Busy week for Manawa volleyball team

By Corrie Ziemer

The week of Sept. 14 was a busy one for the Manawa volleyball team with Central Wisconsin-8 Conference matches against Pacelli and Iola-Scandinavia and a seven-team tournament in Suring.

Suring Invitational
SURING – The Wolves wrapped up the week Sept. 19 by placing second with a 4-2 record.

The long bus ride seemed to affect the Wolves in their first match against Elcho. They lost the first set 25-14, but rallied to win the second 25-10. Unfortunately, their momentum from the second set didn’t seem to carry over into the third game and Elcho won the match 15-11.

Chloe Koehn finished with eight points and JorjaRose Brennan helped her team out with seven digs. Haley Reierson served 16 of 16 with three aces.

Manawa faced Suring in the second round. The Eagles would go on to win all of their matches and take first place in the tournament, but Manawa played them the closest, even taking the home team to three sets.

Suring won the first set 15-12. The Wolves knew they could do better and fought back in to win the second 25-21. Suring capitalized on Manawa’s missed serves in the third game and won 15-5.

Claire Kreklow scored seven points to lead the Wolves, while Sophie Forbes and Reierson added 13 and 12 digs, respectively.

Manawa then won its next four matches. The first win came against Stockbridge, 25-20 and 25-12. Kreklow and Koehn had six points in the match and Alissa Suehs had three aces and Forbes and Reierson added eight digs.

Manawa then topped Bowler in three sets, 25-16, 17-25, 15-11. Manawa was very excited to win this match, as they had lost to Bowler earlier in the season. Harmony Rice and Kreklow were the point leaders with six each and Suehs had 13 digs.

The Wolves then defeated Goodman/Pembine 25-20, 25-19. Koehn had eight points, Mandy Krueger finished with eight assists and Reierson had eight digs.

The Wolves wrapped up the tournament with a 25-21, 25-14 win over White Lake. Rice and Kreklow had six points. Kreklow served 19 for 19 and Brennan was the dig leader with six.

The Suring tournament was a great team day for the Wolves. Not only were they excited to finish in second place, all team members contributed in one way or another.

Kreklow had 30 points for the day, while Koehn was close behind with 29. All team members scored at least one point, including Rice (21), Reierson (16), Carlee Zander (12), Ellen Field (10), Suehs (seven), Krueger (four), Skye Amador (two), Brennan (two) and Forbes and McKenzie Zielke (one).

Krueger had 28 assists for the day and Kreklow had 21. Reierson led her team on defense by digging the ball up 50 times, while Brennan had 38 digs and Forbes 37.

I-S 3, Manawa 0
MANAWA – The Wolves hosted the Thunderbirds Sept. 17, but fell 13-25, 19-25, 18-25.

Even though the match went to the T-Birds in three sets, the scores did not truly represent how closely these two teams played against each other.

The Wolves played some of their best volleyball of the season. It was a very intense match with a lot of high energy and great moments for fans from both sides to get excited about.

Kreklow led Manawa team in points (5.5), assists (eight) and digs (nine). Also scoring for Manawa were Zander (four), Rice (3.5), Field (three) Koehn (two) and Brennan (one). Krueger had five assists, while Reierson and Koehn helped out with seven digs. Serving issues plagued the Wolves, as there was not a single team member who served 100 percent for the night.

Pacelli 3, Manawa 0
STEVENS POINT – The Wolves fell to the Cardinals 15-25, 21-25, 23-25.

The Wolves did not look ready to play in the first set, but the second and third sets were much closer.

Consistent serving from Reierson and good offensive team play in the second set allowed the Wolves to take an early 8-1 lead. Unfortunately, the Cardinals slowly fought their way back into the game. With the score tied at 19-19, they put three points on the board and although Manawa tried to rally, Pacelli was able to win the set.

The opposite occurred in the third set, as Pacelli took an early 11-4 lead and Manawa fought back. Once again, the Wolves’ rotation with Reierson serving helped them come within one at 15-14. This would be the closest Manawa would come in the game, however, as Pacelli finished the set and match.

Reierson finished with a team-high nine points on six aces and three kills. She also had 29 digs.

Koehn had the second-most points with four and Zander had three. Other point contributors included Field (two), Rice (two), Amador (two), Sophie Forbes (one) and Kreklow (one). Kreklow also had seven assists, while Krueger had six.

Forbes, the team’s libero, had the second-most digs with 15 while Koehn had 11 and Suehs, one of the team’s defensive specialists, and Field each had 10. Kreklow and Zander were eight-for-eight from the service line and Brennan (six-for-six), Suehs (two-for-two) and Krueger (two-for-two) were 100 percent also.

The Wolves currently hold a 12-9 record and hope to get a couple conference wins under their belt soon.

• Corrie Ziemer coaches the Manawa varsity volleyball team.