This story is sponsored by: American Family Insurance – Randy LeMoine Agency, LLC
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield volleyball team overcame a sluggish start to pull past Chippewa Falls and win its WIAA Division 1 regional semifinal match 3-1 on Thursday night at Marshfield High School.
The Tigers won 22-25, 25-13, 25-16, 25-18, to move on to a D-1 regional final at No. 1 seed River Falls at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Chippewa Falls used a 7-1 run to pull ahead 17-11 midway through the first set and held on from there.
Marshfield closed to within three on two occasions late, but a number of service errors eventually led to a 25-22 loss.
From there, the Tigers were in control.
Marshfield raced out to an 11-2 lead in Game 2, and Hannah Meverden and Lindsey Steffen had kills to close out a 25-13 victory.
“We would have liked to have taken that first game, I think some of them might have been nervous,” Marshfield coach Dawn Sadowska said. “Once they realized that all we had to do was serve well, make our serves, and make them play, it was going to be a lot easier.”
Steffen had two kills to help Marshfield build a 10-6 lead in the third set. After a kill from Karly Nikolai earned a sideout, Meverden served five points in a row to make it 22-11, and Steffen had a kill to end the game 25-16.
The fourth set was back-and-forth early. After an ace by Addy Bengtson gave Chippewa Falls a 9-8 lead, Madison Nelles had a kill to earn a sideout for the Tigers and that got Marshfield going again.
Meverden and Nikolai had kills to push the Tigers to a 19-12 lead and they controlled the rest of the set to win 25-18.
Nikolai finished with 16 kills, Nelles added 11 kills, and Steffen had 13 digs and nine kills to lead the Tigers offensively. Setter Corianne Johnson had 46 assists, Kaydee Johnson had 13 digs, and Hannah Meverden had four blocks and three service aces as well for Marshfield.
“We’re going to have to definitely have to turn it on for Saturday,” Sadowska said. “What I saw with them against SPASH (Stevens Point, in a 3-2 comeback win on Oct. 10), if we play like that, I think anything can happen. We can’t have these letdowns and these runs four or five points because the good teams are just going to kill you on that.”