RIPON, Wisconsin — The Ripon volleyball program wrapped up the 2024 campaign on Saturday inside Weiske Gymnasium, falling to Coe before rebounding to defeat Mount Mary on Senior Day.
Ripon was swept 3-0 (25-10, 25-15, 25-23) by Coe (22-7), but easily defeated Mount Mary (3-21) 3-0 (25-11, 25-7, 25-18).
Facing the outright American Rivers Conference regular-season champions, Ripon had a tall order in the first game of the day. The Kohawks scored nine of the first 11 points in the match, and another string of nine consecutive points pushed their lead to 20-5. Coe scored two of the final three points in the stanza to take set one handily.
Coe again opened on a 9-2 run to open set two, but three consecutive points for Ripon made it an 11-7 visitor's lead. However, Coe scored the next four and Ripon never got closer than seven the rest of the way. The Kohawks ended the set with three consecutive points to take set two.
Ripon fought back in set three, taking an early 9-3 advantage on a 5-0 run. Coe scored four in a row to trim its deficit to 13-11, but Ripon rebounded – back-to-back points put the Red Hawks in front 21-17. However, Coe scored the next six points to go in front again. After two consecutive Coe attack errors to even the set, the Kohawks got back-to-back kills to finish off the sweep.
Nickie Shaw had a team-high 12 kills, while
Emily Braun totaled 17 assists. Defensively,
Michaela Riege was the only Red Hawk in double figures, accumulating 14 digs.
As a team, Coe had advantages in kills (45-23), aces (11-10), blocks (3-1), assists (36-20) and digs (41-30).
Ripon was determined to end its season on a high note, and it did so emphatically against Mount Mary. Six consecutive points put Ripon up 10-2, and four more in a row pushed the advantage to 12 at 17-5. From there, the Blue Angels never cut their deficit to single digits as Ripon won set one 25-11.
Set two was even more dominant than the first – after a Ripon attack error pulled Mount Mary within two at 7-5, the Red Hawks scored five in a row to make it a 12-5 cushion. Leading 15-7, Ripon scored the final 10 points of the set to win the frame comfortably at 25-7.
The Blue Angels took a number of early leads in the opening moments of set three, with their last lead coming at 10-8. After that, Ripon went on an 8-0 run, flipping the set over. Mount Mary scored four consecutive points to make it 16-14, but the Red Hawks ended the season scoring eight of the final 11 points to polish off the victory.
Lainie Heizler totaled a match-high 11 kills, while
Ellie Ove and
Haylee Kast each had seven. Braun served up 21 assists, and Riege had a match-high 12 digs.
Ripon had 36 kills, allowing just 20. The Red Hawks racked up a whopping 20 service aces, a season-high, and held statistical advantages in blocks (3-1), assists (24-10) and digs (41-33) while hitting .282 for the match.
The Red Hawks finished the 2024 season 10-18 overall, and 1-7 in Midwest Conference play.
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