BRODHEAD — It took the Brodhead Cardinals volleyball team (29-3, 8-1) five sets, but they pulled out a win against the McFarland Spartans (27-5, 8-1) on Thursday, Oct. 6 for a three-way tie for the Rock Valley Conference. Whitewater, McFarland and Brodhead share the regular-season title, as they each went 8-1. 

“It felt really good,” senior Abbie Dix said of the win. “Now it comes down to the conference tournament in a couple weekends. We are going to keep pushing hard like we did tonight and keep working in practice. We are going to fight hard.”

The Cardinals erupted for a 7-0 lead in the first set, as Kirsten Fish and Dix combined for a block and each had a kill. The combined celebration from the team, fans and student section was deafening.

“It was so amazing,” Dix said of the early lead.  “We really needed that. It brought up our energy and pushed us. It felt so amazing against a great team like McFarland.”

The Spartans called a time out, which proved to be effective. McFarland then went on to take five of the next six points. 

After some back-and-forth action, the Spartans scored seven consecutive points, six of which were with Gwen Crull at the service line. Crull, a Division I commit to Bowling Green, served up four aces in that stretch.

“We knew Gwen was going to be tough,” Brodhead head coach Erin Kammerer said. “We have faced her the last four years. She is an awesome player. We were working hard to serve tough enough that they couldn’t get her the ball.”

McFarland tied the game up twice before scoring the last two points on a block and Crull kill to win 25-23.

Carrying their first-set momentum into the second, the Spartans jumped out to a 5-1 lead on an ace from Taylor Faust.

The Cardinals worked their way back into the set with a four-point rally, during which Fish had three kills. Down the stretch, Brodhead won eight of the last 10 points for a 25-21 victory. Dix went off for three kills and a block.

The Cardinals rode their momentum into the third set, much like the Spartans did the set previous. Addison Yates collected two blocks, and an illegal rotation by McFarland gave Brodhead a 7-2 lead.

Although the Spartans got within two at 22-20, 23-21 and 24-22, the Cardinals held on for a 25-22 win to go up two sets to one.

With the game on the line, McFarland dominated in the fourth set. They had two, five-point rallies and ended the set with two kills from Crull and an ace.

In a first-to-15 fifth set, the two teams were tied four times. 

An attacking error gave Brodhead the 7-6 lead from which they never looked back. Kaidynce Bevars slammed down a kill followed by a double block from Alexis Kammerer and Yates for a 9-6 lead. Of the Cardinals final six points, Dix was responsible for three of them.

Dix finished the night with 20 kills, three blocks and two aces. McKenna Young, Yates and Fish also contributed to the offense with seven kills each.

“That is a strength we have this year,” Erin Kammerer said of her balanced offense. “We have a lot of girls that want the ball in the front row. We have a lot of fun in the front. We have a lot of offense.”

Alexis Kammerer led with three aces and 37 assists. Libero Jaelyn Hilliard and Young each recorded double-digit digs with 10 and 17, respectively.

For McFarland, Crull led in kills (29), aces (8) and blocks (4). Ava Dean totaled 48 assists, while Maggie Paulias recorded 23 digs. 

Not only did Brodhead celebrate an important win, it also honored their five seniors Alexis Kammerer, Fish, Young, Dix and Bevars. Kammerer, Fish and Dix will continue their volleyball careers at the University of Dubuque, UW-Green Bay and UW-Whitewater, respectively, while Young will play softball at the University of South Dakota.

“To be able to pull the team together and pull off a win tonight for them was an honor,” Erin Kammerer said. “They have a lot of blood sweat and tears on this floor, and I think that everybody really stepped up tonight. They knew that this was going to be a tough match, and they laid it all out on the line. We came out on the positive side tonight.”

The Rock Valley conference tournament will be held in Edgerton on Saturday, Oct. 15.