Macks 'super sophs' down Fall Creek for WCC title share
Fall Creek High School volleyball's bid for a share of the Western Cloverbelt Conference title fell short on Tuesday, Oct. 8 as the Crickets lost at No. 5 ranked Chippewa Falls McDonell 3-1.
The Macks claimed a share of their third WCC title in a row and can claim it outright if they beat No. 6 Eau Claire Regis tonight, Thursday, Oct. 10. And there could be more titles to come for the Macks this season and beyond as a group of four sophomore players: Claire Ruf, Emily Hartman, the sisters Erin and Annie Siegenthaler along with freshman Payton Hepfler make the seamless transition for the team replacing the seniors, many of them all-conference team members, which helped McDonell win WCC titles in 2020, 2022 and 2023 in Aubrey Dorn, Emily Cooper, Kali Goulet, Ana Thaler and Alyana Crawford.
Hepfler, filling the role that Dorn had in the middle, led the Macks in kills with 13 (with three service aces) while Annie Siegenthaler had 13 kills as well hitting from the outside as did Hartman (six) and one of McDonell's lone senior starters, Kendall Hepfler, had eight kills.
McDonell took leads in Games 1, 2 and 4 of as many as three to four points and sometimes five that their players were able to proect like a wall around an ancient city. Fall Creek could get as close as one or two points but could never go on a sustained run thanks to the efforts of McDonell's "super sophs".
The only time the Crickets did so was in Game 3. Down 2-0 after losses of 25-20 and facing defeat the Crickets blasted their way to leads of 10-2, 14-3 and 18-5 thanks to the kills coming from seniors Sophie Schmidgall and Anna Daugherty. The former finished with 15 kills and the latter had 14. Grace Herrem led FC with five aces. McDonell came back but FC won the set 25-16. But the Macks got their working cushion again in Game 4 by a 6-3 score when Fall Creek called time out. The Crickets closed within 7-6 after a block kill by Schmidgall but advance close than three points in deficit at 18-15 and 23-20 for the duration of the game.
It was only the second loss for the Crickerts, 28-12 overall, in the last 15 matches. Last week Thursday, Oct. 3, FC won at home over Thorp on Senior Night for Schmidgall, Daugherty, Herrem, Lauren Dallas, Ella Solfest and Gracie Marten by a 3-0 sweep of 25-20, 25-17, 25-12. Then at the Bloomer Tournament on Saturday, Oct. 5, FC avenged an earlier defeat to Bloomer 19-25, 26-24, 15-7 and also beat Turtle Lake 25-19, 25-20 in pool play but lost to St. Croix Central 25-17 and 25-23, which put them in the consolation bracket by tie-breaker. There FC defeated Ladysmith 25-15, 25-22 and Osceola 25-23, 25-21 to claim fifth place.
FC is off until their Cloverbelt Crossover match next week, either Tuesday, Oct. 15 or Thursday, Oct. 17 depending on the outcome of the Regis-McDonell match tonight. They will either be at a East Cloverbelt foe on Tuesday or in the Championship crossovers on Thursday at Marshfield Columbus.
