They may have dropped a second and third set in GNC play last week, but the Hatchet volleyball team wrapped up consecutive 12-0 GNC seasons with a Tuesday win over Pines and a 2-0 finish in Saturday’s GNC #2 Meet at Rhinelander.
The third-ranked locals improved to 28-3 overall with Saturday’s victories over Medford (25-14, 25-9, 26-24) and Antigo (25-21, 20-25, 25-14, 25-12).
“I am very proud of the team for working together this season and being able to accomplish their goal of being conference champs, as well as not losing a match in conference for a second straight year,” THS coach Amanda Kriese said. “Antigo is a very scrappy team and they took that set from us. In the third and fourth game, we started to find a rhythm and were able to play our game and they struggled to pass the ball because of our aggressive serving.
“We kept trading points with Medford when we should have put the ball away and closed it out. In game two, we did a great job of setting the ball up, passing well, and serving aggressively. In game three, we didn’t come out swinging and we neutralized ourselves by making hitting and serving errors. We came out with the sweep, though.”
Production was turned in by: Anna Nyberg (39 kills, 4 aces, 5 blocks, 22 digs); Becca Doughty (81 assists, 4 k, 3 bl, 9 d); Hanna Meyer (23 k, 3 ac, 19 d); Hannah Feest (7 ac, 28 d); Emily Schneider (10 k, 4 bl); Megan Lee (8 k, 4 d); Colynn Behling (7 k, 2 ac, 4 d); Lexi Graeber (2 ac, 14 d).
Clipping Eagles’ wings
After a rough beginning where THS lost just its second GNC set of the year, the Hatchets rallied to put down Pines 22-25, 25-6, 25-17, 25-19 on Tuesday.
“Game one was a slow start where we traded points with Pines,” Kriese said. “When the game got to 20-20, (Pines) decided that they wanted it more as we started to make mistakes. We quickly put that game behind us and refocused to play much better in the second game. We served very aggressively and took care of our side of the net for most of the rest of the match. We accomplished one of our goals by getting the victory and clinching conference outright, with two matches left to go.”
Contributions came from: Nyberg (17 k, 4 ac, 20 d); Doughty (44 as, 10 d); Meyer (14 k, 2 ac, 7 d); Feest (3 ac, 14 d); Schneider (8 k, 2 ac); Megan Lee (7 k, 6 d); Behling (2 bl); Lexi Graeber (6 d).
Tomahawk opened regional play with Lakeland on Tuesday. The Hatchets could host play on Thursday and Saturday if they keep winning.