This story is sponsored by: The Marshfield Tiger Booster Club
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
WAUSAU – Nothing, absolutely nothing, went right for Marshfield in its WIAA Division 1 girls volleyball sectional final against D.C. Everest on Saturday night at Wausau West High School.
D.C. Everest was on its game from the start, digging out nearly every attempt for a score by the Tigers and cruised to a 3-0 victory to clinch a berth in next week’s state tournament.
The Evergreens won 25-15, 25-19, 25-15, to advance to the 2015 WIAA State Girls Volleyball Tournament in Green Bay. Everest, making its first state appearance since 2009, will take on defending champion Milwaukee Divine Savior Holy Angels in a Division 1 quarterfinal at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday at Resch Center.
“They were digging balls that we thought we down, we didn’t get a block kill until they had game point, it just was an uncharacteristic night for us,” Marshfield coach Dawn Sadowska said. “We were running into each other. I have no idea what it was, but it wasn’t the team that we have seen playing. That’s the hard part to swallow with this. We know they can be a better team.”
The two teams were feeling each other out through the midway point of the first game before the Evergreens pulled away.
Leading 14-13, Everest earned a sideout and scored five more points in a row on the serve of Regan Stafan, to take a 20-13 lead. An ace from Natalie Mohring and a kill from Amanda Brown finished off a 25-15 win.
The Tigers, looking for their first state tournament berth since 2006, took the early lead in Game 2 and seemed to stabilize the Everest attack, but that turned out to be brief.
Kills by Jamila Ougayour and Hannah Meverden helped Marshfield build a 6-3 lead. Everest earned a sideout on a kill by Stefan and took control with nine points in a row on Stefan’s serve. An ace by the Everest junior gave the Evergreens a 13-6 lead and they led by at least four the rest of the game.
Everest dominated Game 3, cruising out to a 19-5 lead.
Marshfield scored seven-straight points on match point, but Stefan finally ended it with a kill for the Everegreens.
“We really struggled serve-receive passing and we couldn’t get the ball down against them,” Sadowska said. “You have to give credit to their defense, they were digging a lot of balls.”
Meverden finished with eight kills, Stephanie Rhodes had six, Anna Ripp had 25 assists and Sara Dasler had 15 digs to lead Marshfield.
Marshfield only loses two seniors – Dasler and Jenny Scheppler – so the future looks bright for the Tigers.
“They need to get past this tonight and realize that they’re a good team, but we have to be able to perform as well,” Sadowska said. “I told them in the locker room that you can’t let tonight define your season. They came so far. We have so much to look forward to. Our seniors did some great things for us and everybody played for each other. That’s what was so important. We’re a young team and we have a lot to look forward to.”