GREG PETERS

River Falls High School senior volleyball player Brooklyn Bishop had heard the team slogan, "I Got You," from her dad plenty of times last spring. Ryan Bishop is the head baseball coach for the Wildcats and "I Got You" was their team slogan last season.

"I know the definition of it means trusting your teammates have your back," said Brooklyn. "But I truly felt what it meant Saturday night."

And what a Saturday night it was.

Hannah Jarocki, the Wildcats’ starting senior middle blocker, went down with an ankle injury in Thursday night's WIAA Region Semi-Final game against an out-matched Menomonie team. Bishop, nicknamed Checkmate on the volleyball broadcasts, played in Thursday's game, but there wasn't time to think and the match was a three-set pressure-free blow-out. 

It's not like Bishop has never played in a varsity game, but she had never seen the floor in a big game.

"I know what my role is," said Bishop. "And I love supporting and cheering for my teammates. They're my best friends."

After Thursday's win, the Wildcats were scheduled to play Chippewa Falls on the road this past Saturday night in the next round. The Cardinals had almost every single player back from last year's state tournament team. This year's Wildcats had beaten Chippewa Falls during the first conference game of the season, but 2022's Conference Player-of-The-Year Paige Steinmetz didn't play in the first part of the season coming back from a minor knee injury. With Steinmetz, the Cardinals blew past the section's top-seeded Eau Claire Memorial squad by a score of 3-0 a week prior to the play-offs. If the section seedings would've taken place after the regular season, it’s very likely Chippewa Falls would have been seeded #1. Even though Chippewa Falls ended up being the third seed, most prognosticators were picking the Cardinals to advance to their second straight state tournament and knocking off the sixth-seeded Wildcats on their way. 

After Friday's practice, the significance of Saturday's game began to sink in for the girl that's perpetually willing to help and, as sure as the sun rises in the east, always there to support her teammates from the bench. Now, on the eve of her biggest varsity volleyball assignment, Brooklyn Bishop was the one needing support.

"I was just worried I was going to let everybody down if I didn't perform," said an emotional Bishop with tears welling up in her eyes. "I know I'm not supposed to think like that, but I did."

"You can't think that way," fellow senior teammate Savannah Saxton told her Friday. "I trust you and everyone else on the team trusts and believes in you. Volleyball is a game of mistakes and it's not one person, it's the whole team. If you make a mistake, we got your back."

"The thing is," said Jarocki, "Brooklyn works hard in practice and she has the training behind her and she just had to trust herself."

"The whole team and Coach Kealy were awesome before the game," said Bishop. "And I know I'm not supposed to say I was nervous, but I was. That first play I went in, I had my hands up and they were shaking, like full-on shaking. I was one hundred percent freaking out and Ava (setter Ava Peters) looked at me and said, 'I got you.’"

With the first set score tied at 16 apiece and the Cardinals having just gone on a 7-2 run, Bishop came up with the block of her life at the net. The team went into a frenzy.

If there was a "confidence meter" scoreboard in the gym, it would've maxed out showing green lights to the top when Bishop had the 27-25 over-time set winning block just minutes later. Bishop had huge kills in set three and set four to put the Wildcats up 19-12 in both sets.

"I'm usually the one cheering for everyone else, so it was weird hearing cheers for something I did," said Bishop. "But it felt incredible and almost unreal."

"Brooklyn was amazing," said Saxton. "She came out a powerhouse and was phenomenal."

The Wildcats won in dominating fashion, 3-1. The stat sheet, however, won't tell the actual story.

The three seniors, Jarocki, Saxton, and Bishop, have quietly been doing their jobs all season long, it just took a huge play-off win for other people to notice.

Jarocki has been playing right-side hitter her entire career and Coach Kealy needed her help in the middle. There were no questions about the position change from Jarocki, no drama, and no anything. Jarocki just punched the time clock and went to work.            

"Whatever the team needs us (the seniors) to do," said Jarocki, "We're going to do it. It's my job to bring a calm and steady presence both on and off the court."

With the Cardinals having setting issues during set three Saturday night, Kealy needed some rock-steady serves and the girl nicknamed "J-Rock" (Hannah Jarocki) hobbled onto the court, gimpy ankle and all, and never missed a serve in the next two sets. Calm. Steady. Point Wildcats.

Saxton puts on her hard hat and goes to work every day, too, with blue-collar defense and passing; however, her biggest contribution is being the electric conduit for constant one-on-one connections with each teammate. Saxton is the knot that keeps the team shoelaces tied together. 

"A team means having really strong connections," said Saxton. "We lift each other up and it's OK to make mistakes. It's easy for me to help these girls because they're my best friends."  

What happened to and for Bishop on Saturday night may have just shed the shackles holding the rest of the Wildcats back during their up and down season.

Seemingly, for much of the season, most members on the team were playing with the mind set of not letting their teammates or coach down. It's a nerve-racking reason to play. Bishop's honesty, in a time of need, may have unlocked those chains for the entire team.

Saturday night, the Wildcat volleyball team forgot about their own thoughts and doubts and each played for their injured teammate. They played for their nervous teammate. They played for each other. They lifted each other up by not just wanting the ball; they craved it.

"It was a completely different energy change and completely different vibe than it has been the entire season," said Bishop.

Honesty is the best diagonal move by the Bishop. Checkmate.