O-F gets first league win in five years while Area teams fall out of Dairyland title race

The nice thing about obtaining victory is watching all that goes into it come together to obtain it.

That's why is fun to watch, fun to play in and fun to be a part of Osseo-Fairchild's first Dairyland Conference win since re-joining the league last year, first league of any kind since 2021 and first win against a single opponent outside a weekend invitational or weekday quad meet since a 3-1 win over Blair-Taylor back in 2023.

The Thunder topped Melrose-Mindoro at home on Thursday, Oct. 1 by a 3-1 margin. The game scores were 16-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-20. The win improves their overall record to 3-16 overall.

New head coach Kelly Schulte was certainly excited as she raced up and down the sidelines at times and joined in the infectious energy of her players as they took control late in Games 2, 3 and 4. Good serving, including junior Madisyn Lafky's two crucial aces in Game 2, plus strong up front hitting from juniors Jianna Scheffer and Kierra Sieg and seniors Avery James, Jasmin Curry and Addy Swanson were part of those late surges O-F needed to win. AZ Swanson kill ended Game 2 and an ace by her won Game 3

"When you're building a program it is literally building with many blocks," Schulte said. "One of those blocks is good fundamentals, another is doing the little things right and always and developing good habits and still another is building a culture of trust, accountability and responsibility but in a positive way that lifts the players up to play at their potential and go beyond it."

When elements of all these blocks went into the Thunder's win over Mel-Min. that was the best part of victory. O-F struggled in Game 1, falling behind 9-3, rallying to tie at 10-10 but then falling behind again to lose 25-16. But O-F got off to a great start and held on to win Game 2 and never let bad stretches of play allow the Mustangs to get in front of them.

Credit is due to the Thunder's six seniors for providing the leadership to get the conference win that has eluded them since they reached high school in 2023: libero Sara Giacomino, setter Brylie Johnson, Noelle Kiesow, along with Curry, James and Swanson.

"It was so fun and exciting to be out there and playing!" Johnson said. "There was just so much energy and intensity and it showed in the way we communicated and played together and not get down if we missed a point or too. It's just nice to show how much we've progressed since the start of the season and all the work we've done to get us to this moment."

Even in some recent 3-0 losses to Blair-Taylor on Tuesday at home and at Eleva-Strum back on Sept. 25 at Central, the Thunder displayed some of those building blocks but it was against Mel-Min everything was put together. Against the Wildcats, O-F was led by Swanson's four kills, Johnson's two aces and seven assists, Giacomino's 12 digs, with Scheffer, James and Sieg the block leaders. Versus Eleva-Strum, which the Cardinals won 25-19, 25-20, 25-13, Scheffer had seven kills and three blocks, Giacomino 11 digs, Johnson had nine assists and the Thunder had just seven service errors all match while recording six aces.

There will be more chances for O-F to pick up wins in league play this season and continue the building process. For the remainder of the Dairyland Conference, it appears a three-team race for the league title this fall has emerged between Whitehall, Blair-Taylor and Independence/Gilmanton.

Or maybe it's just a one-team race. Since their loss to Augusta, Blair-Taylor has not lost again and are playing like a team determined to repeat as league champions.

Trailing Indy/Gilmanton 2-0 on Thursday, Oct. 1 in Independence, the 'Cats rolled off three straight wins, handing the Indee Panthers their first league loss.

B-T junior Emma Wathke has already reached the 500 assists mark in her high school tenure and senior middle Chloe Mendelblik is already well past 1,000 kills. Her 26 kills led B-T to a three-game sweep of E-S back on Sept. 22 and got her named WHTL 102.3 FM's Player of the Match. The game scores were 25-23, 25-19, 25-19.

In theory, Eleva-Strum would be in the mix for the league title as well just a game back of the leading teams with matches upcoming vs. Whitehall and Independence/Gilmanton in the final week of the regular season.

