Red Hawks come one set short of ending Coulee losing streak

Through two sets of a road matchup against Westby, it looked like the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau volleyball team was in perfect position to snap a 21-match losing streak in conference play dating back to 2023. When the opportunity slipped away and the skid bumped up to 22, the Red Hawks were left to try and take the positives from a disappointing defeat.

After getting swept at West Salem on Tuesday, G-E-T (6-8, 0-3 Coulee) came up agonizingly short against the Norsemen in five sets two days later.

A Tuesday clash with rival Arcadia is the Red Hawks’ only match this week. Next up on the schedule is a double dual next Tuesday in Viroqua where they will face both Luther and the host Blackhawks.

W.S.  25 25 25

G-E-T 15 19 10

The Red Hawks could never quite work their way fully into the match against the Panthers last Tuesday in West Salem, as the hosts breezed their way to a sweep 25-16, 25-19, 25-10.

Stat leaders for G-E-T in the straight-set defeat were Rylynn Simmons with eight kills, Sydney Nelson with five kills, Claire Baures and Allison Burns with two blocks each, Taryn Leighty with 10 assists and Amelia Walz with nine assists.

Westby  22 24 25 25 15

G-E-T    25 26 18 18 10

Letting a two-set lead slip away when you’re trying to end a multi-year losing streak in conference play is naturally going to sting. But the Red Hawks flashed major signs of progress during this first season under new head coach Marc Baures.

G-E-T set the tone early this past Thursday in Westby, gutting out two close sets 25-22 and 26-24 to seize a 2-0 lead in the match and put themselves one set away from claiming that elusive Coulee win.

The Norsemen responded well, however, by taking both the third and fourth sets by identical scorelines of 25-18 to send the match to the decisive fifth. 

Westby came out strong in the decider by winning the first three points and forcing a quick G-E-T timeout. After falling behind 4-0, the Red Hawks responded with four straight points of their own to level the score and eventually took a 7-6 advantage and prompted a Panther timeout.

Unfortunately for G-E-T, West Salem finished strong on a 9-3 run to take the fifth set 15-10 and escape with a win.

Leading the way for the Red Hawks were Simmons with 22 kills, Burns with 10 kills, Nelson with nine kills and 15 digs and Walz and Leighty with a combined 44 blocks and eight aces, along with four blocks from Walz.