This story is sponsored by Norm E Lane Farm
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – On paper, No. 3 seed Marshfield’s WIAA Division 1 volleyball regional semifinal matchup against No. 14 Menomonie should have been much easier. That isn’t what happened.
The Tigers had to grind their way to a 3-0 win, coming from behind late in the last two games to beat the Mustangs 25-19, 25-22, 27-25, on Thursday night at Marshfield High School.
Marshfield will host Rhinelander in a regional final at 7 p.m. Saturday and play for the right to go to the sectional semifinals next Thursday at Merrill.
“It was a good one for us because we’re so young,” said Marshfield coach Dawn Sadowska of her team, which features a rotation of just one senior, four juniors and four sophomores. “It put them in some pressure situations and they stepped up and did what they needed to do.
“We were concerned about how all of those sophomores (hitters Courtney Bauer and Chelsea Akin, setter Tori Nanstad and libero Darian Molter) were going to be able to come out and play and handle the pressure, and they were able to put the ball down.”
Marshfield trailed 13-10 midway through the opening game before Miranda Forrest served four straight points to gain control for the Tigers.
Tiffany Stargardt had five of her team-high 15 kills to score five of the Marshfield’s final six points as it closed out a 25-19 win.
Marshfield led most of Game 2 until Menomonie scored 10 of 11 points during a stretch of serves by Kayla Miller and Leah Lindberg.
Trailing 22-18, Marshfield rallied. Forrest had a kill and Mary Wolff served six straight points to close out the victory.
Game 3 was just as tough for the Tigers. Marshfield led 14-7 before the Mustangs rallied again. Stefani Fridenfels served eight points in a row to give Menomonie a 19-16 lead.
Marshfield went back up 24-22 and Menomonie staved off match point three times before an ace from Tori Nanstad ended the match for the Tigers. Akin had four of her 10 kills in the final game.
“We were in situations where we didn’t have Tiffany (Stargardt) on the front row, and she’s our go-to player,” Sadowska said. “Somebody had to step up and do the job and that’s what we’ve been asking them to do all year. It was good to see it happening now.”
Stargardt said Marshfield is coming together at the right time of the season.
“We all really came together as a team and played for every point,” Stargardt said. “We will knew we really wanted this and brought the intensity we needed at the end to finish it.
“We’re definitely improving as we’re getting into the playoffs. Everyone is stepping up their games and improving. We have players that have been getting sick and everyone is stepping up and playing where they need to be right now.”
Wolff had 21 assists, Molter had 14 digs and Stargardt added 10 for the Tigers.