This story is sponsored by: The Marshfield Tiger Booster Club
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
HUDSON – The Marshfield volleyball team had a uncharacteristically shaky start in the opening set, and although the Tigers recovered and play well in the final two sets, they just couldn’t get over the hump as River Falls earned a 3-0 sweep in a WIAA Division 1 sectional semifinal Thursday night at Hudson High School.
The No. 2 seed River Falls won 25-20, 28-26, 25-19, to advance to a sectional final against No. 1 seed Chippewa Falls on Saturday at Eau Claire North. Chippewa Falls won an exciting five-set match over No. 4 Hudson 21-25, 25-22, 22-25, 25-7, 15-12, in the first match Thursday night at Hudson.
The Tigers took the court about one-half hour later than expected after the long opener and fell behind quickly.
River Falls cruised out to a 7-1 lead after a pair of service errors by Marshfield.
The Wildcats led 13-5 before Marshfield finally started to find its groove as junior Kaylie Charron served four points in a row, which included an ace and three kills by Caitlyn Pernsteiner, to bring the Tigers to within three.
An ace by Elise Uphoff kept Marshfield within reach at 19-16 but two more service errors later in the set, and a kill by Brianna Brathol finished off the opening set win for River Falls. Marshfield finished with five service errors in the set.
“The number of missed serves in that first set really hurt us because we came back and only lost by five,” Marshfield coach Dawn Sadowska said. “You take away those missed serves and it’s a whole different set, and maybe turn the match around.”
The second set started just like the first as River Falls jumped out to an 8-1 lead.
Marshfield quickly retaliated as Abby Ongna and Rylee Corteen each had two kills to tie the match at 8-8.
Marshfield took its first lead of the match on Charron’s serve as she had two aces and five-straight points to put the Tigers up 17-14.
Both teams fought back from deficits as River Falls regained the lead at 24-22 before the Tigers staved off a match point and took a 25-24 lead after a kill by Ongna and two errors by the Wildcats.
River Falls saved the set on a kill by Brathol and were able to finish off the victory on an ace by Hannah Jarocki, winning 28-26.
Fighting for their season, the Tigers started strong in the third set, rolling out to a 7-1 lead on the serve of Reinya Balderson.
Pernsteiner had three kills and Lauren Homolka had two in the run.
Marshfield held on to a 13-12 lead before River Falls pulled ahead for good on back-to-back kills by Barthol, who had 14 in the match.
Barthol and Morgan Kealy each had two kills on Jarocki’s serve to finish off the match with a 25-19 victory.
“I told the girls we were one or two points away in each set of totally turning the match around, and it just didn’t seem to fall our way,” Sadowska said. “I felt we both struggled at times with serve receive and it was just going to be whoever could make a run at the end. Unfortunately, it wasn’t us in all three sets.
Marshfield’s season ends after a third-straight Wisconsin Valley Conference title and a second-straight sectional appearance as seniors Uphoff, Balderson, Corteen and Pernsteiner played their final match.
“It’s always hard when it ends this way and you just want to remember all the great things they did accomplish this season,” Sadowska said. “To go 36-0 in sets in the conference, to have eight members of our team on the all-conference team…they were so close and a were really a great group of girls. There are so many memories they made together and you hope by next week that’s what they think about and forget about tonight.”