Panthers win Pulaski Invite with dominant play

A perfect 5-0 day saw Oconto Falls win the Pulaski Invitational over the weekend, and they lost just two sets in the process.

One of those dropped sets came in the three-set championship match against Kewaskum.

After Oconto Falls won the first set 25-17, Kewaskum took the second 25-20, setting up a nail-biter for the tournament title.

Oconto Falls led early, but Kewaskum tied it up 7-7 and eventually took a 13-10 lead. Two Kewasukum errors sandwiched an Amber Otto kill to tie the set at 13, but Kewaskum took it to match point at 14-13.

The Panthers won the next two points on Otto kills, but Otto made a hitting error and the match was tied at 15.

Otto stayed at the center of the action with a kill to put the Panthers up, and a hitting error by Kewaskum ended the match, 17-15.

Otto had a team-high 13 kills in that match. Across the five, she had 62 kills and a .273 hit percentage. Lucy Ripley, who had 10 kills in the final, had 35 kills on a sparkling .389 percentage and a team-best 10 blocks over the course of the tournament.

Morgan Moynihan had 69 assists on the day and Izzy Otto had 42. Kyndra Staidl had 11 assists and a team-best 54 digs.

Amber Otto had 30 digs, Morgan Moynihan had 28, and Izzy Otto had 23. Amber Otto’s seven aces also led the Panthers.

Kewaskum also took a set off Oconto Falls in pool play, a 25-20 win in the first set before the Panthers won 25-15 and 15-10 in the final two. Amber Otto had 17 kills in that one.

“It was nice to see the ladies fight and earn points in these high-pressure situations,” Falls coach Rochell Otto said. “I was really proud of how the girls battled all day.”

In the first match of the day, Oconto Falls beat West De Pere 25-17 and 28-16, then topped NEW Lutheran 25-15 and 25-14 before wrapping up pool play with the win over Kewaskum.

In the gold bracket, the Panthers stormed past Kiel 25-19 and 25-14, setting up their gold medal win over Kewaskum once again.

Wildcats claim 4 set
win over Cougars

Lena retained its perch atop the M&O Conference with a four-set win over reigning conference runners-up Coleman on Tuesday, Sept. 12.

The teams split the first two sets, with Lena taking the first set 25-19 and the Cougars taking the second, 25-17.

Lena crushed Coleman 25-12 in the third set before a 25-21 fourth that sealed the Wildcats’ win.

“That’s the game that we know how to play. I told them they need to control their game and not play anyone else’s,” Lena coach Heidi Place said. “They just need to play theirs and they did tonight, so that’s good.”

Place added that the team has been battling illness this week, so she was happy to see them get the job done.

Eva Brooks had a team-high eight spike kills and Alabama Lambert had six. Brooks also had three blocks, as did Sydney Hayward.

Kenzie Vorpahl had 20 assists and Peyton Dorow’s six digs and two aces both paced the Wildcats.

Alayna Gilbertson led Coleman with seven kills, while Ava Zeitler and Vivian Kostreva each had six. Kostreva had six of the Cougars’ eight aces on the night and a team-high nine digs.

“It’s the first time she’s played outside in a game, otherwise we’ve been having her play middle, but we were down an outside tonight,” Coleman coach Katherine Schermer-Ludack said of Kostreva. “She’s very good, and her passing is also good.”

Skylar Broderick had 13 assists to lead the Cougars in that category.

Schermer-Ludack said her team improved in a couple areas but was just missing some serves in key moments with a few lapses in communication.

“But for the most part, they geled as a team, which is very good,” Schermer-Ludack said. “It’s something that we’ve been working on. Setters were connecting better with hitters, we had a lot of good passes.”

Bulldogs drop close 4 set
match with Eagles

Volleyball sets don’t get much closer than Peshtigo and Southern Door’s Packerland Conference battle on Thursday night.

After Peshtigo battled back to take a 24-23 lead in set one, Southern Door took a timeout and rallied to win the next three points and the first set, 26-24.

Set two saw Peshtigo run out to a 7-1 lead, but Southern Door fought back to tie it at 21 and win 25-22.

Back-and-forth would be an understatement in set three, which was tied at five, then 11, then 14, 17, 18, 19, and 20.

Tied at 20, Peshtigo took the next two points, but again, the set tied up at 24 and 25. Two more points from the Bulldogs saw them pick up the win.

