The Merrill girls dream of back-to-back state-tournament berths ended Thursday in an incredibly exciting five-set loss to Chippewa Falls at Wausau West.
The Cardinals pulled a fourth game 25-16 to tie up the match, then pulled out the final game by the narrowest margin, 15-13 to reach Saturday’s sectional final.
“The momentum swings in volleyball are just unimaginable.” Merrill coach Kris Albrecht said. “The change in emotion, thinking we were going to win it to losing it in a matter of 30 seconds; it’s an emotional roller-coaster. I was more stunned than anything at the end.
“It was a well-fought match. Nobody wants to go out like that. Fifteen-13 in a five-set game, and it’s over.”
The fifth-seeded Bluejays grabbed the early lead in the match from top-seeded Falls, winning the opener 25-23. They trailed 22-19 before ripping off five straight points with a pair of Reegan Byer aces, Aubrey Wardall and Lauren Hojan spikes, and a Hojan block. Renee Sladek’s tip closed it out.
But the Cardinals flip-flopped it with a 25-23 win in the following set. Falls led 19-15 before Merrill rallied with a 6-1 run, aided by Rylee Folz and Wardall blocks, a Hojan spike and Cardinal errors. But a block of a spike that appeared to drop out-of-bounds was called in, making it 21-21 instead of 22-20 Merrill. After a pair of Falls’ tips, Sladek would crush a spike to cut it to 24-23, but a carry call ended the set.
“We wanted to steal that first game so bad and we did,” Albrecht said. “The second game we had a couple of close calls go against us and it got away from us.”
The Jays roared back in the third set, jumping out to a 10-4 lead, although the Cardinals rallied to within 13-12. MHS immediately embarked on an 8-1 run, with a couple of Sladek smashes, two Hojan tips, and a Folz tip and block. Folz tipped another overset for a 25-14 lead and a Hojan block put it away at 25-15.
“The third game we came out and won by 10,” Albrecht said. “I thought we were going to get on top of the fourth game and put it away, but we went into the tank.”
Falls grabbed the 11-4 margin in the fourth set, and quickly pushed it to 16-6 with several strong spikes and blocks. The Merrill girls had worked to get back within 18-13 before Falls scored four straight. Merrill pulled within 23-16, but a net violation and big spike ended it at 25-16, bringing the match to a fifth set.
Merrill quickly fell behind 5-2, a tough situation in a 15-point game, but the Jays cut loose with an 8-2 rally powered with several Cardinal errors and three Folz smashes.
The teams were tied at 11-11 when Katie Zuelsdorff hit a spike winner. But a low serve and a strong block gave Chippewa a 13-12 edge. Sladek crushed a ball to tie it at 13-13, but a long serve gave Falls a match point opportunity and it converted with a strong block.
“Chippewa Falls played so well on defense,” Albrecht said. “I thought our blocking could have been better. (Libero) Morgan (Marnholtz) played her heart out. She got to a lot of balls.
“I thought we handled their bigger hitter (Mercedes Antolak) pretty well. She didn’t hurt us so much. It was more their libero (Deanie Schaller). She picked up everything. We cold not tip a ball into a score. We had to swing away. Then when you get into a tight match, some people get tentative.”
Contributions in the match came from: Byer (35 assists, 2 aces, 14 digs); Sladek (27 k, 14 d); Marnholtz (38 d); Katie Zuelsdorff (7 k, 28 d); Emily Page (14 as, 14 d); Hojan (10 k, 4 blocks, 4 d); Rylee Folz (13 k, 4 bl, 3 d); Ali Zam­zow (19 d); and Anna Finnell (9 k, 4 d).
Falls would lose in three straight to Wausau East in Saturday’s sectional final at Marshfield. Merrill beat the Lumberjacks in four sets in their last meeting on October 17.
“So Wausau East is on to state,” Albrecht said. “Chippewa Falls must have given us everything they had at the end.”
The match ended Merrill’s season at 30-10 overal. They finished 7-5 in the Valley.
“The girls had high expectations after going to state last year,” Albrecht said. “I did, too, but we had a lot of younger players on the team lacking in experience.
“For me, it was a very good season. I enjoyed going to practice and I loved being with the girls. I wanted the girls to have fun and want to come to practice. I wanted it to be fun for all of us and it seemed like it was even though we didn’t have as successful a record as we wanted.
“It was great the way we were peaking at the end of the season, between Wausau East and the playoffs. Could we have used a few more breaks, just things to go our way? Sure.”
Sladek, a unanimous First Team WVC selection for the past three years, had to work her way back into the line-up after recovering from a serious knee surgery as a result of a basketball injury.
“She didn’t feel she was the same coming off her injury, but she was a good mentor to the younger girls and so were the other seniors.
“I hope the younger girls learned a lot from them. It’s just always sad to see it come to an end, especially knowing we could have beat any team in our sectional. To not make it to Saturday(‘s final) was disappointing.”