FC volleyball falls back against top-ranked foes

It's the last step to the top that's always the toughest.

The Fall Creek High School Volleyball Team took on some top-ranked foes recently and suffered setbacks as a result.

Fall Creek went up against No. 2 ranked Stanley-Boyd on Tuesday, Sept. 29 at home. While the Crickets were able to get a Game 1 win of 25-22, the Orioles struck back hard winning the remaining games 25-15, 25-10, 25-16. The closest FC was to the Orioles was by an 8-7 margin in Game 3 and that's it.

S-B is ranked No. 2 in Division 3 while FC is No. 6. The Crickets faced the No. 1 team in Division 4, Webster, at the Cameron Invitational last week Saturday, Sept. 26.

The Tigers took care of Fall Creek 25-15, 25-12 on their way to winning the meet. Rice Lake, which isn't ranked by received votes in the latest Division 2 poll, also beat Fall Creek 25-18, 27-25 to finish second.

Fall Creek went 3-2 to finish in the third place. The Crickets did beat def. Shell Lake 25-19, 25-10, the host Comets 23-25, 25-10, 15-7 and Colfax 25-10, 25-20.

The Crickets also bounced back from Tuesday's loss with a Western Cloverbelt Conference win over Cadott on Thursday, Oct. 1 by a 3-1 margin. Game scores were 25-21, 16-25, 25-22, 25-18.

FC competed in the Bloomer Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 3
Fall Creek def. Bloomer 21-25, 25-12, 16-14 but lost to Maple Northwestern def. 25-23, 10-25, 18-16. The Crickets bounced back to beat EC Immanuel Lutheran 25-17, 25-16 and Turtle Lake 27-25, 25-18. Fall Creek took on top-ranked Chippewa Falls McDonell in the championship match but lost 25-22, 25-10

One highlight of the day for the Crickets was Jaelyn Martzke reaching the 1000 assist milestone for her career during the 1st set of the Turtle Lake match.

The Crickets, 31-8 overall, hosted Thorp in a Western Cloverbelt match next Tuesday, Oct. 6

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

Last week's matches
Tuesday, Sept. 22
Chippewa Falls McDonell def. Stanley-Boyd 3-2
Fall Creek def, Bloomer 3-1
Elk Mound def. Eau Claire Regis 3-0
Cadott def. Thorp 3-0

Thursday, Sept. 24
Stanley-Boyd def, Cadott 3-0
Fall Creek def. Eau Claire Regis 3-1
Elk Mound def. Thorp 3-0
Chippewa Falls McDonell def. Bloomer 3-0

This week's matches
Tuesday, Sept. 29
Stanley-Boyd def, Fall Creek 3-1
Bloomer def,. Eau Claire Regis 3-0
Elk Mound def. Cadott 3-1
Chippewa Falls McDonell def. Thorp 3-0

Thursday, Oct. 1
Eau Claire Regis def. Thorp 3-2
Chippewa Falls McDonell def. Elk Mound 3-0
Stanley-Boyd def. Bloomer 3-0
Fall Creek def. Cadott 3-1

Next week's matches
Tuesday, Oct. 6
Thorp at Fall Creek
Cadott at Chippewa Falls McDonell
Eau Claire Regis at Stanley-Boyd
Elk Mound at Bloomer