As the No. 5 seed in their division 5 playoff bracket, the River Ridge volleyball team had their season end last Saturday night to No. 1 seed Seneca in a regional final contest on the Royals' home floor.
Coach Dianne Langmeier’s squad concluded the season with an overall match record of 13-11 after going 8-4 and finishing third in the Six Rivers West conference standings.
Following a first-round bye in their D5 playoff bracket, the Timberwolves began postseason play last Thursday night on the road against No. 4 seed Wauzeka-Steuben, who were coached by Jaci Williams, Jordan Flansburgh and Skylar White, all of whom played for coach Langmeier at River Ridge.
In a back-and-forth battle in the first set, coach Langmeier’s squad lost a five-point lead to the Hornets, which ended with a 26-24 loss for the Timberwolves.
Despite trailing the host Hornets 14-7 in the second set, River Ridge came storming back with a 10-3 run to claim 25-23 victory and evened up the match.
With momentum clearly on their side, the Timberwolves took a 2-1 lead with a 25-21 victory in the third set, but allowed the home team to even things up with a 25-23 victory in the fourth.
In the fifth-and-deciding set to 15, River Ridge held a 14-5 lead over the Hornets, who came back to pull within 14-8 before a missed spike by the home team ended the match.
“I was so proud of how the girls just kept working hard and didn’t get too rattled when we were down,” said coach Langmeier.
Junior Ava Nies had a spectacular night at the net for the Timberwolves with 21 kills, nine blocks and two ace serves, while senior Erin Adrian chipped in 11 kills, 17 digs and four assists. Freshman Braelyn Schneider finished with seven kills and four blocks.
Dishing out a team-high 32 assists was senior setter Mallory Crubel, while fellow senior Alaina Clark came up with 23 digs to lead the team.
Last Thursday night’s victory for the Timberwolves meant a match up with top-seeded Seneca in Saturday’s regional final.
With scores of 25-15, 25-13 and 25-16, the Timberwolves were swept by the host Royals, who moved on to face No. 2 seed Highland in Thursday night’s sectional semifinal.
Against Seneca, Nies put down a team-high 12 kills to go along with an amazing 15 blocks, while freshman Maggie Thornton chipped in three kills and seven blocks.
Crubel dished out 17 assists, while Alaina Clark had a team-high 12 digs, followed by Crubel with nine and Adrian seven.
Credit to Seneca’s passing ability, the Timberwolves did not have a single ace serve in the match, despite only missing four serves the entire night.
“The girls put up a good fight and had some great volleys,” said coach Langmeier. “It just seemed that after long volleys, Seneca had great court awareness and would tip it to the exact spot that we didn’t cover.”
“Taylor and I are very proud of the girls for making it to the regional final game, as this was the first time since 2019 we had made it to the regional finals,” Langmeier added.
Coach Langmeier loses three seniors from this year’s team, which include Erin Adrian, Alaina Clark and Mallory Crubel.
“We will really miss our seniors next year,” said coach Langmeier. “They were all great role models for our younger players that stepped up this year to earn starting spots on the team.”
