Girls volleyball: Woodstock North upends Richmond-Burton for 2nd time in 3 days

RICHMOND – Woodstock North freshman Lexi Hansen had a difficult debut against Richmond-Burton on Monday, ending her first varsity match without any kills and making four hitting errors.

Wednesday’s rematch against R-B was a different story. In only her second varsity match, the 5-foot-6 Hansen put away seven kills to help lead the Thunder past the Rockets, 25-10, 25-20, in their Kishwaukee River Conference match.

Hansen was brought up from JV this week with a couple of players missing because of spring break. She accounted for three of her team’s final seven points, contributing four kills in the second set to help seal the match for North (5-1, 4-0 KRC), which handed R-B its first two losses of the season after a 5-0 start.

“It’s been really great. I’ve learned a lot this week,” said Hansen, whose second-set kills brought some of the loudest cheers of the night from North’s bench. “[North coach Eric Schulze] is a great coach, and all of my teammates are amazing. They really bring out a lot of positivity energy.”

“I was really shy [Monday]. I know the team, but I was still nervous around them. Today I opened up a lot more, and it was a lot better.”

The Thunder have yet to drop a match in conference play, beating Marengo and R-B each twice, although Schulze would like to see more consistency from his group. He admits it has been made more difficult this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and protocols.

“We let up really badly [in the second set], and we started playing very uncharacteristically,” Schulze said. “We’re still trying to establish an identity, and I don’t want that to change match to match. We just

need to find that level of consistency, but look … it’s hard.

“These kids are on spring break – the masks, it’s quiet, its awkward, it’s weird. I think right now they need a little break, a little mental break. So we’re going to take one for this weekend, then we’ll come back and be ready Monday.”

Sophomore setter Kylie Schulze came up just short of a rare triple-double for the Thunder, recording 20 assists, 13 digs, seven kills and five aces, while junior outside hitter Alyssa Wickersheim added nine kills, six digs and a pair of aces.

Avery Crabill had three aces and two kills, Katie Wickersheim led the defense with 10 digs, and Hannah Blaksley had three kills.

Kylie Schulze, who set the program record a year ago as a freshman with 732 assists, thought that the Thunder came out more aggressive in the first set and let up in the second.

“We just need to take that aggression to different parts of our game, like our passing, setting consistently and swinging as hard as we can, because we are a shorter team,” Kylie Schulze said. “We’ve had ups and downs, but we’re getting through it as a team. And I think that’s what’s keeping us alive.”

The Rockets (6-2, 2-2) were led offensively by freshman Maggie Uhwat with four kills, seven digs and a block. Jesse Klicker had an ace and seven digs, and Reese Frericks led the R-B defense with eight digs.

Rockets first-year coach Mike Kamholz said Klicker’s leadership really shined through in the second set, in which R-B had leads of 8-4 and 13-12. The Rockets were missing regular starters Jordyn Duncan and Kaitlyn Lehecka because of spring break.

“Jesse kind of just got on them and said, ‘We need to do better,’ and they did,” Kamholz said. “They really responded to what she had to say. It’s been something that we’ve been looking for because we’ve kind of missed some of those building blocks along the way. To have someone step up and command their attention was fantastic.”