Prep Volleyball: State Consolation Championship: Lady Wolverines survive late Byron rallies to claim title

The Wadena-Deer Creek volleyball team captured the consolation championship at the Class AA State Volleyball Tournament on Saturday in four games.

 

The Lady Wolverines needed to survive numerous Byron rallies to claim the fifth-place hardware at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

 

The Bears woke up from hibernation to battle back from deficits time after time to prolong the nerves of Wadena-Deer Creek Head Coach Sue Volkmann.

 

“It was nerve-wracking at times to watch,” she said. “We came out flat-footed in this match. We wanted to win so badly but we played with too much caution. I think we were quite nervous and a bit hesitative today. I felt the girls were focusing on not making mistakes too much that we ended up making quite a few unforced mistakes.”

 

Up 7-3 in the first game, Lady Wolverine Mandy Perkins reeled off seven points from the service line as she tallied two aces and forced the Bears to commit five attacking errors.

 

Both teams swapped points until the Bears went on a four-point run to pull within 20-16, forcing Volkmann to call timeout.

 

Wadena-Deer Creek settled down enough to pull away with sophomore outside hitter Brittney Noon slamming home the game-winning kill for the 25-18 victory.

 

The Lady Wolverines played much better in the second game, using numerous scoring spurts to build leads of 10-5, 18-11 and 20-15 en route to the 25-16 victory.  

 

With two wins under their belts, Wadena-Deer Creek was on the verge of sweeping the match but the Bears battled back from a 23-20 deficit in the game three, going on a 5-0 run to stay alive.

 

A kill by Noon gave the Lady Wolverines three-point lead before Byron started its comeback as senior middle hitter Brittlyn Olson and sophomore middle hitter Erika McRoberts each tallied a kill, followed by two hitting errors by the Lady Wolverines.

 

Olson capped the game for Byron with a service ace.

 

Wadena-Deer Creek once again built a six-point lead in game four, only to have Byron battled back to within 22-21 on consecutive attack errors by the Lady Wolverines.

 

It would be the closest the Bears would get as Wadena-Deer Creek finally caged the feisty opponent.

 

A Byron attack error, followed by a Courtney Volkmann service ace led to the match-winning kill by Noon, who had a match-high 22 kills in the victory.

 

“Gosh, I really can’t describe how it feels to win this match,” Volkmann said. “It seemed like we held ourselves back today and at times we were back on our heels when [Byron] kept making runs at us.”

 

 

Wadena-Deer Creek also got 13 kills from Crawford while Courtney Volkmann contributed 37 set assists to go with her five kills, 12 digs and three aces. Eight-grade libero Hope Theisen had a team-high 20 digs and Rachel Craig had eight blocks.

 

Wadena-Deer Creek also accomplished a pair of school firsts in volleyball. They picked up their first ever match victory with the win over New London-Spicer on Friday and the highest placing with the consolation championship in four appearances in state (1991, 1992, 2008 and 2009). Previously, the Lady Wolverines lost their first two matches and did not place.

 

“This was a great way to end the season, especially for our lone senior Kelly DeFoe, who had a great ending to her volleyball career by playing well in this tournament.” Volkmann added. “I’m proud of how our girls came together team-wise throughout the season. When we struggled at times, we had a different player step up for us—and that carried us through this season. When Avery [Jackson] got hurt in the second game today, another eighth-grader [Sydney Schissel] stepped right up and played very well.

 

“The girls deserve all the credit—it was an unbelievable great team-effort.”

 

The Lady Wolverines finished with a school-record 30 victories and five losses this season.

 

State Class AA Consolation Championship

Byron vs. Wadena-Deer Creek on November 14

Lady Wolverines defeated the Bears 3-1 (25-18, 25-16, 23-25, 25-21)

Kills—Brittney Noon 22, Kelsi Crawford 13, Courtney Volkmann 5, Rachel Craig 5, Rachael Carlisle 3

Digs—Hope Theisen 20, Courtney Volkmann 12, Mandy Perkins 9, Caitlin Volkmann 7, Crawford 7, Craig 5, Sydney Schissel 5, Noon 3, Kelly DeFoe 1, Avery Jackson 1, Carlisle 1

Serving—Courtney Volkmann 14 for 16 with three aces, Caitlin Volkmann 16 for 16, Hope Theisen 17 for 17 with an ace, Noon 14 for 16, Jackson 6 for 6, Perkins 17 for 19 with two aces, Schissel 10 for 11

Blocks—Craig 8, Courtney Volkmann 3, Noon 3, Carlisle 3, DeFoe 2, Crawford 1

Set Assists—Courtney Volkmann 37, Carlisle 4, Craig 2, Noon 1, Crawford 1

Kills—Brittlyn Olson 11, Kaitlyn Remold 10, Britta Schubert 8, Erika McRoberts 6, Melissa Vosberg 5, Karlee Johnson 2

Digs—Jordan Price 20, Olson 17, Johnson 9, Schubert 8, Jillian Krier 3, Remold 1, Kaitlyn Dykes 1

Serving—Schubert 8 for 10, Krier 9 for 11, Heather Baron 1 for 1, Johnson 15 for 16, Olson 14 for 15 with three aces, Remold 0 for 2, Dykes 9 for 9 with an ace, Price 15 for 17

Blocks—Remold 2, Schubert 1, Vosberg 1, Olson 1

Set Assists—Krier 18, Johnson 18, Vosberg 2, Price 1