Raiders sweep Red Hawks to wrap up regular season

Coming off four consecutive straight-set losses in conference play, the Arcadia volleyball team flipped that script and finished off the regular season by sweeping away their archrivals.

The Raiders (17-17, 4-8 Coulee) marched past Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau in three sets 25-14, 25-15, 25-22 this past Thursday in Galesville. Arcadia previously beat the Red Hawks in four sets in their first meeting last month at the Wanek Center.

In Thursday’s rematch, Arcadia dictated play in both of the first two sets to win each comfortably. G-E-T answered back with an elevated level of play in the third set and held leads throughout, but it was the Raiders who finished strong to wrap things up in straight sets.

“We are playing well right now and moving the ball well, allowing our hitters to find ways to score. We also served well with nine aces on the night,” said Arcadia head coach Natalie Anderson. “We kept attacking and controlled our serve receive and defense in order to come out on top all three sets. We didn’t allow mistakes to become more mistakes as we have been working on the mental end of the game.”

Leading the charge for the Raiders were Tatum Drazkowski with 14 kills and 11 digs, Kiley Fitzpatrick with four aces, Joselyn Lockington with nine kills, Justine Sonsalla with 14 digs and Adella Anderson with 33 assists.

G-E-T leaders included Ally Burns with five kills and two blocks, Taryn Leighty with three aces and six assists, Sydney Nelson with seven digs and Claire Baures with two blocks.

After earning a first-round bye, the Raiders will begin the playoffs in the regional semifinals as a No. 5 seed in the D3 bracket by taking on No. 4 seed Elk Mound on Thursday at 7 p.m. The winner advances to face No. 1 seed Grantsburg, No. 8 seed Amery or No. 9 seed Cumberland in the regional finals Saturday night.

“They are similar to our team in many ways,” Anderson said. “We will need to keep Elk Mound out of system and take advantage of our ball movement and setter choices. We will need to move their blockers and attack their defense to not allow them to complete a strong attack. On the defensive end, we will look to shut down their right side and other main hitters. If we can play like we have been and run a faster tempo offense, we will have a good shot.”

West Salem 3 G-E-T 0

The Red Hawks (9-20, 1-11 Coulee) could not keep up with conference champion West Salem, who swept G-E-T for the second time this year. The Panthers took care of business 25-11, 25-8, 25-17 last Tuesday in Galesville.

In that match, the Red Hawks were led by Amelia Walz with four kills and 12 assists, Rylynn Simmons and Kennedy Scow with four kills each and McKenna Schindler with three aces.

West Salem came out on top in a fierce battle for this season’s conference championship. The Panthers took the Coulee title outright with a 10-2 league record, ahead of Westby and Onalaska Luther in a tie for second at 9-3.

As a No. 8 seed in the D3 playoffs, G-E-T hosted No. 9 seed Poynette in the opening round of the playoffs earlier this week. The winner plays top-seeded Viroqua in the regional semifinals Thursday at 7 p.m.