Area teams conclude regular seasons, get ready for playoffs

The regular season for prep volleyball teams concluded Thursday evening, Oct. 15 and now everything is directed towards the playoffs.

WIAA regional tournaments begin next Tuesday, Oct. 20 with first round-matches. The semifinals are on Thursday, Oct. 22 and the finals are on Saturday, Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. at the highest remaining seed.

All of the Tri-County Area's prep teams will be in Division 4 in this year's tournament except for Fall Creek in Division 3. The Crickets finished the season ranked No. 10 at 33-9 overall and were rewarded the No. 1 seed in their sectional half-bracket. FC gets a first-round bye and hosts the winner of the No. 8 seed Neillsville/No. 9 Durand-Arkansaw match on Thursday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. A win by Fall Creek could set them up with a match against No. 5 Mondovi or No. 4 La Crosse Aquinas. The Blugolds may be 10-17 overall but play tough, D-1 competition in the Mississippi Valley Conference. The sectional final will be at No. 3 ranked and top seed St. Croix Falls and No. 2 ranked Stanley-Boyd is in their sectional half-bracket as a No. 2 seed.

The Crickets enter the tournament having won two of their last three. They defeated Thorp at home back on Oct. 6 by scores of 25-19, 25-17, 25-11 and won their Cloverbelt Crossocver match on Tuesday, Oct. 13 at Gilman by scores of 25-16, 22-25, 25-11, 25-15. But a win over a top-three team this season still remains elusive for the Crickets as No. 2 ranked (in D-4) Chippewa Falls McDonell secured another outright West Cloverbelt Conference championship with a 25-6, 25-18, 25-17 sweep of FC back on Oct. 8 at McDonell.

Augusta is the highest seeded of the remaining Tri-County Area prep volleyball teams at No. 6 and it got them a home match with No. 11 Osseo-Fairchild on Tuesday in the first round. The winner faces No. 3 Blair-Taylor. AHS has beaten B-T and handed the Dairyland Conference champs - after sweeping Whitehall on Oct. 15 at Whitehall 25-18, 25-21, 26-24 - their only loss, which cost them an outright title which they have to share with Independence/Gilmanton. But Augusta, which finished fifth in the DC with their best record since 2021 at 6-4 and will finish .500 or above for the first time since 2017 (13-12), also lost to Lincoln, which tied for last place in the league. If the Beavers can find the consistency they've been searching for all season, they could go deep in the playoffs. Indy/Gilmanton is the No. 2 seed on the other end of the regional tourney bracket and they will play either No. 7 Elmwood/Plum City or No. 10 Loyal in the regional semifinals.

A couple of players that can help with that are seniors Maddi Meyer and Brooklyn Kruger. Both were celebrated for four-year volleyball milestones A couple of players that can help with that are seniors Maddi Meyer and Brooklyn Krueger. Both were celebrated for four-year volleyball milestones. Krueger recorded her 750th assist during the Beavers' match vs. Whitehall back on Oct. 1 and Meyer recorded her 750th kills in Augusta's 3-0 sweep of Eleva-Strum at home back on Oct. 8, also Senior Night for the Beavers. Meyer needed six kills in the match to get to 750 and she had a match-best 19 with teammate Stella Zank recording eight. Those kills helped to offset E-S's advantage in aces as they had 14 led by Brenley Bauer's four to go with four kills.

"It was great being able to reach 750 on Senior Night here at home," Meyer said. "But a hitter is only as good as the passes she gets and Brooklyn does a great job setting. I'm glad we were able to reach 750 together."

In other recent matches for AHS, the Beaver lost a close contest at Cochrane-Fountain City 3-2 back on Oct. 6 - although they rallied from down 2-0 to win Games 3 and 4 by scores of 25-21 and were only edged out in Game 5, 16-14 - went 2-2 in the Gilman Invitational meet on Saturday, Oct. 10 and easily swept Melrose-Mindoro on the road Thursday, Oct. 15 by scores of 25-6, 25-11 and 25-11. Meyer added another 14 kills to her career tally and Zank again had eight. They both had 14 digs and Krueger finished with 27 assists.

