The River Falls Wildcats defeated the Menomonie Mustangs in three sets in round 1 of regional volleyball in River Falls Thursday night.

This may seem like déjà vu for Wildcat fans as this was the same outcome as when River Falls played the Mustangs last week when they took them in three sets in Menomonie.

The Wildcats came out swinging as they went on a 6-0 run behind outside hitter Hannah Jarocki before the Mustangs were able to get on the board. River Falls employs a number of these playmakers at the outside hitter position, and that depth was on display as Maddie Range continued to make plays, from dominant kills to finesse plays, which included a beautiful behind the back setter dump over the net.

The Mustangs found themselves quickly though, and they kept battling, outscoring River Falls 10-9 over the next 19 points. Amelie Pankonin made her presence known throughout the middle and late portions of the set with some aggressive play at the net, getting multiple high energy kills mixed in with picking some great spots to drop the ball in for points.

If it weren’t for that opening 6-0 run, this set would’ve been much closer as Menomonie played nearly even with River Falls going 14-15 after that, bringing the score to 21-14. The slow bleed came to an abrupt halt as the Wildcats scored four unanswered points to close the set out.

Range and Pankonin figured into the Wildcats’ success prominently as the second set began with Range at the serve and Pankonin making plays at the net with timely blocks and multiple kills. A couple serves later they switched spots, and it was Range patrolling the net and pounding kills onto Menomonie’s side of the net. The Mustangs let this go on until River Falls had a 14-9 lead before taking their first timeout.

The stoppage seemed to help Menomonie calm down as they played .500 ball after that, taking four of the next eight points. It was short lived however, as the Wildcats pulled away to a 24-13 lead and closed it out with a final score of 25-15.

It must’ve felt like a long night for the Mustangs as they immediately fell behind 7-2 in set 3. Even with the win seemingly in hand, every point came with the same level of intensity from the Wildcats as they took nothing for granted in the do or die, lose and go home environment of the postseason.

Menomonie took three of the next eight before taking a timeout to reset and try to pull out a win. It wasn’t very effective and River Falls outscored them 8-5 over the next 13, surging out to a 20-10 lead. With victory in sight, River Falls started to sub out some of their starting players to give some playoff experience to the rest of the team, and they took the win.

This win is only the first step towards the eventual goal of winning state for the Wildcats in what was billed as a rebuild year for the team, which has been a powerhouse for many years.

Young players like Pankonin are fueling the Wildcats’ success, although the game and the moment never seemed too big for her as she played in the first varsity postseason game of her career.

“There was a lot of adrenaline tonight for sure,” Pankonin said. “I expect a lot of intensity from Chippewa and for them to be kind of like eager to beat us because I know, even for me, like when we lose to a team, we would just want to come back even harder.”

Although none of the veteran players like Range were full-time starters before this season, they never believed this was a rebuild.

“I'm feeling really good, especially after tonight. All the practice that we've been putting in, and our team chemistry, really just showed tonight. I'm looking forward to playing Chippewa again,” Range said. “I think at the beginning it was a lot of uncertainties with positions. None of us had a full six rotation role before, so I feel like we’ve all kind of like grown into our roles and really into just understanding what we need to do to help better the team.”

With River Falls and rival Chippewa Falls Cardinals both winning on Thursday, a rematch of week one was on deck for the Wildcats, a match they were almost skunked out of after being down two sets to zero before they had, perhaps, their most memorable win of the season.

Head Coach Sara Kealy has a lot of postseason experience, and likes the fact that they drew Menomonie in the first round, a team they had just played and beat in three sets.

“I think it was good playing them last Thursday and having some success. I think that took the nerves off and allows you to just play in this last home match of the season while getting the first round of playoffs under your belt,” Kealy said. “In the last like eight matchups with Chippewa we’ve gone down the wire. It was five sets at the beginning of the season. It was five sets in the sectional finals last year. I hate that we keep knocking each other out, we're both really competitive, good teams, and it comes down to one of us every year. I do think whoever wins our match Saturday has a chance of going all the way.”

Going all the way means something more to the Wildcats. During their conference span of 2016-2021, they qualified for state every year, and their playoff record was 24-6. They lost in the quarter finals once, semifinals four times and they lost a heartbreaker in the state championship in 2017 – a season where they went 43-1. 

Spoiler alert, River Falls got a step closer on Friday in Chippewa as they took them in four sets.

The first one went into extras, but the Wildcats pulled out a 27-25 victory to go up 1-0. Set two was close as well, but this one went the other way as they lost 23-25. Set three is where River Falls made their hay, beating the Cardinals soundly and putting them on their heels at 25-15.

In week one, River Falls took Chippewa Falls to five after the Cardinals jumped out in front. Chippewa was unable to return the favor, and they fell to the Wildcats in four, with the final score in the last set being 25-21.

The quest for the elusive state championship continues this Thursday when they take on the Hudson Raiders at a neutral site, this time in Menomonie. Opening serve is at 7 p.m.