Area prep spikers reach midway point of '25 season
It's a measure of the depth and numbers in the Eleva-Strum High School program that it was able to enter its varsity and JV squad into own invitational tournament last weekend Saturday, Sept. 20 at Central.
And that depth was definitely on display as Cardinals carried through a perfect 4-0 mark through the invite meet, winning the title match over rival Osseo-Fairchild by scores of 25-22 and 25-15
And they'll need all that depth and talent to keep their Dairyland Conference record perfect as it is right now when the Cardinals take on rival Blair-Taylor on Thursday, Sept. 25, part of Homecoming Week at the school. B-T also has a perfect league mark at 3-0 (9-5 overall). E-S's 3-0 win at home over Lincoln by scores of 25-11, 25-13 and 25-20 on Tuesday, Sept. 23 has the Cards 4-0 in the DC, tied with Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran, and 12-3 overall.
The 14 kills, two blocks and three put forth by senior middle hitter Aliza Kulig in the match vs. Osseo-Fairchild demonstrated her value to the Cardinal squad. There wasn't much the Thunder could do to stop her when she was on the attack as E-S had the definite height advantage. But in the Cards against another Cardinal squad, the one from Thorp during pool play. Kulig had eight kills and teammate junior Avaya Zwiefelhofer finished with seven, sophomore Brenley Bauer scored two kills and junior Maddea Brown had two. Kulig finished with three aces and Cardinal libero senior Gabby Franck had two.
"Knowing we have a lot of players who can score points, it's very relaxing and makes us very confident," Bauer said. "We know we can rely on each other and work for each other when we're on the floor."
E-S knew going into this season it had a lot of solid hitters but needed good backrow defenders to compliment them. After deciding to go with just one setter, junior Mariah Steffenson, on the floor instead of two to feed those hitters, former setters made the transition to defense like Franck and fellow senior Ruby Bartholomew and junior Avery Spangberg.
"We have players with speed and athleticism and it was important we have them on the floor," E-S head coach Katie Skoug said. "It's taken them time to make the adjustment to new roles but they're doing so and gradually getting better at it and the hope is they will be at their best in the matches we need them to be at their best."
The Cards actually fell behind and or played even in Games 1 vs. Thorp and Osseo-Fairchild but eventually pulled away for wins that made their Game 2s strong performances in comparison.
"See them overcome adversity and playing with a great deal of energy and enthusiasm, they've fun to coach this season. It's still early and we have a lot of tough matches ahead but we're really feeling good and confident at what we can accomplish this season." Skoug said.
Also feeling good confident at Saturday's meet was Osseo-Fairchild. After starting the season 0-9, the Thunder won three straight in pool play, beating the Central JV squad 25-9, 25-15, Lake Holcombe 25-18, 25-23 and Necedah 25-18, 22-25, 17-15. The Thunder in Game 3 vs Necedah, down 14-13, to tie and beat the Cardinals thanks to back-to-back aces by sophomore Julia Whelan and kills by Kierra Seig. In the title match, Seig, a sophomore, finished with six kills and two aces. Sophomore middle Jianna Scheffer finished with a kill and a block and both Whelan and junior Addy Swanson had kills as well.
After showing flashes of good play in various games against good opponents, O-F put it all together for wins last weekend. And they did so with a limited varsity roster due to illness and injuries.
"We've played well at times but just couldn't finish," O-F head coach Lexi Ward said. "We won our first game vs. Cochrane-Fountain City on Thursday of last week, played really, really well but crumbled in the next three we they rallied back. We led Elk Mound 21-13 in the McDonell Invite but they came back to win. This team has worked so hard to improve and get better and the talent is there to be good even though we have a young squad. But you've got to have that success to show that what you're doing is paying off and build up your confidence that you can win and more importantly know how to win and we did that this meet."
