Tri-County Area prep volleyball teams looking to pieces together for complete teams
The pieces are all there. But can a picture be put together?
That complete picture for the Tri-County Area prep volleyball teams, as conference play begins tonight Thursday, Sept. 12 in the Dairyland and next Tuesday, Sept. 17 for the Western Cloverbelt, would be one of a winning season with top finishes for either Augusta, Eleva-Strum, Fall Creek and Osseo-Fairchild in the their respective leagues and good playoff runs as well.
Fall Creek had such a playoff run last season, with a thrilling WIAA regional tournament title win over Cadott. The Crickets have a lot of players back from last season's 31-14 squad, including senior outside hitters All-WCC performer senior Anna Dougherty and all-conference honorable mention Gracie Marten; senior libero Gracie Herrem and setter Lauern Dallas, both of whom have reached the 1,000 level for digs and assists respectively. FCHS also has back senior setter Ells Solfest and middle blockers junior Jasmin Heuer and senior Sophie Schmidgall. But the Crickets also lost a lot of talent in the graduated Caroline Grossinger
Emallie Sorensen, Kambel Sell, Sophie Johnson, Morgan Langford and Adiel Kaufman.
"This season will be a success for Fall Creek Volleyball if we are able to go out there and compete and get just a little bit better at each practice and in each competition," head coach Matt Prissel said. "We have an interesting blend of experienced varsity players and varsity rookies. It will take us some time to build our comfortability with each other and develop our team chemistry, but we will make it an emphasis to play for each other and to support each other every step of the way. Playing "together" will help us to become more successful this season. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to get out there and start the season and see where we can go on this journey together this upcoming season."
Prissel hopes FCHS this mix can come together fast enough to be a better serve-receive team this season along with their usual strength at the net.
"Our team is placing an emphasis on trying to win the 'Battle of First Contact' this season," Prissel said. "We will try to increase our effectiveness of serving by being more accurate and efficient from the service line as we try to get the other team out of system with our service game. On the flip side, we are trying to do a great job with our service receptions and passing game so we can get into system and give our setters the chance to run our offense and feed our hitters. We graduated two talented middle blockers from the program, so getting early season opportunities, experiences, and quality competition will help the development of our defense in the middle of the net."
The Crickets once again have a busy non-conference schedule and have so far compiled an 11-8 overall records. On Sept. 3 Fall Creek competed in a quadrangular meet hosted by Durand-Arkansaw where they def. Mondovi 25-21, 25-14 and Eleva-Strum 25-12, 25-18 but lost to the host Panthers 22-25, 28-26 and 15-7. Last week Thursday, Sept. 5, FC competed in a quad. meet at Barron where they defeated Altoona 25-20, 25-21; lost to the usually solid Barron program 25-15, 25-12 and lost to WCC rival Eau Claire Regis 25-22, 25-14. On Tuesday, Sept. 10, the Crickets played a straight-up, single match vs. Neillsville at home, their first home event of the season and easily swept the Warriors 25-14, 25-21, 25-17. FC competes in the 10-team Sparta Invitational this Saturday before beginning WCC action next Tuesday, Sept. 17 at Bloomer, one of the favorites in the league this season along with Eau Claire Regis and Cadott and Chippewa Falls McDonell.
"The Western Cloverbelt is a strong volleyball conference each and every year," Prissel said. "Eau Claire Regis is going to have a strong team and will be in the conference hunt. Even though Chippewa Falls McDonell graduated many very talented players, they are one of the area's best coached teams and have the ability to reload and rarely ever have a "rebuilding year" so we expect them to be a main contender as well. Bloomer has a strong volleyball tradition and should never be overlooked by their opponents. We are hopeful that if we can take it one game at a time, take care of our side of the net, and make the other team make some plays, we will have the opportunity to be in the mix to be one of the top teams in the conference."
Another squad with lots of pieces to their puzzle is Eleva-Strum. The Cardinals were 10-16 overall last season but finished 6-3 in the Dairyland Conference, their first winning conference record a many seasons. So far E-S is in a good spot at 4-4 overall before heading into DC play starting this evening, Sept. 12 at Whitehall. The Cards went 1-2 in the Durand-Arkansaw quad but their one win was a against a solid, experienced host team by a 2-1 margin on their home floor followed by a 2-2 record at the Loyal Invite last weekend where E-S beat Almond-Bancroft and Wisconsin Rapids Assumption by 2-0 scores while losing to the host Greyhounds 2-0, and Pittsville in a closely contested match 2-1. Central evened its record with a 3-1 win Tuesday at Glenwood City.
