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DUNN-ST. CROIX

PIERCE COUN TY HERAL D

AUGUST 31, 2016

MIDDLE BORDER

LAKELAND SOUTH

FOOTBALL

Cardinals use second half eort to defeat E-PC

By Blaze Fugina
bfugina@rivertowns.net

A cleaner second half of play

from the Spring Valley football
team led to a 26-12 victory over
Pierce County rival ElmwoodPlum City at home Friday.
Elmwood-Plum City and
Spring Valley entered halftime
of Fridays non-conference
football game in a 6-6 tie. The
Wolves had just tied the game
with 17 seconds remaining in the
half when Wyatt Holt completed a 4-yard touchdown pass to
Anthony Ebensperger. But the
second half belonged to Spring
Valley. Sean Borgerding and
Jaydon Nyeggen each scored
third quarter rushing touchdowns to give the Cardinals a

14-point lead they would never

give back.
The Cardinals credited motivation for breaking the tie in
the third quarter with the two
touchdowns. Cruze Hurlburt,
who led Spring Valley with 122
rushing yards and a touchdown,
said they gained that motivation
after seeing Elmwood-Plum
Citys condence grow from
tying the game before halftime.
We got real jacked up,
Hurlburt said. We didnt
change anything oensively.
Defensively, we were doing
good. We just had to attack.
Head coach Ryan Kapping
said the Cardinals played a better game on oense than they
did in the rst half when they
missed some blocking assign-

ments. Plus, zero turnovers in

the second half also helped.
I thought we just cleaned
that stu up in the second half,
Kapping said. We really minimized the mistakes that we
made in the rst half. We were
able to just sustain drives and
not have those negative plays
that we had in the rst half that
sort of hurt us.
Nyeggen led the Cardinals
by scoring two touchdowns.
He rushed the ball 19 times
for 99 yards. Quarterback Sean
Borgerding was 8-for-13 passing for 99 yards plus a third
quarter rushing touchdown.
The Cardinals have continued to look sharp in the rst
two games of the season with
some varsity newcomers in the

starting lineup. But the games

will start to get tougher with
the Dunn-St. Croix Conference
schedule starting next week.
Spring Valley will play Colfax
on the road next Friday.
But the Spring Valley players have gained some condence from the 2-0 start to the
season.
I think were going pretty
good, Nyeggen said. If we
keep doing it like in the second
half, we should have no problem.
Second half hurts Wolves
The Elmwood-Plum City
football team entered halftime
with a 6-6 tie and an opportunity to end a long losing streak Spring Valley quarterback Sean Borgerding (7) is chased out of the
--- S E E C A R D I N A L S 3 B ---

Focusing on recovery

ELLSWORTH

ELMWOOD VOLLEYBALL

Raiders win three

to start season
By Blaze Fugina
bfugina@rivertowns.net

Matzek vows for

return after second
ACL injury

If the Elmwood volleyball

team was not ready for the season before Thursday, it is now.
The Raiders won three
matches in their home quadrangular meet on Thursday against
Pepin-Alma, Gilmanton and
Clear Lake. But the wins were
not always decisive with close
sets throughout the quad.
Elmwood started out with
a 26-24, 25-21 win versus
Pepin-Alma. In match two, the
Raiders defeated Gilmanton
26-24, 25-20.
The longest match of
the night came when Clear
Lake and Elmwood played
in the evenings nal round.
Elmwood fell behind early in
the rst set, which was won
by Clear Lake 25-17. But they
rebounded to take a back-andforth set two 32-30 before
closing out the match 15-11.
Head
coach
Megan
Challoner said the Raiders are

By Blaze Fugina
bfugina@rivertowns.net

Ellsworth High School

junior Olivia Matzek headed
into this summer with enthusiasm about having a healthy year
to play sports.
Matzek tore an anterior cruciate ligament playing basketball during the summer of 2015,
causing her to miss the volleyball and basketball seasons as
a sophomore while she recovered. She was healthy enough
to participate in track and eld
last spring.
But in June, those aspirations were turned upside down
once again. Matzek was playing
with the Ellsworth girls basketball team at a summer camp
in Wisconsin Dells when she
jumped and landed awkwardly
on her left knee. Her surgically
repaired right knee was ne, but
she felt her left knee give out
and heard the familiar pop that
most athletes with ACL injuries
would recognize.
It was the rst game, the
rst ve minutes, Matzek said.
It already happened, so I knew
exactly when I went down I tore
the other one.
Matzeks rst ACL injury took place in 2015 during
a team practice for the same
Wisconsin Dells tournament.
Right before the end of practice
she felt her right knee give out.
I knew something had happened, Matzek recalled. I
went down at practice. When I
went home I told my mom, I
know something is wrong.
A doctor initially told her

pocket by Elmwood-Plum Citys Luke Baier during Fridays non-conference game at Spring Valley. (Herald photo by Blaze Fugina)

working on playing with more

consistent intensity to avoid
the close games they seem to
nd.
They live and breathe
based on making everybodys heart drop a little bit,
Challoner said. Every game
that we play is within ve, no
matter if it is an amazing team,
no matter if it is a team that
struggles. So what the challenge is here is going to be to
play at our level all the time.
The Raiders played consistently long rallies versus Clear
Lake in the nal match on
Thursday. Even with the slow
start early, senior Addy Welch
said they were most happy
with their play in the last two
sets.
Clear Lake obviously
matched our level, and I think
we rose to that occasion,
Welch said. I was kind of
nervous with how we played
------- S E E W I N 2 B -------

