FC spikers win regional title, sectional tournament this weekend
The Fall Creek High School Prep Volleyball Team won its first WIAA regional tournament championship since 2023 last week.
The No. 9 ranked Crickets defeated No. 9 seed Durand-Arkansaw 3-1 in the semifinals on Thursday, Oct. 22 and swept No. 4 seed La Cross Aquinas in the finals on Saturday, Oct. 24 by game scores of 26-24, 25-19, 25-14.
FC (35-9 overall) plays No. 2 seed Onalaska Luther (18-9 overall) in the Division 3 St. Croix Falls Sectional Tournament semifinals. The other semi pits No. 4 ranked and No. 1 seed St. Croix Falls (29-8) vs. No. 5 ranked and No. 2 seeded Stanley-Boyd (33-5).
Reaching this point in the season for a basically young group class-wise with few seniors, shows the team is envisioning what its potential can be in the present rather than just in the future.
" I do believe our girls realize that when we are working as one unit, we can be a pretty good team that can compete.," FC head coach Matt Prissel said. "We have known since the summer that we were going to be a better and stronger team than we were last year. We weren't sure what our record was going to be, but we knew we would be playing at a higher level. Throughout the season, we have been trying to focus on the next game or next task in front of us. During the week of regionals, we only focused on the regional games and didn't talk about the sectional week or possible opponents at all. After we defeated Aquinas in the Regional Championship in our post-game meeting, some of the girls started to ask who we played next and what day was the game going to be--I thought those questions were great because they had really bought into focusing on the present and not looking ahead which also showed some growth and maturity as a team."
The Crickets first got past Durand-Arkansaw (13-17) and past a disasterous first game, losing 19-25. The Crickets trailed 4-1 in Game 2 before turning a switch and dominating the rest of the game and Game 3 with winning scores of 25-15 and 25-13. Game 4 was more back n' forth and more intense, befitting a playoff atmosphere in the FC gymnasium. The game was tied at one point 18-18. But the Crickets top players: junior middle hitter Johannah Grossinger, junior libero Makayla Coleman, senior middle hitter Allison Holman, junior setter Jaelyn Martzke, junior right Natessa Schroeder and senior right Rian Moyer-Johnson, stepped up and led FC to a 25-20 win.
"Against Durand-Arkansaw, I am not entirely sure why we were as flat as we were at the start of the match," Prissel said. "I have to give the Panthers credit as they played inspired volleyball and had a sharp and smart first set--they kept us off balance and matched their skill with scrappiness. We were not sharp and we made many errors, if my memory serves me correctly we made enough errors that they contributed directly to over half of the points that Durand-Arkansaw scored--credit to them as they took advantage of those mistakes and won the race to 25 in that first set. In terms of our quick response, I must have caught their attention, during the 1st minute of the three minutes between games one and two, our girls got a little bit of an 'old school, one-sided conversation' from me and I challenged them directly by saying if that was going to be the effort and execution that we were going to show the rest of the night, our season would be done and we all would have to live with a 9 seed coming into our gym and beating us and beating us badly. If we think we are a one seed, we need to start playing like that and we need to make a choice right now how we are going to play the rest of the night. The assistant coaches gave them a little more information as I turned the line-up in for us and then I said a few more words to the team before we headed back out to the court and the final thing I did before we broke our huddle was told a quick joke to get them smiling and laughing before they started game two--clearly, the message was received as we got back to work back on the court. "
The Crickets won a close Game 1 vs. Aquinas (11-17 overall) 26-24 but afterwards were in complete control. to win the next two games 25-19 and 25-14
"Our match against Aquinas was our closest to a complete game of the season, other than a stretch near the end of the first set, I felt we were in control for about 90 percent of the match and our performance showed that was true. " Prissel said.
Prissel hopes that performance repeats itself against the Knights on Thursday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. in Fall Creek. Senior setter Addie Schaper leads the Knights in aces, assists and hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter Audrey Clark leads the team in kills and junior middle hitter Tessa Glode leads Luther in blocks and junior libero Carsyn Krause leads the team in digs. Luther had no problem winning its regional title match over No. 3 seeded Stratford in straight sets 25-23, 25-13, 25-12.
Fall Creek played Stanley-Boyd earlier this season and even though the Crickets won the first game, the Orioles seemed more annoyed than threatened and thus easily swept the next three games. They could see the Crickets again in a re-match led by the Lew sisters, senior outside hitter Kelly who leads the team in kills and hitting percentage and sophomore sibling and outside hitter Amanda, who leads S-B in digs and aces. Or FC could travel to St. Croix Falls and meet up with the Saints in the sectional finals on Halloween beginning at 7 p.m. The Saints' top players are senior outside hitter Britta Olson, team leader in kills and hitting percentage, senior middle Olivia Shimon, team leader in blocks and senior outside hitter McKenna Warner, team leader in aces with 84 this season.
In other WIAA regional tournament action involving Area teams. Augusta played at No. 3 seed and Dairyland Conference co-champs Blair-Taylor on Thursday, Oct. 22 in the Division 4 regional semifinals and gave the Wildcats a rude awakening in Game 1 with a 25-18 win. But B-T made sure the Beavers did not pull off the win against them as they did during the regular season as struck back with three straight wins 25-19, 25-13 and 25-20. Chloe Medenblik and teammate Charlyse Horton finished with 39 kills combined and the 'Cats also had 11 aces. The Beavers still finished with a winning record at 14-13.
Also last week, Elvea-Strum played a Division 4 regional quarterfinal at home vs. Alma/Pepin on Tuesday,. Oct. 22. The Cardinal had beaten the Eagles 3-2 in the regular season and won Game 1 by a 25-21 margin. But the Eagles (13-15) won an extended Game 2 by a 30-28 score and then easily took the next two games 25-17 and 25-15 to advance to the regional semifinals where they lost to eventual champion and No. 6 ranked Marshfield Columbus 3-0. E-S finished 10-15 overall.
https://tournaments.wiaawi.org/brackets/Volleyball/Girls/2026/2026_Volle...
