River Falls had little time to react to an injury to junior kill leader Amelie Pankonin going down just days before the Regional Final. Despite practicing just briefly with major lineup changes, River Falls won its playoff opener, a Regional Final against Eau Claire North, 3-1 Oct. 25.

Facing New Richmond in the Sectional semifinal, the Wildcats knew they needed to be better in order to stay alive in the postseason Thursday. Better they were, winning 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-19) to cruise to a win.

“I thought my girls played exceptionally well on Thursday,” Head Coach Sara Kealy said. “We had a couple days to practice without Amelie, just knowing that she wasn’t going to be back for our playoff run. So, it gave us a chance to settle into some new roles.”

All the pressure shifted to the Sectional Final against Stevens Point. Although River Falls held the No. 1 seed and Steven Point was the third seed, the predetermined neutral site was in Stevens Point, meaning it was essentially a true road matchup for the Wildcats.

River Falls crushed set one 25-19. After going up 12-4, it was the Wildcats’ set to lose and they would not let that happen. Set two was the opposite, with Stevens Point taking control early and holding out to a 25-18 win.

“Our match against Stevens Point was odd. We just came out so hot and we absolutely controlled the tempo of the match, and then in set two it was like the coin just flipped,” Kealy said. “That’s not something you typically see that drastically.”

The set trading would continue, with River Falls coasting to a 25-16 win in set three. Stevens Point would take it to set five after a 25-13 set win. In the final set, Stevens Point had one factor that pushed them over the top of a tiring match 15-11.

“I thought, in my mind, well okay, if we’re trading sets it’s our turn,” Kealy said. “In set five, I think the energy of them playing at home in that neutral site of Stevens Point really was to their advantage.”

Kealy said the Wildcats let the confidence slip in set two, something they needed to hold onto and force the opponents to come and take it for themselves. River Falls’ senior class was both vital to the team as well as an interesting one, made up of 60% defensive specialists in Bailee Bishop, Olivia Doerre and Adia Johnson to join setter Allie Larsen and middle blocker Addy Nesbitt. The five were a core part of navigating the postseason lineup changes, keeping everyone level-headed through what can prove to be an emotional couple of weeks.

“The emotion attached to a season ending is so hard, because it’s the end of the time that that team, as it is, is together,” Kealy said. “When you’re my age, you don’t look back at your high school career and go, ‘Man, I should have launched my platform in serve receive that one time.’ That’s not what you think. You look back and you say, ‘I really loved playing with so and so and so and so. We had this memory together.’ The people make your experience, and so the emotion attached to not being with those people is hard.”