That's what Osseo-Fairchild will have to keep striving for as Augusta edged the Thunder 3-2 on Tuesday, Sept. 23 in Osseo. The Beavers rallied from a 2-1 deficit (Augusta won the first game 25-22) as O-F won Games 2 and 3 by 25-17, 25-15 scores. AHS took Game 4, 25-20 and then won Game 5 decisively 15-7. The win improved the Beavers' record to 6-9 overall and 2-2 in the DC and it made up for a tough loss 24 hrs before home to Blair-Taylor, also by a 3-2 outcome. It was the Beavers first five-set win this season as they lost another close 3-2 contest to Melrose-Mindoro. Augusta won Games 1 and 4 vs. the Wildcats by scores of 25-23 and 25-21 but were beaten in a decisive Game 5 by a 15-8 score. Over the weekend AHS played in a tournament in Spencer and finished with a 1-3 overall record and they swept Lincoln last week Tuesday, Sept. 16 at home by scores of 25 -21, 25-19 and 25-20.
A young Fall Creek squad is finding out how tough the 2025 season in the Western Cloverbelt is proving to be. The WCC is always tough in volleyball but this season even more so as three teams are ranked in the top 10 in the state, including No. 2 Eau Claire Regis (Chippewa Falls McDonell is No.1 and Stanley-Boyd No. 3 in their respective divisions) who the Crickets lost in Eau Claire on Tuesday, Sept. 23 by a 3-0 sweep with scores of 25-16, 25-20, 25-23. Regis has some of the league's best players leading in various categories of statistics such Izzy Reichert, Ashlee Dykess, Lily Lewis, Olivia Morning and Olivia Haselwander.
"Year after year, the Western Cloverbelt Conference is a premier conference in the area for volleyball," FC head coach Matt Prissel said. "Right now, we have three teams in the top 5 of their respective divisions which means one of those is going to be a third place team in the conference which is pretty crazy. The strength of the conference this year reminds me of some of the years in the mid 2010s when the conference was even more loaded than it is now. Without a doubt, there will be some 'heavyweight bouts' in the conference season this year and even those who come up on the short end of those conference match-ups will have the big game experience that will help them in the regionals and sections."
Against a veteran Bloomer squad last week Tuesday, the 15-10 overall Crickets demonstrated they have the talent, winning Games 2 and 3 by scores of 25-17 and 25-18 led by hitters and front row players like sophomore Joanna Grossinger, sophomore Tessa Schroeder, juniors Allison Holman and Ashleigh Lewis and senior Corina Grossinger. The libero play and serving of sophomore Makayla Coleman and setting of sophomore Jaelyn Martzke were highlights as well. But the Blackhawks, with seven seniors, five of them starters, rallied back to easily win Game 4 by a 25-16 score and then took Game 5 by a 15-12 margin as junior Ilona Tozer came off the bench and scored two key kills to push her team to the top in this match.
"Thinking about our game, Bloomer and Fall Creek are projected to be "middle of the pack" teams in conference this year and both teams competed at a high level for five sets," Prissel said. "In general, we need to learn how to play complete sets and complete matches in a cleaner fashion with fewer peaks and valleys. With a younger team (multiple rotations have a majority of sophomores playing on the court) we need to continue to build, learn, and grow. Additionally, we need some practice not just on our physical skills, but we need to dedicate some focus to our 'mental game' as well so when we get in the bigger moments like a close set or a tight match in front of a loud crowd, we can navigate them better than we did against Bloomer in sets 4 and 5. With that being said, I am still pleased with our progress and effort and I am confident the girls on the team will keep working to keep improving so we can be playing our best volleyball of the season when the post-season arrives."
Besides the big B-T at E-S match, Fall Creek also has a Homecoming match with No. 3 Stanley-Boyd on Thursday, Sept. 25 and Augusta hosts Independence/Gilmanton with O-F having a league bye. All matches start at 7:15. Fall Creek also has a weekend tournament in Cameron on Saturday, Sept. 27 beginning at 9 a.m. Next Tuesday, Sept. 30 the schedule has Fall Creek at Cadott, Augusta at Alma/Pepin and Osseo-Fairchild hosting Eleva-Strum.
