RIVER FALLS — The Wildcat volleyball season was an excellent one in 2026, finishing second place in a stacked Big Rivers Conference with just one conference loss. River Falls entered Sectionals lined up with a Chippewa Falls team that it had beaten 3-0 all the way back on Sept. 17.

The winner of the match knew it would likely earn a date with the No. 1 seed conference champion Hudson. It was the Cardinals that entered River Falls’ house and won 3-1, later advancing to State after an electric 3-2 win over Hudson. The loss ended River Falls’ decade-long streak of appearing in the Sectional Final match.

Both teams came to play in the opening set, trading leads the entire way. It was at 17-17 that the Cardinals took control. Some solid serving gave Chippewa Falls the upper hand and a 20-17 lead into a River Falls timeout. The Cardinals kept it going out of the break to win 25-19.

The second set was Chippewa Falls’ best, cruising to a 9-3 lead that was dragged through the entirety of the set. The Wildcat block was active, with senior Charlie Cegielski and junior Raegan Skifter alternating shots throughout the match. That said, the Cardinals dug deep to win 25-23. After trailing 23-20, the Wildcats had a shot at the end, but a mistouch did not quite make it over the net to end it.

River Falls stayed alive in set three, absolutely crushing the Cardinals in a 25-11 scoreline.

“Thursday was a shock to the system,” Head Coach Sara Kealy said. “It wasn’t that the girls didn’t know what was coming, it’s just they couldn’t execute. That can be attributed to a lot of reasons, but what I love about this group is the play you saw in set three with us having some hard conversation in between sets of if something doesn’t change, your time together is done. They just enjoyed playing together. I think what you saw in set three and the way they came out was, ‘My back’s against the wall, if I want to continue to play with these people, I have to change something.’”

In set four, senior Haley Matzek slammed a ball right through the Chippewa Falls block for an early 7-4 lead. It did not take long for the Cardinals to fire back, securing an ace to tie the set at 10. The back half of set four mirrored that of set one, with both teams trading leads again until the Cardinals rallied to 20-17. This time, a floated ball over the middle from Cegielski found the soft spot in the defense to tie things at 22. Chippewa Falls scored two straight before Cegielski hit one of the hardest spikes of the night to the floor, 24-23 Cardinals. With the season on the line, the Cardinals appeared to hit a ball outside the sideline, but the officials ruled it was touched by the Wildcats prior, putting an end to the fireworks that were the Sectional match.

Kealy said the play was good on both sides of the net in the fourth, and it was a credit to how well Chippewa Falls is working together at the moment that made the difference.

River Falls says goodbye to four talented seniors: Cegielski, Brooke Dusek, Amelie Pankonin and Matzek. The four were impactful on the court, but they also set the tone off the court. Kealy consistently spoke highly of the four this season.

“My senior class has led us all year long, and Thursday we continued to be led by them. They’re just really good examples of hard work, determination, selflessness. I think they have a lot of pride in our RFVB program,” Kealy said. “They’re such different people, so they all bring something to the table that without the four of them together, it doesn’t fit the same way.”

Kealy said the locker room was emotional after the match, but it shows how much the team cares about the program and each other. She said many teams are filled with students that quickly mentally move on to the club season, but this team does not take playing together for granted.

“Nothing I say is going to take any hurt from that moment away because I feel it too. There’s no magic words,” Kealy said. “When you’re in that situation when you’re so sad to see something that you’ve invested so much of yourself into end, that’s a good thing because it means that it meant something to you.”

Kealy said the 2022 senior class really emphasized the culture aspect of what it means to be a Wildcat. Since then, each senior class has gone into the season knowing who they want to be on and off the court.

“We do take a lot of pride in the culture in our gym,” Kealy said.