It’s been a rough couple of weeks for fans of the Hudson Raiders.

The River Falls High School volleyball team became the third Wildcats team in the last three weeks to defeat Hudson in an annual rivalry game. With the four-set victory, the volleyball team joined the soccer team and football program in knocking ou Hudson this season.

While the volleyball team was certainly focused on beating the Raiders in that annual rivalry game, which was played in Hudson on Thursday, Sept. 22, River Falls head coach Sara Kealy noted that the excitement of another victory over a bitter rival was making its way into the locker room.

“Everything River Falls vs. Hudson, all I’ve heard about for the last week is about The Jug and us beating the boys’ soccer team,” Kealy said. “I said, ‘Yeah. That’s great, but you still have to go play volleyball.’ Just trying to get them to focus and not be in the online media back-and-forth.”

The River Falls volleyball team potentially used some of that momentum from reclaiming The Jug and upsetting the boys’ soccer team in the first set on Thursday night. The Wildcats came storming out of the gate on the road in a hostile crowd environment.

River Falls strung together a scoring run in the middle of the first set to take a command ing 15-9 lead, which forced Hudson head coach Brittany Young-Sanchez to take a timeout. The pause in the action did little to slow the Wildcats’ momentum. River Falls turned that six-point lead into a 13-point victory in the debut set, 25-12, to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

Hudson proved that it wouldn’t go quietly, as the Raiders responded with a strong showing in the second set. Hudson jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead that coach Kealy quickly slowed with a timeout. However, Hudson continued to play hard and at one point led River Falls 17-9 in that second set. The Raiders cruised to a 25-16 victory. Kealy spoke about the stark diuerence between the first and second sets.

“I feel like we’ve done that a lot,” Kealy said. “We would have a really strong first set and then we would just take the foot ou the gas and you can’t do that against talented teams. We find ourselves in the third set a lot, but that’s going to be something we have to figure out because you can’t go into the play – ous (doing that).” River Falls did find itself in the third set, but Hudson’s momentum continued. Both teams refused to allow the other to string together any notable scoring runs. The game was tied nearly a half dozen times at scores including 3-3, 12-12, 16-16, 18-18 and 2121.

That’s when River Falls’ senior leadership took over and players like Brianna Brathol, Morgan Kealy and Taylor Peterson took the game over. The Wildcats scored four unan­swered points to secure a 25-21 victory in the third set and take a pivotal 2-1 lead in the series.

Although those River Falls seniors are unquestionably the most talented on the team, coach Kealy stated that some of the younger players need to assert themselves on the floor and become more involved in the game.

“We’ve got a couple of kids that do a lot for us with Morgan (Kealy), Brianna (Brathol), Abi (Banitt) and Taylor (Peterson),” Sara Kealy said. “I’m trying to get those less experienced players to rise up and I think what’s happening is those experienced players are dominating and the other players are happy to let them do it. We’re having a lot of conversations about asserting yourself and doing your job.”

River Falls closed out the series with a 25– 15 victory in the fourth and final set on the road against Hudson to win the series 3-1. Coach Kealy was happy with the victory, but she also spoke about some areas that need to be cleaned up, especially serving.

Throughout the 2022 season, River Falls has had issues getting serves into play – whether it be hitting it into the net or sending it flying deep out of bounds. That remained true on Thursday night against Hudson.

“We’re giving them serving zones but I honestly think we’re just rushing,” Sara Kealy said. “At one point I said when it comes to Morgan (Kealy), who’s a great player, ‘Just give her the center of the court. Just get the ball in bounds.’ They work so hard to get a serve and then they rush through it. They need to slow down.”

Figuring out serving and saving a cou- ple of points in each set could be the diuer ence between winning and losing a sectional championship later this fall. Coach Kealy spoke about taking advantage of scoring opportunities with good servers early in sets.

“We’ve got some really good servers right out of the gate. We’ve got Morgan (Kealy) Brianna (Brathol) and Abi (Banitt) right ou the bat,” Sara Kealy said. “We’ve got to score points when those kids are behind the line and we’re letting people ou the hook too easily.” With the win, River Falls improves to 17-5 overall and 2-1 in Big Rivers Conference action. The Wildcats have sole possession of second place in the conference standings and trail only Chippewa Falls’ 4-0 record in league play.

Up next for the Wildcats is a game on Thursday, Sept. 29, at home against the 11-8 (2-2) Rice Lake Warriors. That contest is slated to begin at 7 p.m.