Raiders hope to surprise in volleyball playoffs after strong final week
Arcadia senior Kealy Ziegeweid received a serve in the third set of the Raiders’ regular season finale to Westby last Tuesday at Arcadia High School. The Raiders fell 3-0 to the Norsemen and open the playoffs in Richland Center this Tuesday. (Times photograph by Benjamin Pierce)
The Arcadia High School volleyball team is likely to be overlooked by opponents now that the regular season is over and the playoff bracket is set to open this week.
Coach Andrea Izdepski thinks that could play to their advantage as a team that can play strong volleyball though their 6-20 record may leave some teams chalking them up as an easy ‘W’.
They showed some of that fight last week, sweeping rival G-E-T on Monday before playing state-ranked Westby on Tuesday. The Raiders, seeded 13th in the regional, are set to visit fourth-seeded Richland Center on Tuesday.
“We’re gonna be facing good competition from here on out,” Izdepski said. “So if we want to go somewhere, we’re going to have to show up. I like playing good competition. I’d much rather lose a tough match than win an easy one, so I thought it was a great postseason prep.”
Arcadia 25 25 25
G-E-T 16 16 18
A season sweep over their rival Red Hawks (5-16, 4-8 Coulee Conference) on Monday gave Arcadia (4-8 CC) its final conference win of the season.
“The girls just showed up. We’ve had some pretty serious team talks the last couple days. … I think between the mental refocusing that we’ve done and the physical breakdown we’ve done and the film we’ve broken down, the girls were just mentally and physically prepared,” Izdepski said.
Casidi Pehler led the Raiders with nine kills, and the visiting Raiders compiled six aces in the match. Kealy Ziegeweid had a match-high 17 digs for Arcadia, which got 13 more from Kaitlyn Bremer and 11 from Justine Sonsalla.
Adella Anderson collected 21 assists for the visitors, and Kaylee Hauge led G-E-T with 13.
Westby 25 25 25
Arcadia 10 15 20
The Raiders conceded multiple aces to Westby in the opening set on Tuesday, and the visitors made quick work of the hosts in a 25-10 win in the first set.
The second set saw Arcadia take an early lead, but Westby fought back to regain the advantage late and eventually win 25-15. The Norsemen again took the lead in set three, but Arcadia fought back to make it a one-point game and trailed 21-20.
Westby scored four straight points to close the match.
“I felt like we stayed very consistent tonight, and regardless of the score we just kept fighting and we were working together and communicating better than we have been. So I was still happy with how we played,” Izdepski said.
Bremer led the Raiders with eight kills, two aces and 10 digs. Adella Anderson contributed 19 assists and a pair of aces. Pehler had six aces, and Sonsalla added nine digs and a block.
With her team headed to Richland Center, she wants them to believe in themselves and play their best match by focusing on serving and serve receiving as well as passing.
The rest will take care of itself, Izdepski said.
“The turn that we’ve done the second half of the season, adding Casidi (Pehler) to our team and then our team mentality, like, that’s how we’re getting our wins. And I just felt like we weren’t respected at the (seeding) meeting,” she said.
“But I told them, I said, ‘Worst case scenario, let’s go there, let’s turn some heads and put Arcadia on the map. Believe in ourselves, make other people believe in us.’ But first we have to believe in ourselves.”
