Glenwood City volleyball falls to Colfax, Elk Mound to open conference play

The Glenwood City volleyball team found little solace as it began conference play last week.

After going winless during the season’s first three weeks of non-conference action, Glenwood City had high hopes of a good start against quality opponents when it opened play in the Dunn-St. Croix conference this past week.

But the Hilltoppers, paired against the defending conference champion Colfax Vikings and runner-up Elk Mound Mounders to kick off the 2015 conference volleyball schedule, were swept in three sets by both squads.

Glenwood City fell 11-25, 11-25 and 6-25 in last Tuesday’s (September 15) D-SC opener in Colfax and then lost 10-25, 23-25 and 14-25 in Thursday’s home opener against Elk Mound.

The Hilltoppers, now 0-2 in conference and 0-15 overall, will be back on the road this week. They played in Elmwood last evening (Sept. 22) and will be in Spring Valley tomorrow (Thursday, Sept. 24). Glenwood City will then return home for a three-match home stand beginning with Mondovi next Tuesday, September 29.

Colfax

The Vikings seem to just reload season after season and 2015 is no different.

Colfax came out strong to start last Tuesday’s match against Glenwood City as the early leads in all three sets en route to the three-set win.

The Hilltoppers worked an early 4-4 tie with the Vikings but the hosts went on a scoring run to take the first set 11-25.

Colfax jumped to an 11-5 advantage in the second set and never looked back taking the second set by the same score as the first – 11-25.

In the third and final set, Colfax once again bounded to an early lead as it took advantage of several Topper errors and a six-point scoring run for a 9-1 lead. The Vikings extended their lead to double digits at 19-6 before closing out the set and match 6-25.

“Colfax has always been a tough team,” said Glenwood City head coach Christa Blaser. “I thought the scoreboard didn’t reflect how my ladies played. They did a good job and did not give up.”

Glenwood City finished with 13 kills in the match with Jenesa Klinger leading the way with four followed by Becca Mol with three, Emily Hill and Mariah Voeltz each had a pair and Carlee Strong and Megan Speiser both finished with one. The Toppers had 11 assists with six turned in by Strong and five by Speiser. Of the team’s nine digs, Jenesa Klinger tallied six. Glenwood City also had 26 serves as Strong and Moll led with six a piece.

Elk Mound

A good homecoming crowd was on hand for the Lady Hilltoppers’ first home match of the season on Thursday, September 17 as they took on Elk Mound.

The Mounders dominated the opening set and went on to claim a quick 10-25 win.

Glenwood City rebounded in the second set with some inspired play boosted by the support of its home fans. The Toppers opened up a ten point lead at 14-4 midway through the second set. Three times Elk Mound cut Glenwood City’s advantage to just two points but each time the Hilltoppers responded.

But after taking a 23-18 lead, Glenwood City’s offense went silent as the Mounders took advantage of some GC errors and rallied for a 23-25 victory.

The late collapse in the second set seemed to dishearten the Toppers who them lost the final set 14-25.

“The second set was a lot of fun when we took a ten point lead,” said coach Blaser. “But we just couldn’t quite close it out.”

“Even though we took home a loss for the night, the girls left on a positive note and I think they can see the changes and progress that they are making. I am proud of them and how hard they continue to work. They have made some big changes since the start of the season.”

Jenesa Klinger had eight of the team’s 14 kills while Becca Moll tallied three. Carlee Strong lead the team in assists with six of the squad’s 14. Mariah Voeltz was responsible for half of the team’s 18 digs and Emily Hill had 12 of the Toppers’ 34 serves as Megan Speiser and Carlee Strong tallied eight and six respectively.

McDonell Invitational

Glenwood City dropped all ten of its sets at the Chippewa Falls McDonell Volleyball Invitational held Saturday, September 12 and finished 0-5.

The Toppers lost to Greenwood (14-25 and 9-25), Elk Mound (10-25 and 8-25), Loyal (15-25 and 6-25), Osseo-Fairchild (10-25 and 13-25) and host McDonell (7-25 and 7-25).

Carlee Strong had five kills in the tournament, Jenesa Klinger posted five aces and Megan Speiser finished with 24 total serves.