The River Falls Wildcats claimed their eighth straight regional title with a 3-0 sweep of Superior in the Division 1 Regional ham – pionship game on Saturday, Oct. 22, in River Falls.

While some teams rarely reach regional title games, River Falls has made winning its respective Division 1 Regional hampion – ship an annual tradition for eight consecutive years and because of that, the Wildcats have had to find new motivation to get locked-in for such games.

River Falls head coach Sara Kealy took over the program when getting to a regional title game would have been a cause for cele – bration. Now, it’s an expectation to not only reach those title games but to win them and then make a run through the sectional brack – et, which River Falls has done for the last half dozen years.

In addition to the eight regional titles, the Wildcats have won six consecutive D1 Sectional hampionships. oach Kealy spoke about finding new motivation for regional title games and how her girls stay locked in for those early playou games.

“I hate to say it and it sounds terrible, but it is kind of hard to get motivated to play a team when you know it’s a mismatch,” Ke – aly said. “I think the motivation for us comes from knowing that it’s playou time and that we’re done playing with the lineup and mak – ing switches to schemes. At this point, we’re fine-tuning. We’re challenging ourselves to get better so that we’re where we need to be when it’s time to compete.” In addition to using the regional bracket as a chance to get geared up for stiuer com – petition, River Falls also found motivation in knowing that the regional title game on Saturday against Superior would be the fi – nal time that the senior class played on their home court.

“It was the last time that our seniors were going to get to play in our gym,” Kealy said. “There is something about that where you want it to be special but you also have that sad feeling, knowing that I’ve had them in my gym for years and they’re not going to be there anymore. That’s kind of where our mo – tivation comes from. Just making sure that last experience is all we want it to be.” Once the D1 Regional hampionship game began on Saturday evening, River Falls wasted no time taking a commanding lead. The Wildcats cruised to a 25-14 victory in the first set, a 25-20 win in the second set and then completed the sweep with a 25-15 win.

Coach Kealy has often stated that scores can be deceiving. It appeared as if the second set was close and could have gone either way, but by that time, Kealy and the River Falls coaching stau had already begun making substitutions and getting some bench players into the game. She spoke about getting those reserve players an opportunity to play in a postseason game.

“We had subs coming in and that’s when things do look a lot diuerent,” Kealy said. “For my kids that haven’t played that much this season, that will be the only playou ex perience they get. Once we get to the section- al round, I’ll ride my (starters) every point of every match from here on out. It’s the last time those kids will get in for the year, so we want them to get in.” Throughout the final two sets, after the regional title had long been decided, coach Kealy gave freshman defensive specialist Olivia Doerre a chance to get into the serve receive rotation. She gave her that practice in regionals so that she will be ready to go in sectionals if her number is called.

Getting Doerre those reps is a break glass in case of emergency type of situation. If for some reason senior defensive specialist Abi Banitt and outside hitter Brianna Brathol ar- en’t able to serve receive, Kealy wants to be ready.

“I want to be able to shift and give Bri- anna (Brathol) and Abi (Banitt) an out if we need it,” Kealy said. “I want (Olivia Doerre) to have the confidence to do it if she needs to, that’s partially what was going on in that second set.” With the win, the second-seeded Wildcats advance to the Division 1 Sectional Semifinal and will face the #3 seed Marshfield. The Ti gers go into the sectional with a 35-3 record. River Falls enters the sectional with a 38-5 record. Coach Kealy spoke about the upcom- ing sectional semifinal.

“I watched some film on them and I think they’re the type of team that can do some nice things, but I think they’re very inconsistent,” Kealy said. “They’ve got one hitter that has 300 kills and the next is like 160. So, I think we need to know where she is at all times.” River Falls and Marshfield are slated to face ou in the Division 1 Sectional Semifi nal at the neutral-site location of Hudson on Thursday, Oct. 21. That match is slated to be gin at 5 p.m.