Loyal volleyball team wins regional title, ending 18-year drought

By Valorie Brecht The Loyal Greyhounds varsity volleyball team has a lot to be proud of this week, after defeating Bangor and Eleva-Strum in playoff action to earn the WIAA Division 4 Regional title. This accomplishment marks the first regional championship the Loyal volleyball program has won since 2006.

“I give all of the credit to the girls; they came out and never let up. They have worked hard for this and it's been fun to watch them grow into a regional championship team,” wrote Loyal coach Jaedyn Pieper in an email.

Playoffs looked a little different for Loyal this year, as the WIAA added a division. Loyal’s enrollment was just enough that they landed in Division 4, meaning they could end up facing some larger schools than they were accustomed to playing against. Being the number-one seed in their bracket, Loyal received a first-round bye and faced Bangor at home last Thursday. Despite Bangor being ranked number eight, the Cardinals certainly gave the Greyhounds a run for their money, not just handing over the win.

Loyal started out strong, taking to the court with a lot of energy. The girls went ahead initially, tied with Bangor at 5 and again at 12, but pulled ahead with some great blocking and hitting to end the set 8 points ahead, 25-17. The second set also saw Loyal consistently ahead and the girls won in similar fashion, 25-18.

Coach Jaedyn Pieper said that especially in those first two games, setter Laila Prior showed why she was one of the team’s best assets.

“She played great — she pushed the ball everywhere in the front row and Bangor wasn’t able to keep up with it,” said Pieper.

In the third set, Loyal came out looking a little weary, and was thrown off course by some sneaky plays on Bangor’s part, such as a couple of serves that landed barely in bounds. The teams tied at 3 and 8 before Bangor took the lead for the first time all game, 17-11. Loyal soon rallied back though, scoring 6 unanswered points and tying things up at 18. From there, the teams tied again, at 20, but a few costly mistakes from Loyal led to Bangor ultimately taking the win, 25-23.

Bangor’s momentum continued into the fourth set, with the Cardinals scoring 5 unanswered points right off. Unfortunately for the Greyhounds, they never really got that momentum back. With their confidence down, the Hounds made a few more errors than they normally would, like serving or hitting into the net, or not directing a block and it going out of bounds. They fell further behind and lost the set 25-12.

“In the [third and fourth] sets we took our foot off the gas a bit and played too comfortable, but it was a great wakeup call for us to come out and dominate that fifth game,” said Pieper.

That they did. The Greyhounds started the fifth set out strong with an ace serve by Prior. Several long volleys ended in a Loyal point, and meanwhile Bangor had a couple flubs such as serving into the net. The Hounds went up 7-3 after Hope Peroshek served a ball that just made it in play. A few plays later, Olivia Nikolai spiked the ball along the sideline to earn Loyal a point, resulting in the Loyal crowd going wild and Bangor calling a timeout. After the break, Addysen Wolf served up an ace and on the next rally, Bangor served it into the net. That put Loyal up 11-4. Loyal kept marching ahead and went on to win the set 15-6 and the overall match 3-2.

“The momentum was against them going into game 5 and they went out there proving that they belong there and that they deserved that win,” said Pieper. “I’m excited to play in the regional finals and it’s only forward focus from here!”

Wolf led the team with 21 kills, Peroshek led the team with 38 digs, Prior led the team with three aces, and Autumn Zvolena led the team with 4 block kills.

“[It was] an all around team win,” said PIeper. Another highlight of the game was Peroshek, a senior, getting her 1,000th dig of her high school career. Pieper spoke highly of this accomplishment.

“[It] was a really fun experience. It’s the first milestone any of my players have achieved with me being the head coach, and it couldn’t have happened to a better girl. She is so deserving of this; she’s put in the work and I am just extremely proud of her. This is all of her doing and I can’t take any credit for this accomplishment, I’m just grateful I get to coach someone with so much determination and dedication that Hope shows.”

Eleva-Strum game After winning over Bangor, Loyal advanced to play Eleva-Strum, the five seed, at home Saturday night. Similar to the Bangor game, Loyal came out hot and easily won the first set, 25-13. The second set was a different story, as Bangor took the lead early on and held on to it for quite some time before Loyal rallied back. However, Loyal went on to win quite definitively, 25-16. Tensions mounted in the third set, which turned into a competitive battle that Eleva-Strum eventually won, 25-22.

“Our trend this season has actually been coming out extremely strong in that first set and then we end up falling [in] that second set. We finally got over that hump and now it seems to be the third game. It’s just another goal we need to focus on,” said Pieper. “We got past that second set; now we focus on the third set. One game at a time. Again, I don’t feel we played poorly that third game, it just wasn’t our game to win and then we came out and answered back right away the following game.”

In the fourth set, the Greyhounds returned to form and won 25-15 to take the overall match 3-1.

“Highlights from the regional final game was definitely our defense, leading to an unstoppable offense,” said Pieper. “Our serve receive percentage was 97% Saturday night, which allows us to run a highly effective offense.”

Prior led the team with 41 assists. Wolf led in kills, with 26; and Molly Zvolena had 14. Peroshek led the team with 25 digs and Nikolai had three ace serves.

“Our biggest strength during the regional final game was being able to utilize every player. Every player was able to play big for us, whether that be in the front row or back row. Each girl played their role and it caused Eleva-Strum to be unable to stop our offense, because each girl was a threat and it was hard to key in on one player,” Pieper explained.

“I feel we played a very well-rounded game and didn’t show many signs of struggle. We did fall short the third game, but I don’t feel we played poorly; we just couldn’t gain the momentum to stop theirs. We need to show consistency in each game and that is something we will be working on in practice this week: finding ways to work together to be consistent and rally together through tough points.”

Pieper said her team would also continue to place a heavy emphasis on fundamentals during practice, including passing and serving drills.

“The girls have really accepted how much these drills impact their game and they never complain; they just get to work. Our serving has been an ongoing goal for us this year to continue to increase our serving percentage,” Pieper said.

Pieper was proud of her team for how far they’ve come and hoped they would carry that momentum into their next playoff game.

“As far as winning the regional title, I give all of the credit to the girls; they came out and never let up. They have worked hard for this and it's been fun to watch them grow into a regional championship team!… I cannot think of a more deserving group of girls to put ‘2024’ on the championship banner that hangs in our gym that has been untouched for almost 20 years.

“I hope the girls soak in this moment and it fuels them for sectionals because we aren't done yet and we definitely have some unfinished business!”

The girls are scheduled to play Cochrane-Fountain City at home on Thursday night, Oct. 31. The winner of that game will advance to play the winner of Webster/Eau Claire Regis at Eau Claire North on Saturday, Nov. 2, at 7 p.m. for the sectional championship.

Reporter Cheyenne Thomas contributed to this article.