River Ridge Volleyball goes 3-3 during first week
By A.J. Gates
While there are a number of key components returning from last year’s squad, River Ridge volleyball coach Dianne Langmeier has given many of her returning players new roles to start the 2025 prep volleyball season.
With that being said, the Timberwolves opened the season last Tuesday night with a hard-fought 3-2 loss to visiting Lancaster, who overcame a 2-1 deficit to win sets four and five.
The Timberwolves and Flying Arrows went back and forth in the opening set of Tuesday night’s match, as the two teams were knotted at 14-14 before Lancaster took the upper hand late in contest.
After falling 25-23 in the first set, coach Langmeier’s squad regained momentum with victories of 25-11 and 25-21 in sets two and three.
Unable to close out the match in the fourth set, River Ridge suffered a 25-19 loss, and in the fifth-and-deciding fifth set, were handed a 15-11 loss.
“I think the difference in losing the game versus winning for us was that we had 10 missed serves as a team, and we are still a little inconsistent in our hitting,” said coach Langmeier. “Hopefully we can improve in those two area throughout the season.”
Senior Josey Drone, who played libero last year and is now and outside hitter and defensive specialist for the Timberwolves, led her team with nine kills and 44 digs. She also chipped in three service aces and one assist.
Junior Mallory Crubel, who is the team’s only setter and is also playing middle blocker for the T-Wolves, dished out a team-high 25 assists and three blocks to go along with six kills and three service aces in the loss.
Junior Erin Adrian chipped in seven kills and served up a team-high five aces, while sophomore Ava Nies added six kills and one block.
On the following Thursday night, the Timberwolves traveled to Belmont to kick off play in the Six Rivers conference, where they handed the Braves a 3-0 sweep by scores of 25-23, 25-17 and 25-20.
The Timberwolves had 14 service aces in their three-set victory, with Erin Adrian leading the way with five, followed by three from Josey Drone. Adrian also led her team in kills with 14, followed by eight each from Drone and Nies.
Mallory Crubel dished out a team-high 25 assists in the win, while Drone came up with a team-high 25 digs, followed by Adrian with 14.
“The Braves didn’t seem to have an answer for the aggressive serving,” said coach Langmeier. “I felt the girls were a little more consistent with their spiking, and that really helped seal the win for us. Hopefully that will continue.”
This past Saturday the Timberwolves competed at the Six Rivers Jamboree at Highland High School, where they finished fifth of nine teams with a match record of 2-2.
In pool play coach Langmeier’s squad defeated Albany by scores of 25-12 and 25-16, then lost to Argyle, 25-13 and 25-18.
Put in the silver bracket, River Ridge then defeated Belmont, 25-18 and 25-13, before falling to Wauzeka, 25-19 and 25-18.
On the day, Josey Drone put down a team-high 20 kills to go along with a team-high 11 digs, while Elaina Gage had 19 kills and Mallory Crubel eight digs.
Crubel also dished out a team-high 54 assists and had a team-high five blocks, while Erin Adrian led the team in service aces with five.
Following this past Tuesday night’s road match at Shullsburg, the Timberwolves will travel to Benton next Tuesday evening.
