Coach Dianne Langmeier and her River Ridge varsity volleyball team suffered their first conference loss of the season last Tuesday night, falling to host Highland in three straight sets.

With losses of 25-13, 25-16 and 25-17, the Timberwolves fell to 2-1 in Six Rivers West conference action, while the Cardinals remained unbeaten at 3-0.

“We had trouble right from the start with getting a decent pass off of the serve receive,” explained coach Langmeier. “Once we got going, we had some good volleys.”

“The second game was more competitive with some good rallies,” Langmeier added. “We really struggled with some of their serves all night though.”

Leading the Timberwolves with three digs each were senior Alaina Clark, sophomore Layla Gage and freshman Izzie Atterbury. Gage and Clark each had three assists as well, while Clark also had two service aces on the night.

Junior Ava Nies led her team at the net with nine kills and six blocks, while senior Erin Adrian chipped in eight kills to go along with a pair of service aces.

Dishing out a team-high 14 assists was senior setter Mallory Crubel, who also added four kills and three blocks to her stat line.

The Lady Wolves rebounded from Tuesday night’s loss with a 3-0 sweep of visiting Cassville the following Thursday, sending the Comets home with scores of 25-17, 25-12 and 25-16.

With better play at the net, Nies led the Timberwolves with 14 kills and five blocks, while Crubel added four kills and two blocks to go along with a team-high 18 assists.

Coming up with a nine digs was Adrian, followed by Clark with eight, while Nies and Reese Moravits each had seven.

Gage led River Ridge with three service aces, while Charlie Copsey and Braelyn Schneider each had two.

“I was proud of how the girls bounced back after our loss to Highland,” said coach Langmeier. “The girls did a nice job of getting touches on their spikes and then the back row made great digs off those blocks to keep the plays going. Our ball control was much better in this match.”

At last Saturday’s Lancaster Invite, the Timberwolves went 2-1 in pool play with wins over Southwestern and Kickapoo, and a loss to the eventual champions from Viroqua, and followed up with a win over Lancaster and a loss to Fennimore in bracket play.

On the day, Ava Nies put down a team-high 32 kills to go along with a team-high 18 blocks, while Erin Adrian chipped in 22 total kills, five blocks and 37 digs.

Mallory Crubel dished out 69 total assists at the invite, while Alaina Clark led the team with 44 total digs.

This Thursday night the Timberwolves will host Potosi, then will host Benton next Monday evening.