Kimberly proves too strong up front, defeats Appleton North boys volleyball
By Dustin Riese
For AppletonSportsPage.com
KIMBERLY – Two of the better boys volleyball programs in the area tangled again on Tuesday night for its annual Fox Valley Association match.
Appleton North and Kimberly have set the standard in the FVA for the past decade and when they are at their best, continue to be two of the best teams in the state.
Facing off for the first of what could be several meetings this season, Appleton North was looking to avenge an ugly loss against Fond du Lac last time out. As expected, this was one of those matches that was tightly contested throughout, but in the end it was the Papermakers (10-3) winning in straight sets 25-21, 25-21, 25-19, as the Lightning (9-4) fell to 0-2 in conference play.
“I thought we played better tonight than we did a week ago against Fond du Lac,” Appleton North head coach Mike Maass said. “We are inexperienced and have a long way to go in a short period of time. Hopefully we can continue to build and see where we end up at the end of the season.”
Being inexperienced is one thing, but to be inexperienced and go up against a very experienced Kimberly team is another, and North had struggles at times throughout the match.
Throughout the beginning portion of the first set, North was giving the Papermakers all they could handle as Rowan Cihlar came away with several nice plays as North kept things close, trailing 11-10.
Cihlar had a great overall day as he came away with seven kills. North continued to hang with the Papermakers late in the first set, as they pulled within 19-17 late only to have Michael Janssen and Nick Sroda take over down the stretch as that duo delivered four late set kills to close out the first set 25-21 for Kimberly.
That duo gave the Lightning fits all match long as they built off a strong finish to the first set by coming out strong to start the second. Sroda came through with a massive block to put Kimberly up 7-3 early. Maass talked about the size advantage the Papermakers had up front and the challenge that the size presents.
“Kimberly does have a lot of size and experience,” he said. “Blocking really has been a weakness for us so far this season.”
Once the Lightning managed to weather the storm, their offense started to get into a better rhythm. Spencer Munson played a massive role in that as he led the Lightning with 29 assists and helped set things up for the Lightning outside hitters. Owen Tierney and Nathan Ramus started to get involved and brought the Lightning to within 23-20 late. That was as close as they would get as the Papermakers closed out the second set 25-21 to grab the 2-0 lead.
Facing an all or nothing third set, it was the Lightning that came out strong as they continued to rely on the Munson-Ramus duo. Munson continued to slow things down for the Lightning attack as his perfectly-placed sets made things easier for Ramus, who led the Lightning with 15 kills. Their combined play had the Lightning within 8-7 in the final set and had Kimberly searching for answers for the first time since early in the first set.
“Nathan Ramus is a really good athlete and one of the better volleyball players in the state,” Maass said. “We just went to a 5-1 with Spencer Munson and I thought we did well, and expect to only get better as the season progresses.”
It was at this point in the third set when the Kimberly experience took over as the Papermakers ripped off an 11-4 run to break things open 19-10. Once again it was the Sroda-Janssen duo up front that played a massive role in that, although Jack Hruzek was now starting to get more active on the offensive end as this was the biggest lead of the night for either side.
The Lightning battled back as Ramus came up with several massive plays down the stretch to bring North to within striking distance. Their run came to an end when Blake Zielinski killed the North rally with an impressive back tip to the open floor, which set things up for Janssen to finish things off as the Papermakers delivered the clean sweep with a 25-19 third set win.
Despite the loss, Maass knows the experience his team is gaining is valuable and hopes it will lead to a strong finish.
“I think we have a lot of room for growth,” he said. “As we learn how to play varsity volleyball we’ll only get better.”
Appleton North will have the rest of the week off from competition before hosting Appleton East next Tuesday, Sept. 24, at 7 p.m.