Volleyball: Shawano finishes third at own invitational

SHAWANO — The Shawano Community High School volleyball team posted a 3-2 record to take third place at the 45th Shawano Invitational on Saturday.

Clintonville also competed at the invitational, going 2-3 and taking sixth overall. Eight teams were in action.

In pool play, the Hawks finished 2-1, falling to Oconto (25-19, 25-14) before topping Peshtigo (25-16, 25-19) and Clintonville (25-17, 25-19). Shawano then suffered a tough 20-25, 25-12, 15-13 loss to Wausau West before taking down Oconto Falls 25-19, 25-23 in the third-place match.

“We learned (Saturday) that even through injury, we can conquer as a unit,” said Shawano coach Breanna Young. “We need to continue working on building and keeping momentum, keeping our focus.”

“We were so close in the crossover match (against Wausau West) to get to the championship game,” Young added. “We just need to learn to buckle down and go for it. We need to trust the process and take the next step.”

On a day where the Hawks played five matches, several athletes made impacts to help Shawano place third.

On the day, Shawano senior Abi Vomastic finished with a team-leading 27 attack kills. Junior Rachel Reed added 18 attack kills, while senior Baylie Hansen had 17. Senior Katelyn Wilber chipped in eight attack kills.

“We did a lot of positive things,” Reed said. “Our serve receive was one of the most positive things. We really have been improving on that and have worked very hard in practice to do so. Also, our defensive coverage is getting faster and better.”

“In the game of volleyball, errors are made and that’s how you score points. Whichever team at the end of the day has less errors always wins. We are working to be the team that has less errors.”

Wilber and freshman Alixandrya Heath set up the team’s attackers all day, posting 29 and 28 assists, respectively.

Sophomore Margo Gull led the team with 34 digs, while Wilber had 27. Reed finished with 12 digs, and sophomore Brianna Wright and Heath each had 11. Sophomore Isabel Daniel posted 10 digs.

Vomastic, Hansen and junior Avery Dreier each finished with six blocks.

Shawano players combined for 29 service aces on the day, with Wilber tallying nine of them. Vomastic had seven aces, while Gull had three.

“The communication on the court was great today; we all worked as a team and as a whole,” said Gull. “The energy on the court and on the bench was outstanding. We need to work on when we have the lead to keep going and not settle and feel satisfied. We need to keep pushing until game point.”

In pool play, Clintonville defeated Peshtigo (25-21, 13-25, 15-10) but lost to Oconto (25-12, 25-10) and Shawano.

After a lunch break, the Truckers knocked off Kewaunee (25-21, 25-22) before falling to Peshtigo (25-22, 25-18) in the fifth-place match.

“We learned (Saturday) that our players are very versatile, and our bench has lots of depth,” said Clintonville coach Stephanie Pinno. “Our girls played hard where we needed them to and when we needed them to — even if it wasn’t talked about (or on) short notice. We learned how to keep fighting today, too.”

In the win over Peshtigo, senior McKinzie Fields and sophomore Josie Colla each tallied five attack kills for the Truckers, while sophomore Jordan Lehman had four.

Senior Lindsy Carpenter finished the match with 16 assists, six digs and three attack kills. Fields also had seven digs and two block kills, while Colla and senior Hannah Baird each chipped in six digs.

In the setback to Oconto, Carpenter tallied six assists and five digs, while Lehman had three attack kills.

“I think when we were on, we are killer. We were in all the right places, had all the right touches and amazing hits,” said Carpenter. “As soon as we would mess up in one area, things would soon fall apart. Overall, I find that our mental toughness and team dynamic could use work, as well as continuing to practice the fundamentals.”

Against Shawano, Carpenter had 14 assists and three digs. Colla finished with five total kills, while senior Jennifer Peeters had three.

In their tight win over Kewaunee, several Truckers stepped up. Colla led the team with nine total kills, while junior Autumn Steede had five total kills and served four aces. Lehman contributed four total kills. Baird had nine digs, and Carpenter totaled 20 assists and four digs.

In the final match of the day, Colla posted six attack kills, while Lehman had four. Carpenter ended the match with seven digs.

“We learned that we need to be in a great mental state of mind, to never give up on ourselves or teammates,” said Colla. “That with all of the hard work we put in in practice, we need to do (the same) in the game as well.”

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