The Bulldogs came close to taking the fourth set to extend the night, but Southern Door won another 26-24 set.

The Bulldogs led 19-16 and 22-18, when the Eagles would call a timeout, then taking the next three points.

Peshtigo recovered and came within a point of the win, 24-21, but five straight Eagles points sealed the win again.

“I think our biggest issue right now is we need to finish points and finish games,” Peshtigo coach Jenny Martin said. “We have a tendency to rattle off a couple of points and then give up more than we can rattle off. The big thing is we just need to finish.”

Maysen Brissette had 10 kills and four solo blocks and Camryn Brissette had eight kills and a block. Taylor Wortner had five kills.

Martin talked about the fine margins in volleyball after the game:

“We were looking for specific locations. The tips that we’re going after, we’re missing two or three feet each time. If they start to hit those locations, those will go down as kills, but we need to finish those plays.”

Brissette had 26 assists and 17 digs, the former a team-high. Wortner had three aces to lead the Bulldogs.

This is a rather inexperienced Peshtigo team. Both Wortner and Brissette are sophomores, an example of the youth in the Peshtigo varsity ranks.

“There’s an experience level at this level of play that we’re right now lacking,” Martin said. “The more that they’re out there, the more that they’re communicating and getting used to each other, hopefully some of that will come.”

Wolverines top league
leading Wildcats in 4 sets

Crivitz ended Lena’s undefeated run to start the M&O Conference season with a four-set victory on Thursday night.

Crivitz won the first set 25-22, but Lena fought to take the second 25-20. The Wolverines narrowly escaped with a 25-23 third before a 25-17 fourth set.

Hayden Ott had a team-high nine kills for the victors. Taryn Tracy and Kiya Brand each had seven. Lilli Watson’s three digs and three aces were team-bests. and Brand’s eight assists and three blocks both paced the Wolverines.

Blue Devils fall to
quick start Clippers in 4 sets

A slow start doomed Oconto in a Packerland Conference defeat to Sturgeon Bay on Thursday.

The Clippers won the first two sets 25-13 and 25-14, with the Blue Devils unable to put a halt to all the Clippers’ momentum.

“We just started too slow. Same thing in set two, we just started too slow,” Oconto coach Adrian De la Cruz said. “Our problem is we make a lot of mistakes and we don’t let them go. We carry them with us, and it’s hard to forget something when you keep doing it over and over.”

Oconto rebounded for a 25-21 third-set win but fell by the same score in the fourth.

This is an Oconto team with just two seniors in its ranks. One of them, Lauren McDowell, had 10 kills, a team-high.

Junior Savanah Vaness, sophomore Natalie Schlueter, and freshman Kylee Sydor each had four kills.

“We’re volleyball young. The IQ portion of it, we’re young at it,” De la Cruz said. “We’ve got a couple girls who have played enough so they have the volleyball IQ where you see what’s open on the court, but some of the younger ones haven’t yet, and that’s where we have to build and get that IQ so they see, ‘This is open instead.’”

Sydor and Samantha McDowell, who had 18 digs, are both contributing as freshmen and learning on the job.

“They did a great job. My two freshmen that I had out on the court. They stepped up, they didn’t act like freshmen. They had moments where they did, but then they’re like, ‘OK, we’re good,’” De la Cruz said.

Junior Kyanne Wusterbarth had a team-high 25 digs and sophomore Jaelin Kumhala had 14 with a team-best 17 assists.

Badgers ground Eagles
in 3 set match

Niagara hit its stride for a three-set win over Suring on Tuesday, Sept. 12.

The first two sets saw Niagara win a nail-biter, 25-23, then run away with the second, 25-10.

The third set was right in the middle, a 25-16 Badger victory for a homecoming week win.

“It was great to get a ‘W’ during our homecoming week,” Niagara coach Maryellen Allred said. “Tonight was the most consistent we have played throughout a whole match all year. We knew our mission, and we stuck it until the end.”

Emma Broullire had five of the Badgers’ seven blocks to go with four kills, two aces, and 10 digs. Allred said Broullire was “key to us on defense, both in digs and blocking.”

Rachael Walker led the team with six kills and Raegan Frappier’s three aces and 11 assists both led the Badgers. Frappier had four kills, seven digs and a block.

Mallory Sanicki had 14 digs and Emma Brasure had 13. Sanicki had five kills and two assists.

