The River Falls Wildcats held on to beat the Hudson Raiders in five sets on Thursday, Sept. 21 in River Falls.

The volume at Wildcats home volleyball games is remarkable, and never more so than when the Raiders come to town. The bleachers were full as two of the top three teams in the conference squared off.

The Wildcats immediately jumped into the lead taking seven of the first 10 points which featured multiple kills, timely blocks and one beautiful setter dump over the net by junior setter Ava Peters. A setter dump is when the player fakes like they’re going to set the ball but tips it over the net to try and catch them off guard. Peters’ finesse was perfect as the Wildcats scored, and Hudson called its first timeout when the score hit 9-4.

This quick reset seemed to work for Hudson as they split the next 10 points going 5-5 with River Falls. However, the Wildcats would take off on another run and bring the score to 18-10 on another Peters kill, and Hudson would call its final timeout of the set.

This time out also worked for Hudson as they went 7-7 coming out of the timeout. Unfortunately for them, this brought the score to 25-17 and River Falls won the first set.

Hudson seemed to carry that momentum into the second set as the score was 5-5 after the first 10 points and 11-9 after the second. The Wildcats would streak forward though, running up the score to 17-11 before the Raiders called their first timeout. Again, this seemed to settle Hudson’s players into a rhythm, but the damage was already done, and River Falls would take the second set 25-16.

This time the Raiders maintained their momentum coming into the third set as they jumped out to a 7-3 lead. The Wildcats would edge closer, but when the Raiders were up 12-7 they called their first timeout.

This didn’t seem to help River Falls at all though as Hudson’s lead grew larger as 10-16 became 12-20 and 13-22. River Falls had long since used their final timeout, but the Wildcats started pushing back. Soon it was 17-22 and suddenly they were right back in it. 17-22 became 18-24, though, and Hudson finally forced a set 4.

By the middle of the fourth set, the momentum felt like it had completely shifted to Hudson. They may have started slow on the night, but they showed that they came to play. Midway through, the Wildcats found the intensity and tenacity within themselves to not just let it slip away.

From the beginning of the set it was tight at 5-5 through the first 10. That’s when the real battle began. A series of long, hard fought volleys, that seemed to get perpetually more intense with timely blocks and miraculous saves, just kept going Hudson’s way, and they took eight of the next 10 points.

The Wildcats found themselves and began to battle back, taking five of the next seven points themselves. This run was capped by a momentum-shifting volley that seemed to press both teams to their max before Amelie Pankonin finally got the kill. From there, it was an outright slugfest all the way to the finish line, with Hudson the eventual victor at 25-22 forcing a sudden death race to 15 in set five.

The box score will tell you it was close, but set five never felt like it was going to end any other way than with a home team victory. From the beginning, the Wildcats seemed to come alive with the game on the line as they found the intensity that had carried them through the first two sets.

At 7-4 Hudson took a timeout. River Falls immediately followed that up with an ace by outside hitter Savannah Saxton. At 10-6 the Raiders took their second timeout. It wouldn’t matter as the Wildcats would come away with the victory and are now 3-1 in conference play.

Sarah Kealy, head coach of the Wildcats, said that handling the adversity and beating a team like Hudson is a steppingstone for her team who has been having their struggles and growing pains this season.

“Our schedule has been so tough, and we've had more losses than we might have had in the past, so they’ve struggled with their confidence. I tell them, everything that we've done has set you up for success later on in the season, but they're not focused on the process or the growth that I’ve seen in them as a coach, they just want to see the end result,” Kealy said.

Kealy tells her team that there are four main stages of building the Wildcats roster: forming, storming, norming and performing.

“Forming is those first couple of weeks where everybody's excited to be on varsity and it's new. The storming phase is where everybody's jockeying for their playing time and their position and that's uncomfortable, because you're competing with your friends,” Kealy said. “Now we're starting to hit that norming stage where everybody's accepting their role and doing their job to the best of their ability. This is the stage of our season where we start to see it come together. They just have to learn to sustain their energy.”

The growing pains are a part of the game when you graduate as many D1 athletes as the River Falls volleyball team has in recent years. For setter Ava Peters, it’s especially noticeable as almost all the Wildcats’ points have to come through her, and it’s her first time ever running an offense.

“I got a lot of experience last year, just not on the court. I learned from our previous setter Morgan Kealy, but it’s different being on the floor and feeling that energy,” Peters said. “We do not have a player on our court right now who was a six-rotation player last year. So, it's all kind of new to us. The last few games we haven't really played how we wanted to, but I think tonight we really stepped it up. We just need to keep that intensity.”

Coach Kealy said that this team keeping up their energy is the key that will take them from being good to being great.

“It's like, we get on these high highs and then all of a sudden, a team pushes back a little bit, and we don't know how to give up a point or two but not give up the intensity. So, we’re still working on that mental aspect of our games,” Kealy said. “I feel like the focus we've had on those things that we've hit on in the last week or so a practice, we started to see it tonight. So, for me, I think it's awesome to be able to come out with a win - Hudson's a good team. So, I'm tickled with that.”