Bulldog volleyball beats Unity, falls to Saints in regionals

By Cara L. Dempski

BOYCEVILLE — After a remarkable regular season that culminated in a share of second place in the final Dunn-St. Croix standings, head coach Corrie Roemhild and her Boyceville volleyball team turned their attention to the “second season” – the WIAA tournament series.

And thanks to that impressive regular-season resume, the Bulldogs earned the third seed in this year’s WIAA Division 3 regional bracket and a home match against Unity of the Lakeland conference in last Tuesday’s tournament opener.

The Bulldogs earned a bit of revenge as they knocked off an Eagles team that had eliminated them from tournament play last year. Boyceville swept to the victory October 18, winning by scores of 25-18, 25-19 and 25-11 and advanced to face second-seeded St. Croix Falls in the regional semifinal a few days later.

Roemhild and the Boyceville team took a road trip to St. Croix Falls on October 20 in an attempt to play their way into the regional championship game slated for October 22. Instead, Boyceville returned home after a second-ending 3-0 loss to a strong Saints squad that had finished as the West Lakeland conference runner-up behind state ranked and perennial power Grantsburg.

The Bulldogs finished the season with an overall record of 20-6. Despite the loss to St. Croix Falls to finish the season, seniors Erica Sempf, Brooklyn Hellmann, Hannah Guy, Madysn Riek, Morgan Kuhn and Cassie Malean have the pride of having the best overall record (combined conference and non-conference matches) of any team in the DSC.

Unity

Boyceville coach Corrie Roemhild said the team had to burn off a little nervous energy in the first part of game one, but then it really started to come alive.

“The girls were ready for this match,” Roemhild stated. “They played like a true team.”

Maddy Riek led the Boyceville attack with 16 kills and tied with teammates Cassie Malean, Hannah Guy, Jaida Peterson and Morgan Kuhn with a serve ace.

Erica Sempf added eight more kills to the team’s total, and Guy logged another seven scoring attacks. Kuhn and Malean tied with four kills apiece, and senior Brooklyn Hellmann added a kill to the team’s stats.

Roemhild noted the team made some very good defensive plays that turned into nice sets and attacks.

“We played scrappy, which helped us keep the momentum on our side of the net,” she said.

Riek again led the team with blocks, logging four solo and two assists. Sempf had two solos and one assist, while Malean had one solo and one assist. Kuhn recorded three solo blocks, and Hellmann chalked up a block assist.

Hellmann, a senior, led the team in digs and scoring assists, with 16 foiled attacks and 22 sets. Riek followed closely in digs with 14, but recorded only one set. Sophomore libero Jaida Peterson took credit for 11 digs in the match, Malean had nine, Guy took five, and Sempf was credited with three.

Kuhn took credit for eight digs, and logged a further 13 sets for the team.

St. Croix Falls

Coach Roemhild said the Boyceville squad fought for every point against the Saints on October 20, but just couldn’t scrape together a win. St. Croix Falls felled the Bulldogs 25-15, 25-21 and 25-17.

“We knew we would have to run our offense to win this one,” Roemhild stated. “Unfortunately, we ended up playing defense most of the night.”

Roemhild said she felt the Bulldogs covered most of the floor really well and continued to play a scrappy game, but were unable to set up the offense they wanted.

Senior Brooklyn Hellmann put up 43 sets and landed a kill as part of Boyceville’s attack on the Saints. Morgan Kuhn assisted on scoring attempts with 31 sets.

Maddy Riek and Hannah Guy led the team in kills with five each. Riek also set up nine scoring assists and Guy set up five. Cassie Malean put up five sets, Erica Sempf set up three assists and spiked down three kills, and libero Jaida Peterson recorded two score assists.

Peterson, a sophomore, led the team with four aces, while Riek, Guy, Malean and Hellmann all recorded one ace each.

Riek provided the team with 11 of its 41 digs. Malean recorded nine digs, Guy is credited with eight, and Peterson accounted for another seven. Hellmann put up four digs, and Morgan Kuhn logged two digs.

Roemhild said her team never gave up hope and played hard right up to the last point.

“No matter the outcome of the match, they are perfect in my eyes,” she stated. “They played like champions.”