Menominee Indian earns home win over Stockbridge

The Menominee Indian High School volleyball team earned a nonconference home win over Stockbridge on Sept. 15 in Keshena, winning by scores of 25-14, 25-22, 24-26, 25-22.

The Eagles were able to shake off some slow starts to sets before rallying. Menominee Indian was especially good after calling timeouts and used a couple big runs to come away with a win.

“I think our positive attitude this game and our way of covering,” said Lily Boivin on the biggest reasons the team won. “I think that we worked as a team tonight and played our hardest.”

The two teams battled back and forth in the first set, eventually splitting the first 20 points. Stockbridge pulled ahead 13-10 before Boivin took over.

She had back-to-back kills, and then after the Eagles tied the match at 14, was serving when the team scored 12 unanswered points. Boivin served a few aces on the run, with Tiarra LaTender and Samantha Wilber also scoring a few points for the hosts.

It was a rough start to the second set for Menominee Indian, falling behind 7-2 because of some errors. Eagles’ coach Keso-Kookie Oshkosh called timeout and talked things over with the team, and the team responded by scoring five of the next seven points.

“It was more like motivational speeches and things that inspired us, positive attitudes” said Boivin on what was said during timeouts.

Stockbridge responded to Menominee Indian’s run with a 5-0 spurt to go ahead 14-7, but the Eagles continued to battle.

A kill from Lena Waukau and other point off the hands of Samantha Wilber got the Eagles back on track, and the hosts eventually tied the set at 18. Three straight Stockbridge errors gave Menominee Indian the advantage, and then points from LaTender and Kaysha Wilber helped the Eagles seal up the set and go up 2-0 in the match.

“We as a team just need to play our game,” said LaTender. “I think sometimes a lot of us just get in our heads when we’re out there, so when we take them timeouts, we remember this is our game and we pull through, or try at least. Win or lose, we know we did a good job.”

Menominee Indian jumped out to a four-point advantage early in set three, but Stockbridge went on a 7-1 run to go ahead 8-5 and force an Eagles’ timeout. Menominee Indian responded by winning five straight points, with strong serving provided by Alexis Zhuckkahosee.

The back-and-forth battle between the teams continued, with Stockbridge tying it back up and then having the teams trade the lead several times.

LaTender and Waukau each delivered kills to get Menominee Indian within a point of taking the set and match, but Stockbridge rattled off four straight points to steal the set.

The Eagles bounced back by leading for a good portion of the fourth set, with the big run being a 6-1 spurt in the middle of the set to go up 16-11.

“I would say the motivation for that is we knew we could do it and we knew that how we were just playing wasn’t how we usually play, and we just needed to snap back into our game,” said LaTender of bouncing back in set four. “To just take the time to recollect ourselves as a team and know that we have to work as a team to win.”

A Kaysha Wilber kill followed by a Stockbridge error made it 22-15 and forced a timeout from the visitors.

Stockbridge had one final run left, getting within two points a couple times, but an attack error eventually ended the set and match.

“I think our defense helped out a lot,” said Shae Caldwell, who served as the primary setter for the Eagles on the night. “We didn’t really communicate that much this game, but we still pulled through in the end, even though we should have beat them in three sets right away.”

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