“Our defense and offense both stepped up to the plate,” Allred said.

Blue Devils beat Wildcats
in non-conference play

Oconto crushed Green Bay West for a three-set win on Tuesday.

The Blue Devils won the first set 25-7 and the third set 25-8, sandwiched around a closer second set that finished 25-17.

Kyanne Wusterbarth had 16 digs and seven service points and Jaelin Kumhala had 20 assists, seven aces, and 20 service points.

Oconto Falls defeats
Denmark in 3 sets

Oconto Falls made quick work of Denmark on Thursday in three set victories by 25-13, 25-16, and 25-12 scorelines.

Morgan Moynihan had 19 assists and nine digs and Izzy Otto had seven assists.

Amber Otto had 13 kills, three aces, and 10 digs and Lucy Ripley had six kills.

Kyndra Staidl had 14 digs and Aly Yuma had seven to go with three aces.

Panthers continue strong
with 3 set win over Tigers

The Oconto Falls Panthers got their first opportunity to play in front of a home crowd for the 2023 season and seized the opportunity, beating Wrightstown in three sets.

Oconto Falls coach Rochell Otto said the Panthers were “very excited to play in front of their home crowd,” helping them to overcome deficits and win the three sets 25-21, 25-20, and 25-16.

“Despite being down at times, the Lady Panthers never panicked and continued to battle and finished hard at the end,” Otto said.

Morgan Moynihan had 25 assists and Izzy Otto had 10. Kyndra Staidl had a team-high 25 digs and two aces and Aly Yuma had 15.

Amber Otto had 17 kills and 23 digs and Lucy Ripley added 11 kills with four blocks.

Keira Cole and Kati Raddatz had six and five kills, respectively.

Tigers top Cavaliers
in three sets

Gillett beat Saint Thomas Aquinas Academy in three sets Thursday, but the Cavaliers had lots of positive things to say after the match.

“The communication was good and the freshmen gained tremendous confidence tonight on the court,” senior Jenna Maxwell said. “The team morale was very good with high energy and the mistakes were flushed when they occurred.”

All three sets were close, with 25-16, 25-22, and 25-18 wins for the Tigers. Sophomore Kate Peters said the Cavaliers “pushed themselves to their full potential,” while assistant coach Linsey Pullen said there was “lots of improvement across the board,” adding, “they worked as a team and it was a fun night.”

Rangers record
three set win over Eagles

Wausaukee beat Suring in three sets, led by 10 kills from Katelyn Luccarini, who also had two blocks and two aces.

Jessica Luccarini had 15 assists and seven digs and Melody Schaal had 26 digs to lead the team in that category. Lydia Schaal had 11 with five kills and two aces.

Chloe Moore led the team with three aces.

Marines improve but drop
contest with Vikings

Marinette improved as the night went on but still dropped three straight sets to Denmark on Tuesday, Sept. 12.

The Vikings took set one 25-11 before two closer sets, 25-21 and 25-19.

“We were definitely able to pick up our attacks in the second and third sets,” Marinette coach Jenna Miller said. “Having a larger crowd for parents’ night also made the atmosphere more exciting as well.”

Wolverines Sweep Rangers
in M&O matchup

Crivitz swept Wausaukee in three sets in volleyball action on Tuesday, Sept. 12 to get back above .500 on the year.

The win moved the Wolverines to 6-5 for the time being. Crivitz won the three sets 25-12, 25-14, and 25-20.

Marinette falls to Freedom
in straight sets

Marinette was beaten 25-15, 25-2, and 25-14 by Freedom on Thursday.

“The team lost in three sets but showed great mental toughness to stay in the game in the final set,” Marines coach Jenna Miller said.

Freedom is 13-3 on the season and among the contenders for the North Eastern Conference crown this season.

Coleman takes down
Oneida Nation in 3 set sweep

Coleman set the tone for a clean sweep of the Oneida Nation Thunderhawks on Thursday with a 25-4 win in the first set.

The next two sets would finish 25-25 and 25-14 in favor of the Cougars.

Coleman had 17 aces, which four each by Skylar Broderick and Aliyah Breuninger and six from Alyssa Hoida, who also had six digs and four kills.

Annabell Markiewicz had a team-high 13 digs and Vivian Kostreva’s eight kills and two blocks were both team-bests. Broderick had six to go with 14 assists. Alayna Gilbertson and Madalyn Seefeldt had five kills apiece.