This is the week of WIAA regional in prep volleyball

WIAA regionals are a one-week tournament and the Trri-County Area's prep volleyball teams will see if they can make from one end of the week to the other to be crown champions.

Three of those teams begin play this evening in the first round at 7 p.m.

In Division 3, No. 12 seed Osseo-Fairchild (11-18 overall) will take on Western Cloverbelt Conference rival Eau Claire Regis (11-17), the No. 5 seed in their Barron Sectional half-bracket. Regis defeated O-F during the regular season by a 3-0 margin in Eau Claire despite having similar overall records. The winner plays the winner of the No. 4 seed and Dunn-St. Croix Conference champ Spring Valley (21-7) vs No. 13 seed Blair-Taylor match in the regional semifinals Thursday, Oct. 19.

Also in D-3, No. 14 seeded Augusta (2-18) once again has to play Cadott (22-15) in the girls' tournament match-up (volleyball-basketball-softball). The Hornets are the No. 3 seed in their sectional half-bracket and tied with Regis and Fall Creek in the WCC standings at 4-3. Cadott is led by their top player, senior middle blocker Emma Kowalczyk who leads the Hornets in kills. blocks and aces. The winner gets either No. 6 seed Elk Mound (12-20) or No. 11 seed Stanley-Boyd (10-24).

Eleva-Strum (10-15) is in Division 4 and they have a tough first-round match-up against No. 7 seed Pittsville (20-6). The Panthers received votes in the final WVCA state rankings in D-4 and only finished third in their league, the hypercompetitive CWC South this season, which also featured a team getting votes in Plainfield Tri-County and No. 8 ranked Stevens Point Pacelli.

Speaking of hypercompetitive, that's exactly what Fall Creek's sectional bracket is. The Barron Sectional is absolutely loaded with Top 10 teams starting No.1 ranked St. Croix Falls (29-2), No.3 ranked and defending D-4 state champ and this year's WCC and overall Cloverbelt champ Chippewa Falls McDonell (41-6), No. 5 ranked and sectional finals host Barron (26-4) and No. 8 ranked Webster (27-3) along traditional power and No. 4 seeded Grantsburg. The top-half of the sectional bracket is very tough.

But the Crickets (29-13) have a shot, even with a young squad, to win their regional tournament and make sectionals. FC is a No. 2 seed and has a first-round bye. They will host on Thursday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. either No. 10 seed Whitehall or No. 7 seed Durand-Arkansaw (18-6). The regional finals would have the winner of this semifinal against the Cadott-Augusta-Elk Mound-Stanley-Boyd grouping. McDonell is the No. 1 seed on the other side of the bracket.

https://www.wissports.net/news_article/show/1288339 (WVCA State Rankings)

https://halftime.wiaawi.org/CustomApps/Tournaments/Brackets/HTML/2023_Vo... (Sectional Tournament Brackets)