HIBBING—The last time Kristen Riesgraf was at the Lincoln Elementary School Gymnasium was in the fall of 2004 on the Hibbing High School volleyball team.
After that Riesgraf went on to star in the sport in college, and she became an assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin-Superior.
Riesgraf was with the Yellowjackets for 13 years, then this year, she took over as head coach of Superior High School.
Well, the Spartans made a road trip to take on the Bluejackets Tuesday, so Riesgraf had returned home successfully as Superior beat Hibbing 3-0, 25-17, 25-17, 25-15 on Kevin McHale Court.
What was Riesgraf’s first impression on her return?
“It’s a lot brighter in here,” Riesgraf said with a laugh. “I had to ask Lauren about the lighting change, but it did feel a little odd being with a different team. It felt good being back. It was nice to see the band.
“I was looking forward to seeing how this has changed, how the atmospher had changed. The last time I played here would have been in our last home game trying to get to state, but everything seems like I remember it.”
Riesgraf also got the chance to reunite with Hibbing coach Lauren Huju.
“Lauren actually played two years at UWS for me, so it was fun to see her here as the head coach, and have that friendly competition,” Riesgraf said. “It was fun to see all of the different faces that I recognized, even Babe (Glumack) on the lines.”
Huju also enjoyed the short time she had to speak with Riesgraf.
“This was fun,” Huju said. “We caught up right away before the JV game, and it was a lot of fun coaching against her. It was nice catching up with her, too.”
As for the game itself, Superior came out of the gate on the offensive.
“We came out aggressive,” Riesgraf said. “We were able to come out of some of the slumps we were having. We were able to come back from it with some energy and try to better the ball.
“Those moments pulled us back in. We were able to build our confidence back, then keep swinging. Their effort is what I’ve asked for. I thought I saw the effort that I wanted to see.”
Huju knew that the Spartans would come out firing on all cylinders.
“I was prepared for a good team, and a good, solid game,” Huju said. “Superior usually has a decent team. I felt like we were hanging in there for a little bit, then we got down. We couldn’t pull ourselves up in a couple of those.
“When we did, it was too late.”
The Bluejackets almost pulled themselves together in the second set, rallying from an early deficit to take a 10-8 lead, but Hibbing couldn’t complete the run.
“That’s frustrating because what it comes down to is those unforced errors that we always talk about,” Huju said. “Those happen in those critical times. We have to move on from that, but don’t make that same mistake.
“I don’t know how many more times I can say, ‘Don’t make that same mistake.’”
Riesgraf noticed a change in her team during that stretch.
“We got quiet,” Riesgraf said. “We stopped creating our own energy. We weren’t the home team, so we had to create our own energy. We get quiet, then when mistakes happen we get into our own minds.
“We’ve been working hard on trying to reset and come back. We were able to do that because we were able to pull out that game.”
After winning set two, the Spartans took that energy into the third set.
“That gave us some confidence,” Riesgraf said. “They came back knowing that no matter what, we can capitalize on those mistakes, learn from them and keep moving on. We met the goal that we set today.”
Hibbing, once again, made too many unforced errors to help propel Superior.
“I stress all of the time in practice how big communication is,” Huju said. “It avoids injury and you’re also playing as a team. You’re not going to win this game without playing as a team.”
Tarah Yliniemi with 14 kills for the Spartans; Isabelle Barker had four kills; Kaylee Ramel had four kills; Faith Colby had four kills; and Brekyn Warburton had 13 digs.
Hibbing was led by Emma Kangas with nine assist; Jaela Williams with three kills; Brooke Siekkine with three aces and nine digs; Aubrey Ostrander with two aces; and Addison Fisher with seven digs.
Duluth East 3,
Greenway 2
DULUTH—The Greyhounds got 13 kills, one block, three aces and four digs from Harlow Hartwick en route to the five-game, 25-10, 18-25, 25-19, 23-25, 15-13 win over the Raiders Tuesday.
Duluth East also got 11 kills, two blocks and two digs from Sarah Greicar; two kills, one block, 44 assists, one ace and six digs from Chelsea Zentz; and eight kills, one block, three aces and six digs from Ella Tormondson.
Ava Johnson had 16 kills, 17 digs and three aces for Greenway; Ari Johnson had 12 kills and nine digs; Chloe Troumbly 17 digs; Destiny Serfling 30 assists and nine digs; and Lydia Schwartz six kills and three blocks.
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