Fall Creek spikers establish themselves as tops in the state

FALL CREEK - Getting off to a good start is important and the Fall Creek High School Volleyball Team certainly did that in late August and early September.

Sustaining that start has been the next stage in the Crickets' season and they've done that well too.

The Crickets had something of a break between a quad. meet at Eau Claire Regis and the Sparta Invitational held back on Sept. 12. Fc was a perfect 6-0, winning its pool with the following results: def. Black River Falls 17-25, 25-14, 15-9; def. Neillsville 25-11, 25-22; def. Brookwood 25-18, 25-23; def. Melrose-Mindoro 25-14, 25-10 and defeating the host Spartans 25-20, 25-22. Fall Creek beat. Black River Falls in the championship match 25-13 and 25-12. It was the second meet title the Crickets have won this season

Western Cloverbelt Conference play began on Tuesday, Sept. 15 at home vs. Elk Mound. Fall Creek won what turned out to be the key first set, turning back a maximum effort by the Mounders (14-10 overall) with a 27-25 win. The Crickets took the next two games comfortably 25-18 and 25-19.

"The girls have done a nice job of staying present in the moment and focused on the task at hand," head coach Matt Prissel said. "Often times it is easy to start looking ahead at certain games or moments on the schedule, but we have really tried to emphasize the focus on the next game or next tournament on the schedule. Also, this year we have intentionally increased our desire to 'compete'. We want to compete in every drill, every practice, every set, every point, and every match. By increasing our competitive mindset, we have been able to stay in control when things are going well and respond to adversity more quickly when things are not."

At 22-3 overall, Fall Creek has pushed itself into the top half of the state rankings in Division 3. FC is ranked No. 4 with WCC rival Stanley-Boyd at No. 2, Chippewa Falls McDonell at No. 2 in Division 4. Those matches are upcoming for the Crickets (Sept. 29 vs. S-B and Oct. 8 vs. McDonell) and they are on the road. FC will also play No. 1 ranked Webster in the Cameron Invitational next weekend.

"For us to keep finding success, we need to keep focusing on the fundamentals and aspire to play cleaner and higher level volleyball each day," Prissel said. "We have always talked about 'taking care of our side of the net' and the more we do that and the less we score for the other team or make unforced errors the stronger we are and the tougher we are to beat. Finally, we are emphasizing winning the 'battle of first contact.' Our servers have done a nice job getting the other team out of system and our passing personnel are getting better everyday which allows us to get in system and run a more productive offense."

Western Cloverbelt Conference
Team W-L
Cadott 1-0
Chippewa Falls McDonell 1-0
Fall Creek 1-0
Stanley-Boyd 1-0
Bloomer 0-1
Eau Claire Regis 0-1
Elk Mound 0-1
Thorp 0-1

Last week's matches
Tuesday, Sept. 15
Fall Creek def. Elk Mound 3-0
Chippewa Falls McDonell def. Eau Claire Regis 3-0
Stanley-Boyd def. Thorp 3-0
Cadott def. Bloomer 3-2

This week's matches
Tuesday, Sept. 22
Stanley-Boyd at Chippewa Falls McDonell
Fall Creek at Bloomer
Elk Mound at Eau Claire Regis
Thorp at Cadott

Thursday, Sept. 24
Stanley-Boyd at Cadott
Eau Claire Regis at Fall Creek
Thorp at Elk Mound
Bloomer at Chippewa Falls McDonell

Next week's matches
Tuesday, Sept. 29
Fall Creek at Stanley-Boyd
Eau Claire Regis at Bloomer
Elk Mound at Cadott
Chippewa Falls McDonell at Thorp

Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches State Rankings Divisions 3-5
Division 3

1. Watertown Luther Prep
Record: 13-1 | Last week: 1

2. Stanley-Boyd
Record: 18-2 | Last week: 2

3. Marathon
Record: 17-2 | Last week: 6

4. Fall Creek
Record: 21-3 | Last week: 4

5. St. Croix Falls
Record: 11-2 | Last week: 5

6. Laconia
Record: 9-0 | Last week: 7

7. Manitowoc Lutheran
Record: 14-6 | Last week: 9

8. Brillion
Record: 11-5 | Last week: 3

9. Cambridge
Record: 14-2 | Last week: 10

10. St. Mary's Catholic Central
Record: 10-0 | Last week: NR

Division 4

1. Webster
Record: 12-3 | Last week: 3

2. Chippewa Falls McDonell
Record: 12-3 | Last week: 1

3. Cuba City
Record: 16-2 | Last week: 4

4. Edgar
Record: 14-5 | Last week: 5

5. Milwaukee Heritage Christian
Record: 13-6 | Last week: 2

6. Marshfield Columbus
Record: 15-6 | Last week: 8

7. Shiocton
Record: 18-2 | Last week: 10

8. Waterloo
Record: 11-3 | Last week: NR

9. Auburndale
Record: 14-7 | Last week: 7

10. Mineral Point
Record: 10-3 | Last week: 9

Division 5

1. Florence
Record: 15-3 | Last week: 1

2. Barneveld
Record: 12-3 | Last week: 2

3. Turtle Lake
Record: 12-4 | Last week: 5

4. Highland
Record: 7-1 | Last week: 4

5. Prentice
Record: 13-2 | Last week: 3

6. Shullsburg
Record: 11-2 | Last week: 8

7. Argyle
Record: 12-1 | Last week: 6

8. Central Wisconsin Christian
Record: 9-3 | Last week: 9

9. Green Bay N.E.W. Lutheran
Record: 10-5 | Last week: 7

10. Rib Lake
Record: 11-9 | Last week: NR