Hilltoppers spike Panthers to remain unbeaten
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GLENWOOD CITY sophomore Eliza Voeltz (#5) hit a shot between the block of a pair of Durand defenders during an October 1 Dunn-St. Croix volleyball match in Glenwood City. The Hilltoppers swept the Panthers with a pair of 3-1 wins last week.
—photo by Shawn DeWitt
By Missy Klatt
Sports Correspondent
This past week the Lady Hilltoppers took on the Durand Panthers in two volleyball matches. First at Durand on Tuesday, September 29th where they won three sets to one and then at home on Thursday, October 1st where they also won three sets to one to remain unbeaten.
On Tuesday, Glenwood City lost the first set, 18-25. According to head coach Nicole Miller, serve receive errors and defensive coverage are what caused the Toppers to lose the first one. She went on to say, “They had a couple good outside hitters we had trouble blocking and digging up their hits. We did improve on that as we played.”
The next three sets had much better results as the locals won all three with the score; 25-16, 25-22, and 25-19.
In Tuesday’s match, Miller stated that the Toppers serving was at 94%, “which is great to see.” Eliza Voeltz led the team with three serving aces. Bella Rassbach served a total of 25 times during the match with one serving ace and only three errors. Kristin Dayton also had one serving ace. At the net, Maddie Oehlke had 12 kills set up mainly by her sister, Ryeah who had 14 setting assists.
Defensively, Maddie O. and Dayton led the team with blocks assists, Dayton had six while Maddie added five more. Yasmin Mendez led the team in digs with 12 followed by Rassbach with nine.
Thursday’s match went much the same way as Tuesday’s with the Toppers losing one set, this time the second set. The scores for the evening were 25-18, 18-25, 25-20 and 25-21.
According to Miller, both matches played out similarly. She recapped saying, “The girls had a good fight on their hands and it was point for point for a while. They did get down on themselves after they made a few mistakes, but they worked together as a team, focused on one point at a time and were able to take the other three sets.”
Coach Miller stated, “We are going to continue to work hard on the areas we really need to improve so we are more confident going into next week’s matches.
The Toppers are currently 5-0 but meet their toughest competition this week. They played the Elk Mound Mounders, who are 5-1, in Elk Mound on Tuesday, October 6th and will host them on Thursday, the 8th. The following week, Glenwood City will face off against rival Boyceville with a match in the Doghouse on Tuesday, October 13 and then at home with the Bulldogs on Thursday, October 15.