Topper volleyball wins 5-set thriller over Bulldogs to secure season’s first victory

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BOYCEVILLE — Coming into last Thursday’s volleyball showdown against Glenwood City, Boyceville appeared to have all the momentum.

The Bulldogs, who are much improved over a year ago, were just a few days removed from their first Dunn-St. Croix conference win – a 3-1 home victory over Elmwood-Plum City. Boyceville also had home-court advantage when Glenwood City, who had yet to win a match this season and was coming off a straight sets road loss to Durand-Arkansaw two days earlier, entered the Dog House September 29.

But, rivalry contests can sometimes be filled with unexpected twists, turns and outcomes.

Such was the case when the Bulldogs and Hilltoppers met for their annual volleyball clash in front a large and evenly-split, partisan crowd last Thursday.

After dominating the opening set 25-10, Boyceville quickly found itself in battle with Glenwood City when the Toppers took the next two sets 26-24 and 25-17. The Bulldogs forced a fifth set thanks to a 25-18 triumph in the fourth set. But, a charged up Hilltopper squad, who was in the midst of celebrating homecoming week, seized on their moment and claimed a 15-8 win in the final set and earned their first match win of the 2023 season.

In the opening set, the Bulldogs came out strong and took a quick lead and continued to build on it, cruising to a 25-10 win.

The second set, however, foreshadowed how the rest of the match was to play out as Glenwood City, playing with a re-worked lineup, suddenly found a spark and made play much more competitive.

Tied several times in the early part of the set, Boyceville pulled ahead 14-10 on a Glenwood City error, a tip kill by Lucy Wheeldon and consecutive service aces by Kaitlyn Mittlestadt. Glenwood City broke the Bulldog run when Isabel Davis gained the sideout on a block. Jenna McCarthy banged down a winner to pull the Hilltoppers to within two points at 14-12.

Boyceville, however, won six of the next seven points to take a 20-14 advantage and appeared to have finally taken control of the set.

But, as they say, appearances can be deceiving.

The Hilltoppers scored five straight points to pull to within one at 20-19. A couple of Bulldog points pushed their lead back to three. 

Glenwood City rallied for a 23-23 tie when senior Michaela Blaser’s tip found open floor space on Boyceville’s side of the net. Chelsi Holden responded by slamming a hit to the floor to give her Bulldogs’ set point at 24-23. An unforced Boyceville error evened the score once again. Blaser then served up an ace to give the Toppers a one-point lead and on the next exchange, senior Madison Caress, slammed the ball down to give Glenwood City an exciting 26-24 win.

Boyceville opened a quick 5-1 advantage in the third set but Glenwood City eventually tied the contest at 6-6 with aces by seniors Sydney Grant and Michaela Blaser.

The Hilltoppers, taking advantage of some Boyceville errors, went ahead 12-8 before a kill by the Bulldogs’ Chelsi Holden ended the run. An out-of-bounds serve by Boyceville and consecutive aces by Hailey Ketola pushed the Toppers’ lead to 15-9. Kiley Leduc and Blaser then combined to block a Bulldog hit and Ketola followed with her third ace of the set as the lead grew to 17-9 and eventually 23-10. Boyceville rallied winning seven straight points as Glenwood City sat at set point. But a long service attempt from the Bulldogs gave the Hilltoppers a point and the 25-17 win.

Now with their collective backs against the wall and down two sets to one, Boyceville needed to win the fourth set to stay in the match.

Like the previous two sets, the squads found themselves in an early tie at 6-6. The Bulldogs, however, elevated their play and began to pull away when they won seven straight points for a 13-6 advantage. The Hilltoppers did not panic, however, and were able to pull to within a point at 17-16 but a Holden kill sparked the Bulldogs who went on to even the match at two sets each with a 25-18 win.

Glenwood City’s Ketola served up an ace to start the fifth and final set and her teammates aided in an early 4-0 Toppers’ lead. Boyceville closed to within 3-4 but Glenwood City never let the hosts pull even or take the lead. Instead, the Hilltoppers added to their cushion going up 13-6 on back-to-back service aces by Opal Voeltz. The Bulldogs rallied for a couple of points but at set and match point, Boyceville served the volleyball into the net to give the Hilltoppers a 15-8 win and their first match victory.

Glenwood City finished with 34 kills. Blaser registered eight of them, Davis finished with seven, Caress and McCarthy had six each and Leduc tallied five. The Hilltoppers collected a season-high 18 service aces in the match, Ketola led with six, Voeltz finished with four and Blaser three. The team also had another season-high with 74 digs as Alayna LaValley came up with 21 and Voeltz, Ketola and McCarthy had a dozen each. Ketola topped the team in assists with 23.

Boyceville finished with 43 kills, 13 of which were credited to Wheeldon and another 11 to Holden. Delaney Olson had 26 of the Bulldogs 37 assists. Mercedes Barstad tallied four ace serves and Holden, Olson and Mittlestadt had three each. Holden led in defensive digs with 20, Barstad tallied 17 and Zoey Hellendrung finished with 13; in all Boyceville had 69.

Glenwood City and Boyceville are currently both 1-3 in conference play. Overall, the Bulldogs are 9-12 and the Hilltoppers are 1-16.

Boyceville 3, E-PC 1

Hosting Elmwood-Plum City Tuesday, September 26, Boyceville won its first conference match three sets to one.

Boyceville lost the opening set 23-25 but rebounded to win the next three sets and match by scores of 25-16, 25-20 and 25-20.

Offensively, the Bulldogs tallied 32 kills led by Chelsi Holden’s ten. Delaney Olson had 17 of the squad’s 28 assists. Olson finished with 11 of the team’s 49 digs, Holden added nine and Mercedes Barstad had seven.

Durand-Arkansaw 3, GC 0

Glenwood City was swept in three sets when it played at Durand-Arkansaw on September 26.

The Panthers prevailed by scores of 25-10, 25-15 and 25-18.

Michaela Blaser and Isabel Davis each had four kills in the match. Avery Rubenzer tallied six assists. The Topper finished with 39 digs with 11 by Alayna LaValley, seven from Michaela Blaser and five each from Brooklynn Brite and Opal Voeltz.