Competition at UW-Stout sees mixed results as team faces multiple opponents August 26 – 27

The Orioles were victorious. Meeting Elk Mound in the Stanley-Boyd High School Gym this Tuesday, the varsity volleyball team performed well, coming away 3-0 against the Mounders. That isn’t to say there weren’t some nerves.

“With it being our first home game, the team was a bit nervous,” head coach Karley Wiensch said. “I thought that the team did well relaxing after the first set and started to gel as a team and worked together to push through mistakes. I believe that we are an experienced team and are led by a large Senior class.”

Going on to say that the present senior class had played together for a long time, Wiensch said they brought great positivity to both practice and games.

“This Senior class has played together for a long time, they all bring great positivity and determination to every practice and game,” she said. “They are role models to our younger volleyball players in the program. I believe that over time, the team will learn to trust each other and support each other throughout the season, to push deep into the playoffs and hopefully end at State this year! We have 7 returning players from last year’s Sectional Semifinal team.” Coming from the Western Cloverbelt, Wiensch says the Conference is competitive. “ I believe that the Western Cloverbelt is by far the most competitive conference in Wisconsin,” she said. Nonetheless, the varsity has what it takes.

“With it being the start of the season, I am hoping that as we start playing we will gel as a team and the players will learn what my expectations are for this team and that we can compete with any team out there, if we just put our minds to it,” she said. Wiensch was appointed varsity head coach in January following the retirement of Rainy Antolak from teaching and coaching.

Coming off the win against Elk Mound Tuesday, the Orioles headed out to Stout for the annual two day Sprawl Tournament.

Taking match wins against Clayton (2-0), Prescott (2-1, both on Friday and Saturday), North Crawford (2-0), Osceola (2-1), the team also competed against St. Croix Falls (0-2), Menomonie (0-2), Eau Claire North (1-2), and McDonnell (0-2), margin for a busy two days.

“Overall I am proud of the girls for the push they had playing over two days,” Wiensch said of the Sprawl tournament outcome. “We had a lot of fight during the games we went three in. We gelled as a team and worked together. We ended up finishing 11th place out of 40 teams. We did quite well for our first time being in the Sprawl Tournament. This tournament has a lot of different competition at it and it was a great experience for the girls to see different teams.”