Tri-County Area teams like tournament brackets before them

The WIAA regional tournament brackets for volleyball were announced last week, mid-week, just before Eleva-Strum took the court in Augusta for the final regular season match of the 2024 season.
The Cardinals, 12-10 overall, know they have a path to winning a regional title in Division 4 as the tournament begins this evening, Tuesday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. They know as a No. 5 seed hosting No. 12 Osseo-Fairchild, 1-20 overall, at Central, a team they swept in the regular season, in the first round, setting up a potential semifinal match-up Thursday, Oct. 24 with No. 4 seed Alma/Pepin, 14-11, a squad they barely lost to during the regular season and potentially facing top-seeded Loyal, 21-7, in the regional finals.
"We know what we're capable of if we work hard and keep improving each time we play," junior middle Aliza Kulig said. "We're definitely ready for the playoffs."
Kulig was very capable as was the whole Cardinal frontline against the Beavers last week Thursday, Oct. 17. She finished with a whopping 17 kills (two of them blocks) and two aces in the 3-0 win for Central 25-20, 25-20 and 25-17. Teammate Neeley Lasher had 11 kills, including a block and an aces. Josephine Iverson led the team in aces with five to go with seven kills, including a block and Gabrielle Franck finished with four kills and two aces.
E-S needed those points at crucial moments throughout the match as Augusta, 4-16 overall, played them competitively throughout, either down a point, tied or briefly leading in all three games form the start. Aubrey Korger led AHS with six kills and an ace, Madelyn Meyer had five kills while Zoey Guntner had four kills and Tatum Krueger led the team in aces with four.
But each time the Beavers got close, E-S used their size and depth to outlast them and surge in front in each game. The Cardinals outscored Augusta 6-1 after the home team tied the score at 19-19 in Game 1. They did the same in Game 2 with score again, tied at 19-19. Eleva-Strum led 8-2 to start Game 3 but Augusta rallied to tie at 14-14 and were only down 16-15 before the Redbirds outscored them 9-2. Scoring from Kulig, Lasher, Iverson and Franck and even a couple kills from Mackenzie King, back-in the Central line-up after recovering from injury, did the trick.
"I've learned a lot this season," Kulig said. "I've taken the critiques from coaches and improved my hitting."
Central head coach Katie Skoug wants the team to play aggressive and with energy and passion consistently but also play smart as well.
"When we play aggressive and play to win we have energy that lifts all of us to play well," Skoug said. "We've shown it many times this season, even matches we've lost closely. But we also have to make the smart plays and the right plays to succeed as well. You take Aliza for example. She had a lot of tip kills tonight rather than just always wacking the ball because she's learned to get the ball to where the defenders won't be at. The good hitters diversify their attacks like that and she's done that and we've all shown improvements in our games that will hopefully make a difference in the pressure of advancing in a tournament."
Augusta, 4-16 overall, dropped their final two matches both to Eleva-Strum and to Dairyland Conference runner-up Cochrane-Fountain City 25-9, 25-17, 25-15 two days before. But the Beavers are Division 5 this season and they will actually host a regional tourney match, their first-round match vs. Port Edwards, 4-10. on Tuesday as a No. 8 seed to the Blackhawks No. 9 seed. The winner takes on the No. 1 seed and Eastern Cloverbelt champ, No. 2 ranked (just behind DC champ Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran) Marshfield Columbus, 21-15, at Marshfield Thursday.
Speaking of Loyal, they gave Fall Creek a good battle last week Tuesday, Oct. 15 in Loyal, match-up of third-place Cloverbelt Conference teams in a crossover match. The Crickets outlasted the Greyhounds 17-25, 25-15, 25-23, 20-25, 19-17. FC, 28-12 overall, enters the Division 3 regional tournament a No. 3 seed with a first-round bye. They will play at home Thursday, Oct. 234 at 7 p.m. against the winner of the first-round match between No. 6 seed Arcadia, 13-13 overall, and No. 11 seed Mondovi, 14-22. The regional championship is set for Saturday, Oct. 26. Top seed in this regional tournament bracket is No. 2 Marathon, 17-10.
Loyal is led by all-conference players junior Addysen Wolf and seniors Molly Zvolena and Hope Peroshek.
Osseo-Fairchild completed its regular season last week losing at home 3-0 to Independence/Gilmanton on Tuesday, Oct. 15 and on the road at Alma/Pepin (in Pepin) by a 3-1 score on Thursday, Oct. 17.
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https://halftime.wiaawi.org/CustomApps/Tournaments/Brackets/HTML/2024_Vo...
https://halftime.wiaawi.org/CustomApps/Tournaments/Brackets/HTML/2024_Vo...