This story is sponsored by: The Marshfield Tiger Booster Club
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – A veteran Marshfield volleyball team has its sights set on making a long postseason run, but in order to do that, it had to win the first one.
The No. 4 seed Tigers, other than a slight slip at the end of the second set, dominated No. 13 Menomonie in a 3-0 sweep of Thursday night’s WIAA Division 1 regional semifinal at Marshfield High School.
Marshfield (36-4) won 25-12, 25-21, 25-5, to move into a D-1 regional final Saturday at home against Wisconsin Valley Conference rival D.C. Everest (24-10). The match will start at 7 p.m.
“We came out the first game and our serving was really good, actually the serving was pretty strong all match long,” first-year Marshfield coach Josh Knecht said. “It gave us easy chances to get more rolls and more free balls to get it to our offensive hitters pretty well.”
Marshfield pulled away in the middle of the first set, using a 7-1 run to take a 15-7 lead after an ace from Michelle Potts and a tip kill from setter Kailyn Kurth.
After two points from Menomonie, the Tigers ripped off four more points in a row. Three-straight aces from Zaida Kolbeck and a kill from Alyssa Foemmel put the finishing touches on a 25-12 opening-set win.
Marshfield seemingly looked to be doing the same thing in the second set as Kolbeck served four points in a row, which included another ace, and Foemmel later had a tip kill by put the Tigers up 17-9.
A Della Smith kill pushed Marshfield’s lead to 21-11 before Menomonie made a surge.
The Mustangs ripped off 10 of the next 12 points, which included service aces from Adison Hasse and Brooklyn Sterry, to tightening things up a 23-21.
Marshfield was able to gain a sideout on a kill by Sophia Olson and Sydney Quarne had an ace to end it at 25-21.
“It’s been a fun group to work with,” Knecht said of the eight seniors on his roster. “They know the game so well. We’ve been talking all year about, the title of our (team) shirts, ‘It’s our chapter.’ This is your last go around, how do you want to end it? We’re hoping we can survive and play next week as well.”
That push in late in the second set was all Menomonie had left in the tank.
Marshfield scored the first eight points on the serve of Potts, who finished with five aces, and after two points by the Mustangs, the Tigers ran off five more in a row as Devyn LeMoine had back-to-back kills, along with kills from Smith and Olson.
Two more aces by Quarne helped Marshfield take a 20-3 lead and eventually finish off a 25-5 win to take the match.
“D.C. Everest, they know us pretty well, they know our tendencies, we know what they like to do, so it will be a tough battle because of the familiarity,” Knecht said. “Both teams have a lot of seniors and it’s going to be how they handle their emotions knowing one of them is going home and will the last time they play.”