Fond du Lac girls volleyball sweeps Appleton West
FOND DU LAC – The Fond du Lac girls volleyball team was hitting on all cylinders Thursday night.
The Cardinals dominated from the outset and didn’t give much ground for the majority of the match. That’s a good sign with the postseason on the horizon.
Megan Wendt led Fond du Lac with six kills, 14 assists, nine digs and three aces as the Cardinals comfortably swept Appleton West 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-11) in Fox Valley Association play at Fond du Lac.
“I think that the team did a nice job of playing together,” Fond du Lac coach Samantha Boyke said. “We did a different lineup than we had the last few matches because of injuries and illnesses. They did a nice job of communicating and making sure that we were playing pretty clean volleyball on our side, eliminating errors by talking to each other and just playing together.”
Aleigha Mitchell added 14 assists for the Cardinals, while Monica Dreifuerst chipped in nine kills and 12 digs. Ava Tryon contributed nine kills and three aces, while Maggie Stelmacher had 12 digs.
Lauren Wendt had three aces and pair of blocks.
In the first two sets, Fond du Lac (14-10, 3-3 FVA) got out to sizable leads before Appleton West rallied to make things interesting.
The first set saw the Cardinals lead 18-11 before the Terrors eventually closed the gap to 20-17. It was a similar situation in the second, when Fond du Lac led 19-11, but Appleton West trimmed the deficit to 19-15.
Both times, the Cards pulled themselves together and closed out the win.
“We never let the talking stop and that’s a big part of our whole motto this season, which is communication,” Lauren Wendt said.
Added Boyke: “Our team has done a pretty good job this season of being composed most of the time and looking at the big picture and understanding that it is a game of runs. Teams are going to streak in some games. It doesn’t mean that should have happened, but we kept in sight that even though we weren’t getting our blocks up early and getting back fast enough on defense (during Appleton West’s runs), we can and we were at times. We just needed to make that change and go back to doing those things.”
The third set was relatively competitive early on before the Cards went on an 18-5 run to clinch the match.
With the postseason only a couple weeks away, it was a nice win for Fond du Lac to get following a few tough losses to FVA powerhouses Appleton North, Neenah and Hortonville.
“I think the skills are there, but sometimes we just don’t put it all together,” Wendt said of the team’s keys to finishing the year strong. “We’re going to work on that for the postseason.”
Kimberly 3 Fond du Lac 0
The Cardinals came close to winning the first two sets but ultimately came up empty-handed against the Papermakers in a Fox Valley Association contest, losing 23-25, 24-26, 17-25.
Maggie Stelmacher had 15 digs, while Megan Wendt tallied 14 assists.
Mariah Krzanowski chipped in seven kills.
Ava Tryon recorded six kills, four blocks, and a pair of aces.
KIM def. FDL, 25-23, 26-24, 25-17.
Stat Leaders: FDL — Ava Tryon, 2 aces, 4 blocks, 6 kills; Mariah Kryzanowski 7 kills; Megan Wendt, 14 assists; Maggie Stelmacher 15 digs; Brianna Gurno, 4 blocks
Fond du Lac girls volleyball rallies past Oshkosh North
FOND DU LAC – A rough start didn’t seem to bother the Fond du Lac girls volleyball team on Thursday night.
Dealing with injuries and an adjusted lineup, the Cardinals looked out of sorts to start. It didn’t take long before they got into a groove.
Brooke Voigt had 35 assists and Lauren Wendt had 11 kills as Fond du Lac rallied from a first-set loss to defeat Oshkosh North 3-1 (17-25, 25-17, 25-8, 25-12) in Fox Valley Association play at Fond du Lac.
“I think just our mentality (changed),” Fond du Lac coach Samantha Boyke said of the difference after the first set. “We were dealing with a different lineup because we’ve been bit with the injury and illness bug, probably like every other team, but we were down quite a few girls and we had to change up and get creative. It was just a tentative, nervous feeling in the beginning of that set. … Once we started to have some things go our way, they kind of thought ‘Hey, we can do this.'”
After dropping that first set, Fond du Lac started out strong immediately in the second — eventually taking a 14-8 lead. The Cardinals would hold at least a four-point edge the rest of the way en route to the 25-17 win.
The third and fourth sets were lopsided all the way through.
Trailing 6-5 early in the third, Fond du Lac went on a 19-2 run, with Kabrea Treleven, Lauren Wendt and Maggie Stelmacher doing the serving, as they ran away with it.
The Cardinals again got out to a significant lead in the fourth set and cruised to the set and match win.
“I think our talking changed a lot (between the first and second sets),” Voigt said. “We were kind of quiet and timid the first game. We had a new lineup, new rotation, new everything. So were kind of trying to adjust.”
