Bulldogs put up fight but fall to Unity in volleyball regional

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BALSAM LAKE — Teams want to be playing their best come tournament time and apparently that is exactly what the Boyceville volleyball squad did.

According to head coach Rochelle Olson, the Bulldogs, who entered last week’s WIAA Division 3 regional tournament seeded 11th in the upper half bracket of the Barron sectional, had its best match of the season when it traveled to Unity High School in Balsam Lake last Tuesday, October 17 to open this year’s state tournament series.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to upset the third-seeded Eagles who prevailed in straight sets. All three games were close with Unity claiming the match by scores of 25-20, 25-17 and 25-18.

With that season-ending loss and first-round regional exit, the Bulldogs finished their 2023 hard court campaign with a 9-16 record which included just a 1-6 effort in Dunn-St. Croix action.

Unity fell two days later to fellow Lakeland Conference school Webster, the three seed and opening-round winner against Glenwood City, in a five-set regional semifinal contest.

In its regional quarterfinal’s match against Unity, Boyceville tallied 22 kills but also committed 19 errors. Sophomore and recent D-SC all-conference honoree Chelsi Holden led the squad with nine kill shots. Senior Hannah Dunn was the next closest with three followed by five Bulldog teammates that each had two.

Holden also tied for the lead in service aces with fellow all-conference performer Delaney Olson as both finished with a pair versus Unity. Olson topped the assists chart as she collected 16 of Boyceville’s 19.

Defensively, the Bulldogs came up with 34 digs led by seven each from Holden and Dunn. Mercedes Barstad added six digs of her own, Olson five, Becca Wyss finished with three and Cora Leslie and Aubrey Malean each had a pair.

Zoey Hellendrung had the team’s lone solo block in the match while Lucy Wheeldon had two of team’s six block assists.

Dunn registered five serve receptions and Barstad picked up three.

The loss also marked the final match for half a dozen seniors. Saying their goodbyes to the Bulldogs’ volleyball program were Hannah Dunn, Becca Wyss, Coral Leslie, Kaitlyn Mittlestadt, Alison McRoberts and Mariah Marvin. Their collective contributions will be missed.