Area volleyball teams get ready for upcoming postseason

With the potential of conference titles having passed for the Tri-County Area's prep volleyball teams, the goal now is to play their best volleyball as the postseason approaches in a couple of weeks. Oct. 21 is the first round of the WIAA regionals.

And not only to get the best playoff seed possible, but play for winning season if not better records than before.

That's especially true for Augusta. The Beavers have been up and down the past two weeks going into their contest Thursday, Oct. 9 against Cochrane-Fountain City at home starting at 7:15 p.m.

Augusta started last week with a big 3-0 sweep over Alma/Pepin at Pepin on Tuesday, Sept. 30. It was Senior Night for the A/P program and while AHS doesn't quite have the number of seniors Alma/Pepin does, class didn't quite matter in the outcome of this match as the Beavers swept A/P by scores of 25-17, 25-18, 25-18.

For a squad which has struggled to win full five-game matches, having a breather last week was quite refreshing. Augusta used its serving to establish control in each game and never relinquished it. A/P had a brief lead, 16-13 in Game 1 but the Beavers went on a 7-1 run sparked by back-to-back aces from Kayden Kirkham and kills by Stella Zank and Cecelia Schroeder. AHS jumped out to a 13-3 lead in Game 2 and held on for the win and after an 11-11 tie in Game 3, Augusta surged to a 21-15 advantage and then did what is has struggled to do this season at times and that's finish strong.

"It's very pleasing to see the team learn how to close out an opponent and get that win," AHS head coach Alicia Bethke said. "Serving was a big plus for us tonight and I thought we played very smart too, finding weakness on the other side of the next and going after them. We played well and led to a lot of positive energy and a lot of confident play on our part."

Zank led AHS with seven kills and a pair of aces and teammate Maddi Meyer finished with five kills. Rilee Bethke had four kills and an ace while Schroeder had four kills and a block.

Unfortunately AHS couldn't keep the momentum going 48 hours later at Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran. The Lancers swept them 25-10, 25-10, 25-15 for their 46th straight league win. And then this week Tuesday. Oct. 7, the Beavers were swept again in a road match at Whitehall 25-11, 25-16, 25-19. Augusta is 7-12 overall, 3-5 in the DC. The Beavers will also take part in the Gilman Invitational Tournament this Saturday, Oct. 11.

Eleva-Strum, got quite a scare at Osseo-Fairchild in Game 1 of their match Tuesday, Sept. 30. The Thunder forced E-S in extra points and barley lost a 30-28 outcome. However, O-F couldn't sustain that energy in the next two games as E-S won 25-15 and 25-21 as the Cardinals won their sixth straight on the road. The Thunder also lost 3-0 sweeps at Blair-Taylor on Thursday, Oct. 2 and at home to Melrose-Mindoro 25-20, 25-17, 25-22. The Thunder are 3-14 overall and will look to get their first league win Thursday, Oct. 9. at Independence/Gilmanton. The Thunder also host their own invite meet this Saturday, Oct. 11 beginning at 9 a.m. , host Alma/Pepin on Tuesday, Oct. 14.

Eleva-Strum, 14-5 overall, will be one of the schools competing in that meet and they come in as team needing to regroup after their league title hopes were dashed in a three game sweep at home by Cochrane-Fountain City 25-19, 25-23, 26-24. E-S is at Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran on Thursday, Oct. 9 as the Lancers have pretty much wrapped up the league title with E-S's loss Tuesday which drops them to 5-2 in the league.

It was also not a good week for Fall Creek as they had just one lone win. That came at Thorp on Oct. 2 by scores of 25-19, 25-22, 25-14. Cadott swept the Crickets at Cadott on Tuesday, Sept. 30 by scores of 25-21, 25-14, 25-22 as the Hornets' Haley Mathison ripped 24 kills despite the short match and teammate Kaliee Davids finished with 30 assists. Then FC went to Bloomer this weekend to play in the Bloomer Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 4 and came away empty-handed in spite of some very close matches. The outcomes were Bloomer def. Fall Creek 25-23, 30-32, 15-12; Maple Northwestern def. Fall Creek 24-26, 25-18, 15-12; Turtle Lake def. Fall Creek 20-25, 25-21, 15-10; Durand-Arkansaw def. Fall Creek 25-18, 25-20 and Ladysmith def. Fall Creek 25-22, 25-22. On Tuesday, Oct. 7, No. 1 ranked Chippewa Falls McDonell swept the Crickets at FC to clinch a share of the West Cloverbelt Conference title 25-12, 25-21, 25-19. McDonell can win the outright title with a win at home vs. No. 2 Eau Claire Regis Thursday, Oct. 9. Meanwhile the Crickets, 20-19 overall and 1-5 in the WCC, close their regular season at Elk Mound. They host a Cloverbelt Conference Crossover match next Tuesday, Oct. 14.

Also next Tuesday, Oct. 14, Augusta is at Eleva-Strum, 7:15 p.m. start.