BRODHEAD - Is Big Foot's five-year domination in volleyball over?
Brodhead emphatically ended the Chiefs' 56-match winning streak in the Rock Valley South Conference with a home sweep Tuesday night.
The Cardinals, a Division 3 state-tournament qualifier a year ago, announced themselves as favorites to win the South with a 25-13, 25-11, 25-23 sweep.
"Talk about slaying the giant," Brodhead coach Erin Kammerer said. "Big Foot was our only (conference losses) last year, and we had taken one set from them and thought that was a big deal. To come away with a whole match tonight, it was a really nice win."
Big Foot had five consecutive perfect seasons and hadn't lost since late 2008. The Chiefs fell to 2-1 in conference play this year, while Brodhead is 3-0.
The Cardinals seemed to find their flow from the very first serve and never trailed in the opening two games. In game one, they raced out to an 11-6 lead and pushed it to 22-11 on senior Abby Flesher's ace.
"Our goal every year has been to try and compete with the best and to try and come out on top with them," Brodhead senior setter Payton Wright said. "This year we finally did.
"We were focused on keeping our energy high, because that helps us do better. We knew if we could get them down early, we could just keep pushing."
That's exactly what happened in the second game.
After some confusion about Big Foot being out of rotation starting the game, Brodhead pounced, jumping out to a 14-1 lead. Junior Blake Boegli served for eight points during that span, and juniors Amber Pickel and Kylie Moe traded quick-set kills and well-placed finesse shots.
"We're still struggling with three girls out - two with suspensions and one with a knee injury," first-year Big Foot coach Caitlin Dowden said. "We still haven't found that flow yet. It's a bummer we caught them early on (in the schedule), but I'm not sure we got off the bus well tonight."
The Chiefs didn't back down in the third game, however. They took their first lead of the night at 4-3 and kept it rolling to go up 11-6.
But Wright's quick-set attack forced a side out, and Pickel stepped up to serve eight straight points. She had three aces in that span and a team-high four overall to go along with four blocks.
Moe had eight kills, and Wright had a match-high 25 assists.
"We kind of got down on ourselves, but we got our energy back up and did fine," Wright said. "We always have high expectations and never want to sink down to where we were before. We always want to keep pushing, get better and get back to state."
Big Foot fought back to tie the game at 16-16 and again at 20-20 but never regained the lead.
The Chiefs were led by Rachel Heidenreich's nine kills and Morgan Hoey, who had 18 digs and four aces.
"The girls knew of (the long winning streak) and they're upset now," Dowden said. "But what I told them is that they now are the ones that get to start the next streak."
Brodhead emphatically ended the Chiefs' 56-match winning streak in the Rock Valley South Conference with a home sweep Tuesday night.
The Cardinals, a Division 3 state-tournament qualifier a year ago, announced themselves as favorites to win the South with a 25-13, 25-11, 25-23 sweep.
"Talk about slaying the giant," Brodhead coach Erin Kammerer said. "Big Foot was our only (conference losses) last year, and we had taken one set from them and thought that was a big deal. To come away with a whole match tonight, it was a really nice win."
Big Foot had five consecutive perfect seasons and hadn't lost since late 2008. The Chiefs fell to 2-1 in conference play this year, while Brodhead is 3-0.
The Cardinals seemed to find their flow from the very first serve and never trailed in the opening two games. In game one, they raced out to an 11-6 lead and pushed it to 22-11 on senior Abby Flesher's ace.
"Our goal every year has been to try and compete with the best and to try and come out on top with them," Brodhead senior setter Payton Wright said. "This year we finally did.
"We were focused on keeping our energy high, because that helps us do better. We knew if we could get them down early, we could just keep pushing."
That's exactly what happened in the second game.
After some confusion about Big Foot being out of rotation starting the game, Brodhead pounced, jumping out to a 14-1 lead. Junior Blake Boegli served for eight points during that span, and juniors Amber Pickel and Kylie Moe traded quick-set kills and well-placed finesse shots.
"We're still struggling with three girls out - two with suspensions and one with a knee injury," first-year Big Foot coach Caitlin Dowden said. "We still haven't found that flow yet. It's a bummer we caught them early on (in the schedule), but I'm not sure we got off the bus well tonight."
The Chiefs didn't back down in the third game, however. They took their first lead of the night at 4-3 and kept it rolling to go up 11-6.
But Wright's quick-set attack forced a side out, and Pickel stepped up to serve eight straight points. She had three aces in that span and a team-high four overall to go along with four blocks.
Moe had eight kills, and Wright had a match-high 25 assists.
"We kind of got down on ourselves, but we got our energy back up and did fine," Wright said. "We always have high expectations and never want to sink down to where we were before. We always want to keep pushing, get better and get back to state."
Big Foot fought back to tie the game at 16-16 and again at 20-20 but never regained the lead.
The Chiefs were led by Rachel Heidenreich's nine kills and Morgan Hoey, who had 18 digs and four aces.
"The girls knew of (the long winning streak) and they're upset now," Dowden said. "But what I told them is that they now are the ones that get to start the next streak."