While the Cards lost all-conference performer Annika Skoug to graduation they return junior middle Aliza Kulig, who was second team all-conference last season. She was one of nine returning letter winners including eight seniors in Kaya Franson, Olivia Spangberg, Neeley Lasher, MacKenzy King, Olivia Capinigro, Claire Maki, Ella McConnell, and Terris Quick. E-S also has a talented group of juniors and sophomores throughout the program, some of whom played on the Redbirds regional championship softball team last spring, who bring not just athletic ability and size but also winning experience regardless of the sport.
Thus, E-S has what its needs to have a successful season but it will tough competing for the Dairyland title. Defending champion and currently No. 5 ranked Eau Clare Immanuel Lutheran has won 48-straight league matches, is undefeated so far and returns four players from the all-conference squad. Traditional powers Cochrane-Fountain City and Blair-Taylor also returns some all-conference talent as well. The Cardinals first home match is next Tuesday, Sept. 17 hosting Independence/Gilmanton.
Thus, while Osseo-Fairchild will move from the Western Cloverbelt to the Dairyland this season the league competition will still be a challenge for while the Thunder return seven seniors from last season's 11-19 overall squad, including setter Kara Skoyen who sat out last season due to a knee injury, along with Lizzie Jacobson, Kaiya Quirk, Bryssa Johnson, Frankee Drummer, Adelyn Helland and Emy Sousek, their varsity experience was limited as O-F graduate a large senior class that included Addi Koxlien, Halle Colby, Chloe Gunderson, and honorable mention All-WCC player Hanna Giacomino.
The Thunder are 0-2 so far, losing their opener on Sept. 3 at Cadott 25-10, 25-15 and 25-18 and a week later at Elmwood/Plum City (in PC) 25-16, 25-5 and 25-19. The Thunder held small leads early in Games 1 and 3 and fought back to play their best volleyball in the third set after a diasterous Game 2, but EPC senior outside Hailey Webb was too much for O-F too handle as she scored the bulk of the Wolves kills from the outside along with sophomore Aurora Sampair and Abigail Krings. EPC also had nine aces in the match,. Skoyen had an ace and Jacobson finished with a pair of kills. Osseo-Fairchild has its first DC match and home match of the season tonight, Sept. 12 vs. Lincoln. They will compete in the McDonell Invitational this Saturday in Chippewa Falls starting at 9 a.m. and are at Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran next Tuesday, Sept. 17.
Augusta's new head coach Alicia Bethke hopes all her team's pieces fit by the end of the season and she thinks the Beavers, who finished 2-19 last season and were winless in the DC, are on track to do so. AHS won their first game of the season on Tuesday, Sept. 10 against Thorp and won their first match 2-0 against host Greenwood in a quad meet that also included No. 4 Plainfield Tri-County (a 2-0 loss). AHS, 1-5 overall, is at Melrose-Mindoro next Tuesday, Sept. 17 for their first DC match of the season.
"Tri-County was quick and solid and we struggled to adjust and carry the momentum from the first game to the second," Bethke said. "After that defeat, the girls came out ready to fight against Thorp and that helped us take the first set. However, we didn't have the endurance we needed to bounce back and take the lead in the second or third set to beat Thorp. But against Greenwood, we battled for each set. The girls are adjusting to some new positions and focusing on strong communication. Our energy and communication helped us seal the deal with Greenwood."
Augusta lost all-conference player Olivia Meyer along with Naveah Bergman to graduation and only return three seniors in Tatum Krueger, Aubrey Korger and Parker Waugh. The Beavers are having to learn a new offense and defense with a young group but Bethke is confident they can learn enough in time to be a better squad by season's end.
"It's something new for them but we feel it's best it's way to make the use of their talent and athletic abilities," Bethke said. "It's starting to come around and as they learn the most important thing is to develop the team chemistry that's really going to make us effective in what and how we play."
