Prescott and River Falls each entered Saturday, Nov. 2 looking to punch their ticket to State volleyball, coming up short.

In Division 3, Prescott came into the playoffs as a No. 10 seed, making a name for itself with three straight three-set wins to advance to Sectionals. At Sectionals, Prescott first took on a No. 1 Stratford team that was having a season to remember. The Cardinals cut those memories short, winning 16-25, 25-15, 27-25, 25-17 Thursday.

“The Stratford game was a good demonstration of responding to what the other team was giving to us, making in-game adjustments,” Prescott Head Coach Geoffrey Snyder said.

Moving on, things only got more difficult when Prescott squared off against 34-2 Barron, another No. 1 seed in Barron on Saturday. Barron won in three sets (25-19, 25-17, 25-9).

“Barron was just a better team that night,” Snyder said. “Barron has a really good outside hitter and a really great libero so they were just hard to compete with.”

Prescott’s senior class made up much of the varsity roster, meaning the younger players will now have to take the reins and lead the program.

“All six of them get quality playing time,” Snyder said. “I’m only going to be returning two varsity players that get playing time next year.”

At the midpoint of the season, Prescott had been struggling, holding onto a 1-9 record with conference play approaching. The Cardinals completely flipped the script, finishing 12-13 and fourth place in the Middle Border Conference with a 4-3 record. Snyder said they did so because of the work they put in.

“They totally bought in,” Snyder said. “That speaks volumes to their character and the trust that they have in me as a coach.”

All season long it seemed as if the fate of River Falls’ season would come down to a matchup against Hudson. After largely dominating their way to the Sectional Final, the Wildcats got exactly who they most expected, the No.1 Hudson Raiders.

The two teams faced off twice in the regular season with Hudson taking both, and Hudson was victorious once again with a 3-1 win Saturday.

At 36-2, Hudson was looking to go to State for the first time in school history and they did so.

River Falls fell behind 13-7 early in set one and could not bring it back, losing 25-14. The Wildcats turned it around in set two, going up 14-8. Hudson scratched and clawed but lost 25-23 in set two. Sets three and four were all Hudson the whole way, winning 25-16 and 25-13.

River Falls has a lot of returning talent, but loses seniors Maddy Range, Abby Gilbertson, Ava Peters and Madi Asher.