But unless the Cardinals figure out what ailes them they will miss that opportunity as they have lost three out of their last four matches

Not only did the Cards (10-10 overall) lose to Blair-Taylor 3-0 but they were upended by New Auburn in a non-conference match at NA by a 3-1 score on Tuesday, Sept;. 29, winning Game 1, 25-17 but losing Game 2 in a close 27-25 outcome and then the next two games 25-14 and 25-19. Then on Thursday, Oct. 1, E-S was swept at C-FC 25-20, 25-21, 25-15.

Against New Auburn, the Cards' Brenley Bauer and Josie Iverson both had 12 kills and they got six apiece from Avaya Zwiefelhofer and Daria Lonetree-Rindahl. Avery Spangberg finished with six aces and 17 digs while teammate Maddea Brown had 15 digs. Greta Hanson finished with 19 assists and Mariah Steffenson had 16.

Augusta, with its win over B-T could have been in contention but its simply too up and down to remain so. The Beavers were swept by first place Whitehall 25-21, 25-14, 25-22 in their Homecoming match Thursday, Oct. 1. This broke a two-match winning streak in the DC as the Beavers downed Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran on Tuesday, Sept. 29 by scores of 25-20, 25-19, 28-26 and Alma/Pepin on Thursday, Sept. 25 by scores of 25-22, 25-14,. 25-27, 25-15. Still, AHS is 9-9 overall and 4-3 in the league, a far better mark than they have been in the recent past. Against the Eagles of A/P, Maddie Meyer had 15 kills and Stella Zank 11. Zank also finished with five aces and 24 digs while Meyer had 16 and Brooklyn Krueger had 13 digs to go with her 31 assists.

2026 Dairyland Conference Volleyball Standings
Team W-L
Whitehall 6-1
Blair-Taylor 5-1
Independence/Gilmanton 5-1
Eleva-Strum 4-2
Augusta 4-3
Cochrane-Fountain City 4-3
Alma/Pepin 3-4
Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran 2-4
Lincoln 1-6
Osseo-Fairchild 1-6
Melrose-Mindoro 0-6

Last Week's Matches
Tuesday, Sept. 22
Whitehall def. Melrose-Mindoro 3-0
Cochrane-Fountain City def. Alma/Pepin 3-2
Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran def. Lincoln 3-1
Blair-Taylor def. Eleva-Strum 3-0
Independence/Gilmanton def. Augusta 3-1

Thursday, Sept. 24
Cochrane-Fountain City def. Melrose-Mindoro 3-1
Eleva-Strum def. Osseo-Fairchild 3-0
Augusta def. Alma/Pepin 3-2
Whitehall def. Lincoln 3-0

This Week's Matches
Monday, Sept. 28
Blair-Taylor def. Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran 3-0

Tuesday, Sept. 29
Whitehall def. Cochrane-Fountain City 3-0
Augusta dfef. Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran 3-0
Alma/Pepin def. Melrose-Mindoro 3-0
Blair-Taylor def. Osseo-Fairchild 3-0
Independence/Gilmanton def. Lincoln 3-0

Thursday, Oct. 1
Blair-Taylor def. Independence/Gilmanton 3-2
Osseo-Fairchild def. Melrose-Mindoro 3-1
Cochrane-Fountain City def. Eleva-Strum 3-0
Whitehall def. Augusta 3-0
Alma/Pepin def. Lincoln 3-2

Next Week's Matches
Tuesday, Oct. 6
Augusta at Cochrane-Fountain City
Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran at Eleva-Strum
Alma/Pepin at Blair-Taylor
Lincoln at Melrose-Mindoro
Osseo-Fairchild at Independence/Gilmanton

Thursday, Oct. 8
Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran at Whitehall
Eleva-Strum at Augusta
Independence/Gilmanton at Melrose-Mindoro
Lincoln at Blair-Taylor
Osseo-Fairchild at Alma/Pepin