The River Falls Wildcats volleyball team won a wild victory Thursday night beating the Chippewa Falls Cardinals in five sets.

The gymnasium at River Falls High School was electric for the rivalry match as the bleachers were filled with large groups of fans from both schools.

The Cardinals made quick work of the Wildcats in set one, winning 25-11. The second set was closer, but Chippewa Falls kept River Falls on the ropes, maintaining a sizeable lead all the way through. The Wildcats would rally, but they ultimately lost 25-18.

At this point, the rowdy Cardinal student body couldn’t contain themselves to simply tweaking the Wildcat fanbase’s noses from across the gymnasium. A large group of them got up and brought the taunting to the River Falls bleachers, filing over and chanting in their faces.  

As set 3 began, it looked as if fans might be going home early, but it soon became a dog fight. River Falls was playing with their backs against the wall knowing that each set from here on out was sudden death for them. Both teams were neck and neck all game, and it came right down to the wire with River Falls winning by the minimal margin of two points, 25-23.

Set 4 is when things really got interesting, though. A tight game felt frenzied as River Falls played themselves into a lead with some timely saves and scoring. As the set progressed, the tide turning almost became a palpable feeling as the Wildcats clung to a small lead for most of the game, ultimately winning 25-21 and pushing it to a winner takes all race to 15 for the final set.

The final score will tell you that set 5 was close, but for those who were there it certainly felt like all the momentum that the Cardinals had going after the first two sets had slipped away. After getting pummeled in set 1 and losing by a large margin in set 2, the Wildcats had battled through adversity and seized on the opportunity to capitalize in game 5. They did so, winning 15-11.

In volleyball, there’s something called hit percentage which basically measures a player’s efficiency. It’s calculated using a player’s kills (when an attack is unreturnable by the opposition) minus errors (an attack that results in the opposing team getting a point) divided by total attempts (attacks). Much like baseball, a hit percentage over .300 is what players strive for.

On the night, 90 total attempts went to the outside positions (front left and front right). Sara Kealy, head coach of the Wildcats, says that when their ball control isn’t as good, her setter, Ava Peters, has to set the outside more often.

Amelia Pankonin, a freshman on the team this year and outside hitter, led the team in hit percentage on the night by a pretty wide margin. She hit .333 on the night with 20 total kills on 45 attempts with only five errors. At one point in the third set, she was hitting .750.

“Going into the third set, it just felt like there was weight on my shoulders,” Pankonin said. “I just needed to brush it off and get a positive attitude and keep going.”

After climbing back from 0-2 to tie it up and force a game five, the team couldn’t help but feel the pressure.

“Emotions were high, I had a lot of adrenaline,” Pankonin said. “I knew we just needed to stay calm, focus on the basics and try to get the win.”

It wasn’t just a good offensive effort by Pankonin on the night; she shined on defense as well.

“I kind of got on the team in one time out about pursuit of the ball defensively. I was like, we can't let them score points easy, they have to know that everything that they're scoring is because they're bringing it,” Kealy said. “We came out of that time out and Amelia made two or three plays in a row defensively that kept us in rallies.”

Kealy says hit percentage isn’t everything though. Savannah Saxton, defensive specialist for the Wildcats, had only two kills on 22 attempts but played an integral role in River Falls’ comeback victory.

“Savannah hit -.140, but she’s my DS,” Kealy said. “I played her in the front row because she stabilized us emotionally.”

After such a great win for the Wildcats, Kealy says it’s important not to get comfortable. She says there are still things to work on, and staying aggressive is one of them.

“I think for a young team you can never lay back and wait to see what the opponent wants to do. You have to really take it to them,“ Kealy said. “And we did that over the course of the match, which was a lot of fun to watch.”

Wildcats Big Rivers Conference Volleyball continues this week when they travel to Eau Claire Memorial High School on Thursday.