Boyceville spikers drop D-SC Conference matches to Spring Valley and Colfax
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RETURN TO SENDER — Boyceville junior Zoey Hellendrung prepared to send the volleyball back over the net during a conference match in Colfax last Thursday, October 17. The Vikings defeated the Bulldogs three sets to one.
—photo by Shawn DeWitt
by Marlys Kruger
Sports Correspondent
The Bulldogs were looking for a victory or two as well as some playoff momentum when they closed out the regular season last week with a pair of conference matches.
Instead, Boyceville lost to Spring Valley and Colfax in a span of three days.
Spring Valley, last year’s conference champs, visited Boyceville Tuesday, October 15. The Cardinals flew back home with the 3-set victory despite a tight tussle with the Bulldogs.
Two days later, Boyceville traveled east on Highway 170 to take Colfax. The Vikings earned just their second Dunn-St. Croix victory of the year with a 3-1 win over the Bulldogs.
Boyceville finished tied with Colfax for sixth place in this year’s final conference standings with identical 2-5 records. Overall, the Bulldogs capped the regular season with a 8-16 record.
Boyceville began WIAA regional play as a number ten seed in Division 4 on Tuesday with a road match at number seven seed Thorp. A win would advance the Bulldogs to play number two seed Eau Claire Regis this Thursday night on the Ramblers’ home court.
Spring Valley
The upstart Bulldogs appeared primed for the upset when the Cardinals of Spring Valley visited last Tuesday, October 15.
Boyceville forced the opening set into extended play before Spring Valley was finally able to establish a two-point margin for the 28-26 win.
The Cardinals won the next two sets, 25-21 and 25-17, to earn the sweep.
Junior Zoey Hellendrung led the Bulldog offensive attack with 14 of her team’s 31 kills as Chelsi Holden and Aubrey Malean chipped in for seven and six, respectively.
Delaney Olson and Gretta Guy had the majority of Boyceville’s 30 assists with Olson registering 18 and Guy nine.
Holden led the Bulldogs in service aces with four and Malean added a pair.
Defensively, Boyceville finished with 66 digs against Spring Valley. Hellendrung led with 18, Mercedes Barstad had 14 and Malean contributed a dozen.
BOYCEVILLE’S Aubrey Malean (#9) tipped this shot over the block attempt of Colfax defender Aubrey Rihn. The Bulldogs lost the October 17 conference volleyball match in four sets. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
Colfax
The first set was knotted at 9-9 before the Bulldogs rattled off four straight points with Gretta Guy at the service line for a 13-9 lead.
Lydia Polkoski of Colfax stopped the run with a kill shot which led to five more Viking points for a 15-13 advantage. Zoey Hellendrung slammed a cross court shot and Delaney Olson added a kill and it was 15-15.
A Bulldog serving error along with an ace serve from Sierra Shipman put the Vikings back in front 17-15 but, the determined Bulldogs knotted it again at 17-17, and with slams by Audrey Malean, Chelsi Holden and Olson followed by an ace by Mercedes Barstad, another Malean kill and yet another Barstad ace, suddenly it was 23-17 in the Bulldogs favor. The Vikings battled back with three points but an Olson kill and a Viking shot in the net allowed Boyceville to take the first set 25-20.
Set number two was knotted at 1-1, 4-4, 7-7 and 8-8 before Jordyn Bowe went to the service line for Colfax and with assistance from her teammates, she helped her team pull ahead 12-8. Shipman and Polkoski both came up with kills but those were countered by Holden and Olson and it was 14-11 for Colfax.
Boyceville added a point but the next six points were all by the Vikings for a 20-12 advantage before Holden and Lillian Lain came up with a big block to stop the bleeding. The Bulldogs added three more points and it was just a four-point lead for Colfax at 20-16, and that lead was cut to two after a Hellendrung kill at 21-19. It was all Colfax from there as they scored the next four points to take the set 25-19.
The third set was close for the first half with neither team holding more than a three-point lead before the Vikings pulled ahead 11-7. After Boyceville tacked on a pair of points, Colfax used another scoring streak to move ahead 15-9 and increased the advantage to 17-10 by forcing the Bulldogs into several errors. Bowe served up an ace for a 21-15 Viking lead and a final ace gave Colfax a 25-15 third set win.
The Vikings had high hopes of ending the match with a fourth set win but, the Bulldogs were not going to make it easy. Several tie scores throughout the set kept all the players on their toes. It was 12-12 and 13-13 before Colfax put up three points by a Shipman kill, a Bulldog hitting error and a Polkoski slam down the middle of the court which put the Vikings up 16-13.
Boyceville fought back, however, and used a Colfax serving error, a Hellendrung ace and an Olson kill to knot it up. A Bulldog error and another Olson kill tied it again at 17-17, a Bulldog block and a Polkoski slam made it 18-18 and after the longest rally of the game with the ball crossing the net at least 12 times, Clara Hydukovich finally ended the point by blocking a Boyceville kill attempt.
Colfax proceeded to add four more points which included kills by Polkoski and Hydukovich before Holden stopped the run with her own kill. Another Bulldog kill cut the Colfax lead to 23-20 but another hitting error by Boyceville and a final slam from Brynn Sikora gave the Vikings the set and match at 25-20.
Hellendrung slammed 11 kills to lead the Bulldogs with four ace serves and 10 digs. Gretta Guy set her teammates up 19 times while adding four ace serves, Olson picked up 16 assists with five kills and 20 digs. Holden set down nine kills and Barstad dug the ball up 13 times.