Along with her kills, Wendt added three aces and 11 digs. Ava Tryon had 10 kills, two aces and four blocks and Stelmacher chipped in 17 digs and three aces.
Treleven, a freshman, had 12 digs after being called up from the junior varsity team.
Among the missing players for Fond du Lac were Aleigha Mitchell, Emily Thompson and Megan Wendt — who were all dealing with an injury or sickness.
Despite that, the Cardinals still earned a tough win.
“We had about five injured people and it didn’t stop us at all,” Tryon said. “We had three of our setters out and we did amazing. We have so many people that can play so many different positions. We knew we’d be able to do just fine.”
Fond du Lac rolls at own tourney
FOND DU LAC – The Fond du Lac girls volleyball team dropped only one set in taking first at their own tournament on Saturday.
The Cardinals lost their first set of the day, but bounced back to beat Denmark 22-25, 25-22, 15-6.
Fond du Lac also beat Manitowoc Lutheran (25-14, 25-13), Menasha (25-16, 25-12), Oshkosh North (25-15, 25-14) and Grafton (26-24, 25-17).
Ava Tryon led the way for Fond du Lac with 33 kills, 12 blocks and nine aces, while Monica Dreifuerst finished with 28 kills. Megan Krupp added 23 kills, while Bri Gurno and Lauren Wendt totaled 21 and 20, respectively.
Megan Wendt had a team-high 88 assists and 10 aces, with Maggie Stelmacher finishing with 56 digs.
Brooke Voight added 28 digs and 22 assists, while Wendt and Karly Olig each added 19 digs.
Dreifurst chipped in six aces, while Krupp and Gurno added eight and five blocks, respectively.
Fond du Lac girls volleyball outlasts Oshkosh West
FOND DU LAC – The Fond du Lac girls volleyball team had a flair for the dramatic in its first home match of the 2016 season.
But when push came to shove, the Cardinals took care of business when it mattered.
Fond du Lac rallied late to win the first two sets and then came back from a third-set loss to cruise in the fourth, defeating Oshkosh West 3-1 (28-26, 26-24, 21-25, 25-16) in its Fox Valley Association opener Thursday night at Fond du Lac.
“First one down, first win, it felt great,” Fond du Lac first-year coach Samantha Boyke said. “The girls were a little inconsistent with our skills here and there and I think that’s first-game jitters, especially on your home court. But I was so incredibly proud of how emotionally steady they were. We’ve really been working on being good teammates and communicators and I think that’s really helped them to show the heart they’ve always had, but didn’t know it would help them in games this much.”
Lauren Wendt led Fond du Lac with 12 kills on the night, while Megan Wendt had 30 assists and four aces. Maggie Stelmacher had 19 digs from her libero position and Ava Tryon and Monica Dreifuerst chipped in nine and eight kills, respectively. Mariah Krzanowski had five blocks.
Trailing 23-19 in the first set, the Cardinals rattled off three straight points to close the gap to 23-22. The Wildcats went up 24-22, but Lauren Wendt and Dreifuerst kills evened up the set at 24 apiece.
It would go back and forth until a Megan Wendt ace gave Fond du Lac the 28-26 win.
It was a similar scenario in the second set, where Fond du Lac (5-4, 1-0 Fox Valley Association) trailed 21-17. Again Fond du Lac rallied to even the contest at 22 apiece. Oshkosh West (6-10, 0-1 FVA) scored two straight to move within a point of victory, but the Cardinals ended the set on a 4-0 run with a Megan Wendt ace again sealing the win, 26-24.
“That was a really big mental focus of ours, after we pushed through that first set and ended up winning it,” Boyke said. “We talked about it in our huddle, that (rallying) is a real tough thing to do. That was a big motivator for the girls. Obviously we didn’t want to start the sets that way, but it takes a lot of integrity and a lot of cohesiveness to be able to push through something like that because if you have that big of a deficit you don’t have much room for error. I was really proud of the girls for playing to win a point and not playing to not make an error.”
The Wildcats scored their lone victory of the night in the third set before Fond du Lac came back with a strong win in the fourth, going on a 12-4 run to end the set.
“Coach was telling us we just had to keep working on communicating and keep meshing as a team and we did that,” Megan Wendt said. “We came out strong and finished it out.”
Hortonville 3 Fond du Lac 0
The Cardinals fell to the Polar Bears in a Fox Valley Association match, losing 13-25, 20-25, 18-25.
Megan Wendt led Fond du Lac with 21 assists, while Maggie Stelmacher had 14 digs.
Lauren Wendt chipped in eight kills and Brooke Voigt had 10 digs. Megan Krupp and Monica Dreifuerst had six and five kills, respectively.
Neenah 3 Fond du Lac 0
The Cardinals struggled to get going against the Rockets as they dropped a Fox Valley Association match Thursday night, falling 12-25, 16-25, 13-25.
