By Brian Kalish
September 15, 2012
Wausau– The Wisconsin Rapids Red Raiders battled Wausau West in the first match of the WVC tournament held at Wausau East High School on Saturday morning and came away with a 3-1 victory. For Rapids, it was their first conference victory of the season (1-4) while Wausau West is still searching for their first win.
Rapids was hampered by unforced errors in the first set against the Warriors, but found their footing to take a 13-10 lead halfway through the set. The dynamic duo of Shelby Steinke and Allie Paitel caused problems offensively and defensively for West. Rapids took the first set 25-15.
The Warriors took the second set 25-16, but the Red Raiders pulled together in the third set, jumping out to a 4-1 lead. Steinke was a force for Rapids, putting points on the board with two consecutive kills followed by two wicked serves that resulted in points to vault the Red Raiders to a 15-8 lead.
West rallied to bring the score to 21-21, but Rapids pulled away for the 25-22 win. The fourth set was tight throughout, but with Caitlin Neuman serving the final points,Rapids won 25-22.
Rapids dropped their next two matches to DC Everest and Merrill, respectively, to go 1-2 on the day.
Thursday recap:
By student contributor Vikki Getsinger
Rapids volleyball took a tough loss against Wausau East on Thursday, losing 3 sets to 1. The first set started out with high intensity from both teams and was very close with an ending score of 25-22.
Despite Rapids’ strong desire to win, Wausau East took the second set with much less trouble, holding Rapids to 10 points.
The third set was played with much more focus and made it another close one. Wausau East pushed just a little harder than Rapids in the third set, and took the win, 25-20.
In the next set, East kept up their run, while Rapids gave them the win, scoring 25-22. East took the conference win for the night, and added another loss to Rapids’ record, which is now 8 wins and 11 losses on the season, and 0 wins and 2 losses in conference.
Having the most digs on the night was Shelby Steinke, with 14. Steinke also took the most aces on the night with 5. Caitlyn Neuman had 8 assists, and Allie Paitel had 11 kills.
Coach Wendtland stayed positive, saying “I was very happy with our performances. We did a lot of good things, but I want to work on our consistency. When we’re on we can perform with any conference team.”
Rapids continues to work on the little things and push to gain more wins.
