Cardinals defeat Wildcats in chaotic five-set thriller

For the first time since the 2015 season, River Falls will not be playing in the WIAA Division 1 State Girls Volleyball Tournament.

After River Falls swept Marshfield in the Division 1 Sec – tional Semifinal at Hudson on Thursday, Oct. 27, River Falls head coach Sara Kealy stated that the Sectional Final against Chippewa Falls (Chi-Hi) on Saturday, Oct. 29, would be a true 50/50 contest because of how evenly matched the teams have been this season and she couldn’t have been more correct.

After Chi-Hi won the opening set of the Sectional Final 25-19, River Falls won the second and third sets 25-23 and 25-10 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series. hi-Hi claimed the fourth set with a 25-20 win and then knocked ou River Falls with a 17-15 victory in a winner-take-all fifth set to go to State.

“We knew what this match was going to look like coming into tonight, so I wasn’t shocked by any of it,” Kealy said af- ter the five-set loss. "I told the girls in the locker room, it's not about wins and losses. I’ve had a lot of teams that have won. For me, this team this year was about the way they treated each other and how hard they worked.”

Throughout the season, coach Kealy has spoken glowingly of the work ethic and camaraderie that this 2022 Wildcats roster displayed. River Falls demonstrated those qualities throughout the night, particularly in the fifth and final set against Chi-Hi.

The ardinals jumped out to a 4-2 lead in the race to 15 points in that fifth set on Saturday night in Eau laire. River Falls rallied and eventually tied the set 5-5 after sophomore right side hitter Maddy Range made a diving dig that helped set up a Wildcat kill.

hi-Hi scored the next two points before senior middle blocker Taylor Peterson spiked a ball into a weak spot of the ardinals' defense to bring River Falls within one, 7-6. The Wildcats scored the next three points to take a 9-7 lead which included a crucial block by senior setter Morgan Kealy and an ace by the aforementioned Peterson.

The Cardinals battled back to tie the set 11-11 and then scored the next two points to take a 13-11 lead and force a timeout by coach Sara Kealy. Later in the set, River Falls took a 14-13 lead and had senior outside hitter Brianna Brathol back to serve with a trip to State on the line.

hi-Hi received the serve and orchestrated a play to get ju nior Paige Steinmetz a kill on the outside which she promptly pounded into the weak spot of the River Falls defense to tie the set 14-14. The ardinals scored the next point and River Falls responded with another score to level the set 15-15.

hi-Hi scored the next two points to secure a 17-15 vic tory, a Division 1 Sectional Championship and a spot in the 2022 State Girls Volleyball Tournament. The Wildcats wore their hearts on their sleeves and let the tears flow as soon as the set ended as the hi-Hi student section began flooding the court in celebration. Coach Sara Kealy spoke about the battle with Chi-Hi.

“I felt like my seniors that we count on stepped up and did their jobs tonight," Kealy said. “You give up a dig here or a missed set there or a hitting error, but we battled and they battled and I knew this is what it was going to look like. It was just about who sustained it in the end." While this year ended more prematurely than any of the past six seasons, for Sara Kealy, the 2022 campaign was a return to loving coaching – something that she had lost in previous years with locker room strife and outside pressure put on trophies and medals instead of teamwork and growth.

“There were so many nights last year where I cried and thought, ‘I don’t think I’m the right person to lead this group,'" Kealy recalled. “But on day one when I came into the gym this year, I knew I was (the right person) because of these girls. I got to be who I am and I was appreciated and respected and accepted for that. I’m hoping all of my younger kids coming back now know what being a team feels like and can replicate that in the years to come." Coach Kealy described the 2022 season as a cultural reset for her program, something that it desperately needed after some of the issues last season. Part of the excellent leadership this season came from the senior class, featuring noted varsity players Morgan Kealy, Brianna Brathol, Taylor Peterson, Abi Banitt and Becca Randleman.

“The hardest thing is that I don’t want to say goodbye to the seniors," Sara Kealy said. “It’s not about volleyball being over. It’s that I don’t get to go to practice on Monday and spend time with them. I’m lucky because I get to watch them in club and college, but they’re all scatter- ing." Those program-defining seniors will go their separate ways – some of them playing volleyball and others choosing not to continue their athletic careers. Three of the seniors will continue playing volleyball at the collegiate level, including Morgan Kealy at the University of St. Thomas, Brathol at Kent State University and Banitt will play at Southern Illinois University.

River Falls finished the 2022 season with a 39-6 record and will return multiple players that had important roles on this year’s roster including senior Hannah Jarocki, sophomore Olivia Doerre and the aforementioned Range, who will be entering her junior campaign.

Coach Kealy spoke about the players that she has returning to her roster next season and what can be expected from the new-look Wildcats come the fall of 2023.

“Even the girls that didn’t play significant roles, in warm-ups I was saying to (assistant coach) Fred (Barr) that the backup setter Ava (Peters) is so much better," Kealy said. “I’m excited to see what club season will look like for them now because they’ve learned what it’s like to play at a high lev- el." The varsity roster will go its separate ways for the club volleyball season before returning to the Wildcats roster in the fall of 2023 for the next high school volleyball campaign.

River Falls senior setter Morgan Kealy (#5) sets a ball to senior middle blocker Taylor Peterson (#14) for a kill during the Wildcats sectional final against Chippewa Falls on Saturday, Oct. 29.Photo by Reagan Hoverman

River Falls senior outside hitter Brianna Brathol serves a perfect ace during the Wildcats sectional final game against Chippewa Falls in Eau Claire on Saturday, Oct. 29. Brathol finished the five-set thriller with 13 kills and five aces, both a teamhigh.Photo by Reagan Hoverman