Monica Dreifuerst had nine kills and an ace.
Megan Wendt added 18 assists, and Maggie Stelmacher chipped in 14 digs.
NEE def. FDL, 25-12, 25-16, 25-13.
Stat Leaders: FDL — Monica Dreifuerst, 9 kills, 1 aces; Megan Wendt, 18 assists; Maggie Stelmacher, 14 digs; Ava Tryon, 2 blocks.
Appleton North 3 Fond du Lac 0
The Cardinals struggled against Appleton North as they dropped a match in Fox Valley Association action Thursday night, losing 10-25, 19-25, 21-25.
Megan Wendt recorded 14 assists for Fondy, while Lauren Wendt tallied 12 digs.
Avay Tryon chipped in two blocks, four kills, and one ace.
AN def. FDL, 25-10, 25-19, 25-21.
Appleton East 3 Fond du Lac 1
The Cardinals got a win in the first set but dropped three in a row as they fell to the Patriots in Fox Valley Association action Thursday night, losing 25-21, 24-26, 20-25, 13-25.
Aleigha Mitchell had 20 assists and three aces. Maggie Stelmacher added 21 digs.
Ava Tryon and Lauren Wendt each chipped in seven kills, while Brianna Gurno tallied five blocks.
AE def. FDL, 21-25, 26-24, 25-20, 25-13.
Kaukauna 3 Fond du Lac 1
The Cardinals fell to the Galloping Ghosts in Fox Valley Association play, losing 25-27, 18-25, 30-28, 23-25.
Megan Wendt led Fond du Lac with 21 assists and 23 digs, while Aleigha Mitchell added 17 assists.
Ava Tryon chipped in 10 kills and Lauren Wendt had 15 digs.
Kaukauna def. Fond du Lac 27-25, 25-18, 28-30, 25-23.
Stat Leaders: Fond du Lac — Ava Tryon 10 kills; Megan Wendt 21 assists, 23 digs; Aleigha Mitchell 17 assists; Lauren Wendt 15 digs.
Fond du Lac girls volleyball falls to Slinger
FOND DU LAC – Inconsistency has plagued the Fond du Lac girls volleyball team for most of the 2016 season.
It’s only fitting that it would rear its ugly head come playoff time.
Fond du Lac battled hard but couldn’t overcome a variety of mistakes as the seventh-seeded Cardinals fell 3-1 (21-25, 25-18, 17-25, 20-25) to No. 10 seed Slinger in a WIAA Division 1 regional semifinal match on Thursday at Fond du Lac.
“I think both teams really struggled with consistency,” Fond du Lac coach Samantha Boyke said. “When one team was on a run and one team was doing the little things they should be doing like playing fast, playing loud with energy and getting to the right spots on the court, the other team folded a little bit. I think it was that battle of consistency tonight.
“When we were struggling it was because we were quiet and tentative and not doing the little things — getting off the net fast enough, getting our blocks up fast enough and just kind of playing behind the ball instead of playing aggressively ahead of the game.”
Slinger jumped on the Cardinals right from the start, taking a 14-6 lead in the first set before Fond du Lac responded to eventually cut the deficit to 15-14. But the Owls regained control and held on for a 25-21 win.
Fond du Lac again fell behind in the second set but thanks to a 7-0 run, took a 12-8 lead and clung to that advantage for a 25-18 win.
The turning point came in the third set, when the Cardinals led 14-11 but gave up a 7-0 run to Slinger and the Owls eventually went on to a 25-17 victory. That seemed to drain any momentum Fond du Lac had and gave it all to Slinger.
“I think it was a confidence thing,” Boyke said of the third-set swing. “It was not playing in the moment and getting lost in the game like you normally do and we had that fear of losing. … That moment was definitely the game-changer. We were playing not to mess up, which causes you to mess up more. That’s what was the deciding thing at that point.”
The Owls again took a significant advantage in the fourth set and although Fond du Lac was able to cut the deficit to 12-10 at one point, the Cards were never able to take the lead as Slinger won 25-20 to seal the match.
Slinger advances to face No. 2 seed Oconomowoc on Saturday in a regional final match. Oconomowoc defeated Menasha on Thursday.
Megan Wendt led Fond du Lac with nine kills and 15 assists, while Maggie Stelmacher added 23 digs and four aces.
Aleigha Mitchell had 14 assists and both Ava Tryon and Megan Krupp had seven kills.
Although it was a disappointing end to Boyke’s first season as the Fond du Lac girls volleyball coach, she spoke positively about her experience.
“This has been a dream of a first year,” Boyke said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better group of girls to work with. The parents and administration were super supportive. My coaching staff has been phenomenal. … I couldn’t be more grateful for our seniors’ composure, mindset and perspective on the season because that’s what allowed us to persist through the whole season and for all of our successes.”