Iola-Scandinavia’ volleyball team wrapped up the regular season on a positive note while also raising breast cancer awareness.
The Thunderbirds took three of four games from Rosholt Oct. 16 in the teams’ annual Dig Pink match.
I-S also dropped its final Central Wisconsin 8 Conference match Oct. 16 to Bonduel in pool play.
I-S 3, Rosholt 1
ROSHOLT – The T-Birds won the first game 25-18, dropped the second 25-15 and came back with 25-18 and 27-25 wins.
“Thursday night against Rosholt was a great win for us,” coach Jessica Wennesberg said. “Rosholt is seeded ahead of us in our sectional, so we were pleased that we were able to pull off the win.
“Serving for both teams was just tough as can be,” she said. “At one point, they served seven in a row at us but Kaylin Ellioff was tough for us with 10-point and six-point runs. Unfortunately, senior Kaylie Petersen suffered a scratch to her eye in the third set and needed to come out, but Junior Mckenna Prahl did an outstanding job in her place with her strong blocking. It was nice to see her have such an impact on the night. What most impressed me was how we were down 22-17 in third set, but slowly fought our way back to win 27-25. Kaylin’s serving was key to the come-from-behind win.”
Ellioff and Brianne Huettner had three aces on the night, while Kylie Johnson added 23 assists. Ellioff and Prahl had four block solos and Ellioff led the team with kills with 12.
Bonduel 3, I-S 0
BONDUEL – The Bears swept the T-Birds 25-22, 26-24, 25-18.
“Finishing the sets was where we struggled the most against Bonduel,” Wennesberg said. “We played well and were tough on our blocking all night, but slowly let them back into the first and second sets even though we had a nice lead in both. In the first set, we had a six-point lead, 20-14, but they slowly worked their way back to overcome us. In the second set, we had a 24-19 lead, struggled with our passing and ended up losing 26-24. By the third set, we were simply frustrated and failed to get much going. Our quote of the night was, ‘Somehow we find a way to lose.’ It’s very taxing to a team mentally when potential wins like that slip away.”
The T-Birds received a No. 4 seed in Division 3 for the WIAA state tournament and opened tournament play Oct. 21 at home against No. 5 Shiocton. If the T-Birds eliminated the Chiefs, they will likely play at top-seeded Lourdes Academy at 7 tonight (Thursday, Oct. 23) in Oshkosh in a regional semifinal.