Viking netters rally to knock Mounders out in regional opener
By Cara L. Dempski
ELK MOUND — It is almost a surprise to not see a picture of the Colfax volleyball squad in the dictionary next to the definition of the word “tenacious.” For that matter, Elk Mound could have a picture there too.
The two teams met in Elk Mound on October 18 for the first round of WIAA Division 3 regional play after Colfax took a share in the conference volleyball championship by beating Mondovi just five days earlier. The Mounders, who gave the Vikings their only conference loss of the season, tied for second place in the Dunn-St. Croix with Boyceville.
The teams last meeting back on October 4 in Elk Mound, saw Colfax leave town with a 3-1 loss.
But what a difference a few weeks can make.
Coach Pam Meredith’s Viking squad let its tenacity shine through in a thrilling 3-2 victory over the Mounders to advance to the regional semifinals on October 20 against the regional’s top seed and seventh-ranked Grantsburg. Colfax improved to 19-15.
Like the October 4 match, Elk Mound took control of the first and second sets, winning both 25-21 and 26-24. Unlike the prior meeting, the Vikings took full advantage of a shift in momentum late in the second set after several Mounder hitting errors helped Colfax to the match win by scores of 25-20, 25-16 and 15-6 in the final three.
“We put up a fight Tuesday night, it just wasn’t a pretty one,” Mounder coach Samantha Weix said.
Weix went on to say the Mounder squad didn’t execute on its side of the net, and playoffs mean a whole new season where anyone can win. She noted that even with the wins in the first two sets, the Elk Mound girls were not playing well.
Instead, Elk Mound frustrated the Vikings enough to take the wins. By the third set, the Mounders were no longer able to rattle the Vikings like they had in the first two and could not find a groove for the rest of the match.
On the other side of the net, the Vikings felt the shift away from Elk Mound, and Meredith’s team of young players came on strong in the third to shake the Mounders and walk away with the win.
“Now we have some confidence,” Meredith said after the game.
Meredith went on to say that the team would gain valuable experience when they headed to Grantsburg on October 20 for the second round of regional play. The Vikings played the Pirates in the 2015 regional championship match, but lost 3-0.
The Mounders, 17-21, lost in the first round for the second year in a row. Osseo-Fairchild knocked the Mounders out of the 2015 tournament with a 3-2 win.
Elk Mound landed 43 kills to Colfax’s 38 and recorded nine aces compared to the Vikings’ 10, but just couldn’t seem to get past the Viking back row after the second set.
Senior libero Bryana Buchanan led the Colfax team with 16 digs, and younger sister Jozie, Alyssa Dachel and Megan Schleusner each took another 14 on the way to a team total of 88 digs. Kameri Meredith contributed another 12 digs, Samantha Pretasky accounted for five, Makayla Mattson and Rachel Scharlau each put up four, Mady Decker is credited with three, and Savannah Henricks took two digs.
Scharlau is credited with Colfax’s lone solo block, and assisted on another four. Pretasky and Henricks assisted on three blocks each, while Mattson and Jozie Buchanan each logged one block assist.
On the Mounders’ side, junior Allie Weber led the team in digs with 19 of the team’s 90. Karie Jo Nigon and Abby Curry took credit for 16 and 14 of the total digs, and Sarah Sweeney added another 11. Junior Kourtney Zurbuchen logged 10 digs, Madysen Borofka is credited with eight, Lauren Scharlau recorded six, Alex Jenson four, and Riley and Morgan Radtke each accounted for one.
Weber and Morgan Radtke were the only solo blockers for Elk Mound. Morgan assisted on a further four blocks, while Weber and Zurbuchen tied with two block assists, and Riley Radtke and Scharlau each took credit for one block assist.
Offensively, both teams seemed consistent with kills, aces, and errors. The Vikings landed 38 kills, had 26 hitting errors, and recorded 10 aces, while the Mounders logged 43 kills, 35 hitting errors, and 9 aces.
Mattson, Meredith and Scharlau led the Vikings with nine kills each, but Scharlau committed six errors, and Mattson and Meredith split another eight between them. Pretasky drilled in seven kills, but countered with nine errors. Henricks and Bryana Buchanan accounted for the team’s final three kills, but also accounted for another three hitting errors.
Schleusner and Jozie Buchanan each had three serve aces, but Schleusner also had three serve errors. Alyssa Dachel, a sophomore, sent two unanswered serves over the net and had one error, Bryana Buchanan logged an ace, and Mady Decker took credit for an ace and had two errors.
Mounder sophomore Morgan Radtke led the Elk Mound kill-count with 14 and made nine hitting errors. Weber had only four errors and spiked in 12 kills, and Lauren Scharlau made seven kills and nine errors. Zurbuchen also made more errors than kills, with five errors and six kill shots, and Riley Radtke downed three kills and five errors. Nigon evenly split her kills and hitting errors with two each.
Elk Mound’s Madysen Borofka led the team with three aces and one serving error. Weber and Sweeney tied for second with two aces each; Sweeney had one service error. Abby Curry and Alex Jenson each chalked up an ace and an error, and senior Karie Jo Nigon recorded four serving errors during the game.
While the match ended the Mounders’ season, Weix was very complimentary of her team.
“Regardless of our record and the ups and downs we had, it was a fun, successful year,” she stated. “I had an amazing group of girls who made this one of my most enjoyable coaching experiences yet.”
It was the final game for seven Elk Mound seniors as the squad said good bye to Sarah Sweeney, Riley Radtke, Jenna Heit, Lauren Scharlau, Karie Jo Nigon, Colleen Olson and Jordyn Abramowicz.