The volleyball postseason brought out the best, with no shortage of great matches. River Falls added another Regional title to an already decorated weekend for the school, and Ellsworth, Spring Valley, EPC and Prescott each played through some exciting sets and matches to close out their seasons.

No. 1 seed River Falls brought in No. 9 Eau Claire North out of a bye for the Regional Final. The Wildcats were missing a key hitter in junior Amelie Pankonin, but the rest of the Wildcats did their jobs to get it done 3-1 (25-23, 25-21, 23-25, 25-17).

“To do that with really no significant practice time, I think, is hard,” Head Coach Sara Kealy said about finding out the team would be without Pankonin just a few days before the playoffs. “She just does so much for us.”

Junior Haley Matzek took over front row duties with senior Bailee Bishop seeing increased responsibilities in the back row in Pankonin’s absence. Kealy said they both played well, and they each have some prior postseason experience, especially the senior, Bishop. Kealy said some of the other, usually consistent, Wildcats struggled a bit with the lineup changes.

“Some other players that feel like they need to pick up some of that slack, were off their normal game,” Kealy said. “Trying to get them to understand, I just need you to do what you normally do because we’re a good team across the board.”

Kealy said Eau Claire North played as scrappy of defense as the Wildcats have faced all year, giving the Huskies credit for keeping the pressure on River Falls.

“They just needed to grind through it a little bit. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t our normal volleyball,” Kealy said. “Having a home match against a team that challenged us is good. I think it only makes you better moving forward.”
Kealy said running through an easy 3-0 match would have given River Falls too much false confidence moving forward.

“Obviously, we’ve had a successful season. We won the [Big Rivers Conference], and we’ve had Amelie out there to do it. She’s a big leader on our team, she’s a captain, she’s a three-year starter and she’s obviously a great player,” senior libero Olivia Doerre said, “Finding out this week that she’s out with a back injury was obviously heartbreaking to us because she’s such an amazing player, but I feel like we all are rallied around her.”

Next up is No. 5 New Richmond on Thursday in Menomonie. Both Kealy and Doerre mentioned senior Ashlyn Schulze as a player to watch out for, but said the roster is full of talented players. Kealy expects to see another scrappy defense similar to what the Huskies brought to the floor.

Regional titles have become somewhat of an expectation for a River Falls team that has won them every year from 2015 onward, but it is still important to cherish the moment. A year ago, River Falls lost the Sectional final to Hudson in 2024, so they are hungrier than ever to make the trip to State this time around.

“We fell short last year, and I feel like that really motivates us this year,” Doerre said. “We just want to keep going forward.”

Ellsworth

No. 10 seed Ellsworth entered No. 7 Altoona’s gym looking to play spoiler and did just that, winning 3-1 over the Railroaders (25-20, 25-20, 22-25, 25-23).

“It means everything. This is what we needed. The heart my girls showed, the grit, the passion, great attitudes all around,” Head Coach Emily Fedie said.

Ellsworth was a much different team in the back half of the season from the front half of the season, winning more matches, competing in more sets and finding a groove within the system. That showed by beating a team that got a 3-2 win over Ellsworth in the regular season.
“I would honestly say the trust. Trusting each other, trusting themselves and trusting me as the coach is really the key,” Fedie said.

Fedie said the team was great all-around on the day, and if she had to pick one piece that was the best it would be the blockers.

The win meant a lot to Ellsworth, showing the process was bringing results.

“It’s honestly everything. We were obviously the worse seed coming into it, so the fact that we came out and got it in four, not even five, is just amazing,” senior libero Julia Boyle said.

The team has gradually grown closer all season long.

“None of us really played together last year, so we’re really all getting used to playing with each other and have become such close friends,” Boyle said.

“This could have been my last game,” Boyle said. “All the seniors, we just wanted to push hard.”

Ellsworth did come up short to No. 2 St. Croix Falls 3-0 (25-10, 25-10, 25-17), but the playoff win in Fedie’s first year as head coach meant something to the Panthers.

Spring Valley

No. 3 seed Spring Valley had a bye in the opening round, leading to a matchup against No. 6 Phillips. The extra rest was to the benefit of the Cardinals in a 3-0 win (25-20, 25-17, 25-20). Senior Ella Stangl led the team with 13 kills and was second in digs with 18 and sophomore Katie Matthys followed with 11 and five service aces. Freshman Kemri Schlegel had 21 digs and senior setter Addison Nelson had a whopping 36 assists.

The win set up another battle with No. 2 seed Clear Lake. The Warriors were the lone team to finish above Spring Valley in conference with a perfect 8-0 record. They showed just how they got that record in set one, setting the tone in tight 25-23 fashion. In set two, a Spring Valley rally was staved off to allow Clear Lake to take a 25-20 win.

With all odds stacked against the Cardinals, they completely defied the odds, coming all the way back from down 23-16 to win set three 26-24. Spring Valley was again down to its last life in set four, trailing 24-23 when they found another wild comeback capped by a service ace to win 26-24.

It all came down to set five. Spring Valley was down to its last life yet again, trailing 14-11. The Cardinals did what they have all night and all season, inching back into the set to tie it at 14. Clear Lake delivered the final blows this time around, winning 16-14 to put an end to a great year from Spring Valley.

Elmwood/Plum City

No. 5 EPC was in cruise control in the opening round, beating No. 12 Alma Center 3-0 (25-10, 25-17, 25-15). Junior Abby Krings had 10 kills and junior Aurora Sampair tacked on eight of her own to go with a team-leading 16 digs. Sophomore Polly Webb tallied 28 assists and four aces serving.

No. 4 Eleva-Strum came out of a bye swinging, beating EPC 3-0 (25-21, 25-13, 25-19) in the second round. EPC had a strong year at 21-15, placing right in the middle of the Dunn-St. Croix Conference at 4-4.

Prescott

The No. 10 Cardinals traveled to No. 7 Durand-Arkansaw for their playoff opening round, but came up short 3-0 (25-11, 27-25, 25-16). Prescott worked hard to change the season’s narrative late in the year, picking up a couple conference wins. While coming up short in the playoffs, the fight was there, especially in the absolute battle that was the second set.