This story is sponsored by: Valley Communities Credit Union
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield volleyball team had its offense clicking Thursday in its regular-season and Wisconsin Valley Conference finale against Wisconsin Rapids.
Marshfield used big runs in all three games and swept the Raiders 25-11, 25-13, 25-15, on Senior Night at Marshfield High School.
The Tigers had a 12-0 run on the serve of Sarah Wolff in Game 1, a 6-0 run in the middle of Game 2 and a 7-3 run during the third game to pull away in each instance.
Wolff, Marshfield’s primary setter, had 21 assists. Kim Johnson had seven kills, and Sarah Cherney and Tiffany Stargardt each added six for the Tigers. Marshfield finishes the Valley season with a 6-4 record, while Rapids finishes winless at 0-10. The Raiders were swept 3-0 in all 10 Valley matches this season.
“We usually stick to our outside and Kim Johnson in the middle. Today we really worked on our irhgt side and our middle (hitters) that come in,” Wolff said. “In bigger games, other teams don’t realize where we are going.”
Marshfield moves into the WIAA postseason next week with a home match against Antigo at 7 p.m. on Oct. 21, which it has beaten twice this season.
Since those two early-season wins over the Red Robins, the second in a five-game match at Antigo on Sept. 13, Marshfield has improved vastly, coach Dawn Sadowska said.
“We have seen so much growth, especially in the last couple of weeks, that we are really excited about the playoffs,” Sadowska said. “We’re excited about the fact that we get to play at home. We had a good crowd tonight, we hope they are back and we can come out ready to play.”
Wolff agreed, saying the Tigers’ are a team on the rise.
“From the beginning of the season until now, it’s a continued improvement,” Wolff said. “You see other teams plateauing, but we still keep going and are excited to play.”
When the Tigers’ offense is on, like it was against the Raiders, they are able to set up Wolff with proper bumps off their opponent’s serve. Rapids did not have one service ace Thursday.
“What helped tonight, compared to Tuesday night (a loss to Wausau East), was our serve receive,” Sadowska said. “East is a good service team, but we made a lot of mistakes ourselves. If we’re passing, we’re going to be tough to beat because we have so much more offense than we did early in the season.”
Defensively, Sarah Wolff had 11 digs, and Darion Molter, Mary Wolff and Cherney each had 10.