playoffs.
“I told them before (Beaver Dam) match that since we had lost, the best we could do is fifth. We had to come back refocused and determined to accomplish that. I am proud of how they responded after that loss. In the final match of the day we played Luxemburg-Casco. They were another good team that we may see down the road. The first game they jumped out to a big early lead but the girls kept plugging away by scoring a few points at a time until they took the lead toward the end of the first set. The second set we got going right away and never looked back. The girls were very focused and determined to win.”
Contributions came from: Anna Nyberg 73 k, 12 bl, 64 d, 10 as); Becca Doughty (7 k, 3 b, 37 d, 9 ac, 144 as); Hanna Meyer (36 k, 8 bl, 37 d, 3 ac, 10 as); Alex DuPlayee (18 k, 10 ac, 24 d); Hanna Doughty (22 k, 15 bl); Emily Schneider (6 k, 13 bl, 12 d, 11 as); Maddie Garrison (16 d); Megan Lee (3 d).
Union Grove topped Oconto Falls for the title, while Middleton bested Waupun in the third-place match.
Mosinee whitewash
The Hatchets improved to 6-0 in the GNC with a 25-16, 25-11, 25-11 victory, dropping Mosinee to 4-2.
“The girls did a good job once again of coming out focused and ready to play,” Charles said. “The girls are in the driver’s seat now as far as conference goes and they control their own destiny. We have to remain focused and play consistently if we want to accomplish our goal of winning conference.
“We were able to serve aggressively enough that they had a hard time setting up their offense. They would send us free balls, then we would terminate. We had 13 aces from five different girls. Mosinee is no slouch and they would hang with us, but then we would go on a run and they couldn’t stop us.”
Offerings were earned by: Nyberg (15 k, 3 ac, 2 bl, 7 d); B. Doughty (9 d, 30 as); DuPlayee (6 k, 3 ac, 7 d); Meyer (4 k, 2 bl, 3 d); A. Schneider (3 ac, 5 d); H. Doughty (3 k, 4 bl); and E. Schneider (3 k, 3 ac).
Tomahawk boosted its mark to 25-3 through Saturday.