Regional champions: Colfax wins trio of home matches for title

By Cara L. Dempski

COLFAX — There’s really no place like home.

After sweeping through conference play with a perfect 8-0 record for its fifth straight conference volleyball crown, Colfax was looking to continue its winning ride in the Division 3 playoffs.

As luck would have it, the Lady Vikings hosted all three of its regional contests last week and came out victorious in each as they defeated conference rival Boyceville and Cameron before disposing of upstart Webster in last Saturday’s final to claim the school’s first WIAA regional volleyball title since 2014. 

Colfax volleyball coach Pam Meredith knew her team would have to play with the same style and speed it used to best Boyceville early last week to make it any distance in the 2017 tournament.

According to Meredith, the Vikings played a solid match at home October 17 against the Bulldogs in both teams’ 2017 WIAA Division 3 tournament debut.

While Colfax walked away with easy wins in the first and second sets, Boyceville made things a trifle more difficult before falling away in the third to give the Vikings the 3-0.

The third-seeded Colfax squad next hosted the Cameron Comets last Thursday, October 19. The Vikings picked up the hard-fought win in straight sets to earn the right to face the winner of the match between number-two St. Croix Falls and number-10 Webster.

You can maybe imagine Meredith’s surprise to awaken the next morning to the news the Lady Vikings would play for the regional title on their home court on Saturday, October 21 after Webster had bested St. Croix Falls 3-1 the previous evening.

The Tigers were able to take a set away from the Lady Vikings, but the Colfax girls eventually prevailed to win the regional title and earn a chance to play Grantsburg in a sectional semifinal match  this Thursday evening, October 26 at Cameron High School.

The winner of that match will play for the sectional title and a Division 3 state berth at Eau Claire Regis October 28.

Boyceville

If you ask coach Meredith what the key was in the Vikings’ first-round regional over Colfax, she has a simple answer: serving.

“I was very proud of how focused the players stayed throughout the match, and impressed with our serving as of late,” she said the following day. “Last night we have 14 aces and only four errors, a great ace-to-error ratio.”

In fact, Meredith said tough serving and strong serve receive will be the key to success for the Colfax girls in the post season.

The Vikings cruised to easy 25-15 and 25-10 wins over the Bulldogs in the first two sets before grinding out a 25-20 win in the third to take the match and move on to the regional semi-final game at home October 19 at Colfax.

According to Meredith, when Rachel Scharlau was not keeping the Lady Bulldogs out of system with some tough serves, Samantha Pretasky was firing in kills. The sophomore hitter logged 11 in the match, six of which came in the same scoring run.

Pretasky’s kill tally was the highest on the team, with Scharlau close behind with seven kills. Kameri Meredith picked up five kills, Savannah Henricks and Makayla Mattson tied with three each, and Jozie Buchanan is credited with one.

The Colfax ladies logged 14 aces on the evening, with Buchanan leading the way with five, Scharlau and Alyssa Dachel tied with three each, Henricks credited with two, and Meredith logging one. The sophomore Buchanan also accounted for 22 of the team’s 28 assists against Boyceville; Meredith logged another three, and Dachel, Pretasky and Henricks each set up a scoring attack in the match.

Meredith led in foiled attacks, taking 16 digs against the Bulldogs, while Dachel, the libero, accounted for another 12. Buchanan recorded eight, Pretasky and Mattson chalked up four each, Henricks logged three, and Scharlau was credited with two.

Cameron

Viking junior Alyssa Dachel was not going to let the hardwood court at Colfax get in her way October 19.

The defensive specialist kicked off the Vikings’ three-set sweep of the visiting Cameron Comets by going to the floor not once, not twice, but three times for digs to keep the ball in play and help the Lady Vikings to a 25-19 win in the first set.

“Our defense last night was the best I have seen this year,” coach Pam Meredith said the next morning. “We seemed to have a beat on every ball, whether we pursued it off the court and kept it in play, or hit the floor and denied the kill. We just seemed to keep finding ways to deny Cameron’s hitters.”

After the game, it was hard to believe Colfax had played just three sets due to the intensity displayed on both sides of the court. The Comets managed to stick with the Vikings in the first, but the home team took a 25-19 win to set the tone for the match.

Cameron suffered a 25-13 smack-down in the the second set before roaring back to duel back and forth before succumbing to the Vikings 25-21.

Sophomore hitter Kameri Meredith notched 13 kills in the match, three more than Samantha Pretasky picked up. Rachel Scharlau drilled in seven kills, Makayla Mattson and Savannah Henricks tied with five eacy, and Jozie Buchanan took credit for one.

Buchanan led the team from the line with four aces in the match, while Scharlau, Dachel, Meredith and Pretasky all recorded two. Meredith led the team with 18 digs, Dachel took credit for 16 and Buchanan had 15. Scharlau added seven digs, Mattson and Pretasky tied with five each, and Henricks and Kali Risler tied with one each.

Jozie Buchanan also accounted for 31 of the team’s 41 assists, with Meredith and Henricks contributing another three apiece, Mattson setting up two attacks, and Dachel and Pretasky accounting for one each.

Webster

If Colfax was looking for an easy match against the 10th-seeded Webster Tigers, then they were in for a bit of a surprise October 21.

The Lady Vikings copped a 25-22 win in the first set before the Webster ladies returned the favor for a 25-19 victory in the second. Pam Meredith’s girls stepped up their play in the third to put the Tigers down 2-1 with a 25-12 win before nailing the coffin closed with a 25-17 finish to the fourth to pick up their first regional title in several years.

“It was a nice surprise to find out that we would be hosting the regional final,” Meredith said a few days later. “There is no denying it is more exciting to play in your own gym with your fans cheering you on.”

The Viking coach said her team seemed focused and confident from the first serve to the last. Colfax started the first set down 4-8, but fought back for the win before playing a cat-and-mouse game in the second set before falling to the Tigers.

The Lady Vikings started to build speed on defensive movement toward the end of the second, and continued to use that momentum all the way through the third to put things away in the fourth.

Kameri Meredith led the attack with 11 kills and three aces, while Samantha Pretasky added eight more kills to the team’s stats. Makayla Mattson was responsible for six kills, Savannah Henricks and Jozie Buchanan each logged five, and Rachel Scharlau wound up the attack stats with four kills.

Libero Alyssa Dachel led the service stats with five aces, and took 14 digs to lead the defensive play. Buchanan logged 11 digs, 30 assists, and a trio of aces. Henricks put up a solo block and assisted on four more, Pretasky had a solo block and three assists, Scharlau logged four assists, and Mattson assisted on three blocks.

Senior Kali Risler added two aces to Colfax’s accomplishments for the regional title.