After winning its season-opening home tournament, the Marshfield volleyball team is primed for a strong year

By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

MARSHFIELD — Marshfield coach Dawn Sadowska has high hopes for the Tigers volleyball team this fall.

Marshfield has just two seniors on its roster but returns six others that also saw time on the varsity last year, giving the Tigers an experienced group that is poised to do some damage in the Wisconsin Valley Conference.

All-around player Jenny Scheppler and libero Sara Dasler are the two seniors on a roster that is stocked with a number of talented offensive players.

Stephanie Rhodes, Ema Fehrenbach, Alexa Aumann, Anna Ripp, and Hannah Meverden are all capable front-row players that bring a wealth of experience to the court.

Ripp also serves as one of the team’s setters along with Maureen Cassidy. Juniors Sadie DeGrand, Jamila Ougayour, and Abby Pritzl and sophomore Jordyn Wilcott round out the roster.

“One of the things as we ended last season was that we knew that the time our sophomores had on the court, even though we only have two seniors coming back, we were going to have a lot of experience,” Sadowska said. “Anna (Ripp) has been setting now — it’s her third year on varsity. The improvement from her compared to last year is phenomenal. She’s running the offense, and that’s helping our offense in that the other team doesn’t know where she’s going to set. She’s doing a really good job.”

Marshfield won its home Tiger Invitational on Tuesday, losing just one game in five matches. Ripp was on from the start with 99 assists, and Dasler was the leader of the defense with 46 digs. Aumann, Rhodes, and Meverden all had more than 30 kills.

Marshfield swept Antigo, Ashland, Hudson, and Wausau Newman Catholic and went 2-1 against Merrill to take the tournament title.

“They all can put the ball down,” Sadowska said. “I think we have a ton of potential to do some really great things this season.”

The competition ramps up quickly for the Tigers as they will compete at the Sun Prairie Invitational on Friday and Saturday against some of the top teams in the state. Marshfield then opens Wisconsin Valley Conference play Sept. 3 at home against Merrill.

“We go into Sun Prairie, and that’s a ton of good competition for us,” Sadowska said. “It will be really good for us to see where we are at and give us a good gauge of where we are in the state. The confidence from tonight is going to help us a lot, and then we have Merrill right away.”

Paul Lecker is publisher of MarshfieldAreaSports.com, a contributor to Hub City Times Sports. You can reach him by email at paul@marshfieldareasports.com.