Olivia Matzek holds a brace she has used in her recovery from ACL injury. Matzek is getting surgery this
week on the second ACL injury she has suered in the past two years. (Herald photo by Blaze Fugina)

it was an MCL injury. But the

problems continued, leading
to surgery to repair the ACL
on Aug. 11, 2015. This year,
Matzek tried to play volleyball
through her most recent ACL
injury. But it did not work out,
and she was scheduled to have
surgery on the knee Tuesday.
Once again, Matzek is reliving the same feeling of wanting
to be out on the practice oor
with her teammates. The inju-

ries have reminded her of what

others may take for granted.
I hear all these girls, they
say, Oh, we have early morning practice. That sucks. Or, I
dont want to play in the game
tonight, Matzek said. Id
give anything to go to an early
morning practice. I would give
anything to run those sprints.
Even when she is injured,
Matzek has made a point to
attend most volleyball practices

this fall. She was a regular at

practices and games last year
during the volleyball and basketball seasons while she was
recovering from the ACL surgery. During games, she usually
sits with the team and helps take
stats when needed.
Im not just going to stop
being there with them because
that is my life so far, Matzek
------- S E E A C L 2 B -------

Kylee Sabelko goes for a kill during Thursdays quad at Elmwood

High School. (Herald photo by Blaze Fugina)

SPRING VALLEY VOLLEYBALL

Pieces are back for Spring Valley volleyball

By Blaze Fugina
bfugina@rivertowns.net

The Spring Valley volleyball team is still working out

some of the kinks with Geo
Snyder taking over as a rstyear head coach.
But once all the details
are worked out, the Cardinals
expect to have enough experience to nish among the most
competitive teams in the DunnSt. Croix Conference again this
season. Spring Valley kicked
o its season with a quadrangular meet at River Falls
High School last Tuesday. The
Cardinals started the quad with
a three-set win versus New
Richmond. But they ended up
nishing 1-2 after losing the
nal two matches to Somerset
and River Falls.
Spring Valley defeated New
Richmond 23-25, 25-22, 15-8.

Rachel Fesenmaier prepares to bump a volleyball during last

Tuesdays quad in River Falls. (Herald photo by Blaze Fugina)

Somerset won the second match

25-22, 25-19, and River Falls
won the third contest 25-10,
25-11. Outside hitter Ally Lee

led the team with 26 total kills

in the quad, and senior libero
Tatum Huntress led with 22
digs.

Spring Valley was still trying to work out its lineup with
new coach Snyder working with
the team for the rst few weeks.
These lineup changes continued
through last Tuesdays quad.
Were switching up everything with a new coach,
Huntress said. Its all dierent.
Snyder knows there is an
adjustment period when a new
head coach takes over a volleyball program. Even though
the Cardinals nished 1-2 last
Tuesday, he took away some
positives.
There is a huge learning
curve when there is a new coach
in and everything, Snyder said.
I saw a lot of good things. The
end result wasnt exactly what
we wanted, but Im seeing a lot
of good things.
The Cardinals have a solid
group of returning starters from

last season, including Lee who

was named Second Team AllConference in the Dunn-St.
Croix and Huntress who was
selected all-conference honorable mention. Kaitlin McGrane
is also back this season as a
middle blocker and hitter.
Spring Valley finished
third in the Dunn-St. Croix
Conference last season with a
record of 6-2. With a group
of three returning starters, they
have condence for the upcoming season.
A lot of teams have lost a
lot of players, and we have the
same three good players, Lee
said. So I denitely think we
can be in the top three once we
have a set rotation, and we are
all working together.
Spring Valley is seeking a
new starter at setter after Jessica
Christensen graduated last season. Snyder said Grace Larson

and Camryn Wegener are both

in the mix to become the teams
starting setter.
I havent quite made a decision yet. I will go back home
and sleep on it, he said.
The lineup experimentation will soon end as Snyder
said he planned on having a set
plan by this Tuesdays quad at
Boyceville.
His goal for the Cardinals
during the early portion of the
season is to get players used
to playing with each other on
the court. He wants to see the
Cardinals
communication
improve as well.
Its a team sport, just like
football and basketball, Snyder
said. Theyve got to just really
know each other, and that just
takes playing. Thats what the
scrimmage and this quad are
really good for, is just playing
a lot.

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