AHS's opponent in the first round of the regionals, Osseo-Fairchild, will finish a little better this season than last, 5-24 overall and 2-8 in the Dairyland Conference. The Thunder picked up a win in their own invitational meet on Saturday, Oct. 10 over Loyal 25-22, 25-21, and played three-games vs. Durand-Arkansaw and Melrose-Mindoro before losing, going 1-4 on the day. They were able to pick -up their second DC win on Oct. 13 against Lincoln in a 3-0 sweep by scores of 25-17, 25-20, 25-17. Jianna Scheffer led the Thunder with 12 kills and three blocks. Brylie Johnson had 22 assists and Sara Giacomino had 24 digs. O-F also lost at Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran on Thursday, Oct. 15 by a 3-0 score (25-18, 25-21, 25-13) and dropped conference matches at Independence/Gilmanton on Oct. 6, 3-0 (25-5, 25-19, 25-20) and at Alma/Pepin 3-1 (25-16, 26-28, 25-19, 25-14) on Oct. 8.

Eleva-Strum, a No./ 8 seed will host a first-round match on Oct. 20 vs. conference rival and No. 9 seed Alma/Pepin, whom they beat 3-2 this year. The winner gets top seed Marshfield Columbus in the semifinals on Oct. 22. However, the Cardinals (10-14 overall, 4-6 in the DC) will enter the tournament on a six-match losing streak which continued the past two weeks. E-S lost at home Oct. 6 to Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran at home 25-23, 21-25, 25-23, 25-23 and this week they lost at Whitehall on Oct. 13 by scores of 25-19, 25-17, 25-16 and at Independence/Gilmanton on Oct. 15 by scores of 25-9, 25-16, 25-19.

https://tournaments.wiaawi.org/brackets/Volleyball/Girls/2026/2026_Volle...

https://tournaments.wiaawi.org/brackets/Volleyball/Girls/2026/2026_Volle...

Western Cloverbelt Conference
Team W-L
*Chippewa Falls McDonell 7-0
Stanley-Boyd 6-1
Fall Creek 5-2
Bloomer 3-4
Cadott 3-4
Elk Mound 3-4
Eau Claire Regis 1-6
Thorp 0-7
Clinched conference title

Tuesday, Oct. 6
Fall Creek def., Thorp 3-0
Chippewa Falls McDonell def. Cadott 3-1
Stanley-Boyd def. Eau Claire Regis 3-0
Bloomer def. Elk Mound 3-1

Thursday, Oct. 8
Cadott def. Eau Claire Regis 3-1
Stanley-Boyd def. Elk Mound 3-0
Chippewa Falls McDonell def. Fall Creek 3-0
Bloomer def. Thorp 3-0

2026 Dairyland Conference Volleyball Standings
Team W-L
*Blair-Taylor 9-1
*Independence/Gilmanton 9-1
Whitehall 8-2
Cochrane-Fountain City 7-3
Augusta 6-4
Eleva-Strum 4-6
Alma/Pepin 4-6
Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran 4-6
Osseo-Fairchild 2-8
Lincoln 1-9
Melrose-Mindoro 1-9

Tuesday, Oct. 6
Cochrane-Fountain City def. Augusta 3-2
Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran def. Eleva-Strum 3-1
Blair-Taylor def. Alma/Pepin 3-1
Melrose-Mindoro def. Lincoln 3-2
Independence/Gilmanton def. 3-0

Thursday, Oct. 8
Whitehall def. Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran 3-0
Augusta def. Eleva-Strum 3-0
Independence/Gilmanton def Melrose-Mindoro 3-0
Blair-Taylor def. Lincoln 3-0
Alma/Pepin def. Osseo-Fairchild 3-1

Tuesday, Oct. 13
Cochrane-Fountain City def. Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran 3-2
Independence/Gilmanton def. Alma/Pepin 3-1
Whitehall def. Eleva-Strum 3-0
Blair-Taylor def. Melrose-Mindoro 3-0
Osseo-Fairchild def. Lincoln 3-0

Thursday, Oct. 15
Cochrane-Fountain City def. Lincoln 3-1
Augusta def. Melrose-Mindoro 3-0
Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran def. Osseo-Fairchild 3-0
Blair-Taylor def. Whitehall 3-0
Independence/Gilmanton def. Eleva-Strum 3-0