Tigers score 17-straight points in final game of sweep in WVC opener

By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

MARSHFIELD — After a ragged start, the Marshfield volleyball team came together to pull out a sweep in its Wisconsin Valley Conference opener Thursday night. The Tigers won 25-21, 25-18, 25-3 to beat Wausau East at Marshfield High School.

Wausau East ran off six-straight points to take a 13-7 lead in Game 1 before the Tigers rallied.

Two aces by Corianne Johnson and three more from Jordyn Wilcott helped Marshfield build a 19-16 lead. An ace from Alexis Schnitzler and a kill by Karly Nikolai finished off the game and set tone for the rest of the match.

“We played some tough competition last weekend,” Marshfield coach Dawn Sadowska said. “It was hard to have losses (3-7 at the Sun Prairie Invitational), but I think it really made us a better team. They’re used to playing faster, and I thought our block coverage was really good.”

Marshfield jumped out to a 12-6 lead in the second game and pushed it to 21-12 after three aces from sophomore Kati Sadowska. A pair of East errors led to the final two points as the Tigers won 25-18.

In Game 3 it was all Tigers.

Marshfield scored 17 points in a row on the serve of Wilcott. She had five aces during the run and finished with eight in the match.

Nikolai put down 19 kills overall, including five in the final game for the Tigers.

“Our energy is really what was lacking last weekend,” Dawn Sadowska said. “We talked about that all week, about how they were going to have to play with energy on the court and from the bench. I think they did a really good job all around on the things we worked on this week.”

Hannah Meverden had six block kills, and Johnson finished with 30 assists. Kaydee Johnson had 13 digs, and Wilcott added 12 for the Tigers.

Marshfield hosts its annual invitational on Saturday and returns to Wisconsin Valley Conference action Sept. 7 at Stevens Point.

(Hub City Times Sports Reporter Paul Lecker is also the publisher of MarshfieldAreaSports.com.)