BRODHEAD — For the first time since 2013, the Cardinals are regional champions. Brodhead knocked off Cuba City in five grueling sets Oct. 26 in a WIAA Division 3 regional final, 25-20, 19-25, 25-16, 20-25, 15-4.

“It’s awesome. It took me four years to get it and I’m really excited. Let’s see how far we can go,” senior Katie Goecks said of a regional championship.

Brodhead scored the No. 1-seed in the tournament and received a bye in the first round of the playoffs. On Oct. 24, the Cardinals swept New Glarus while Cuba City toppled Darlington the same evening.

In the regional final, the gymnasium at Brodhead High School was electric from the start. The hometown fans raised the resting decibel level with every point from the opening serve, and the traveling Cuba City student section made a ruckus each time the Cubans scored a point.

“Our crowd and our student section — just being there to support us and cheer us on, and then our teammates being loud on the bench, too,” helped us get in a rhythm, freshman hitter Abbie Dix said.

Of the five sets, only the tiebreaking fifth set could have been considered “in control” by either of the two teams, both of which earned honorable mention rankings in the final Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches Association poll of the year, released Oct. 22.

Brodhead opened the first set with a 4-1 advantage, which sent the crowd into a tizzy. Cuba City rallied and went ahead 15-14. A tip kill by Madisyn Kail tied the game and gave the Cardinals the serve, and then Dix stepped in for five straight serves to restore order at 19-15.

The Cubans wouldn’t go away in the set, and it was Goecks who stepped up for the Cardinals. Goecks slammed home her fifth kill of the frame to give her team a 23-18 lead, and a couple serves later Dix hammered home the game-deciding point.

“Getting that first set under our belt let all the jitters out and got us confident,” Goecks said. “It was literally a team effort from everyone. We couldn’t get it without the serves. Everyone stepped up.”

Goecks was only just getting warmed up. As the two teams battled over the next three sets, the senior Cardinal routinely came up big when her team needed her — be it with a kill, a dig, a serve or word of encouragement.

“Katie Goecks hit the crap out of the ball tonight. It was just what we needed, coming from side to side,” Brodhead coach Erin Kammerer said.

Goecks spent the first three years of her career looking up to other seniors and leaders, like 2019 graduate Abbey Johnson, who now plays for Viterbo. With Johnson watching from the stands, along with other former teammates, family and friends, Goecks knew the time to make a move on the court was there for the taking.

“We knew that we had an opportunity sitting for us to take. We had been practicing all week for this opportunity,” Goecks said. “I knew that I had to step up from Thursday. My hitting wasn’t very close to my standards, and I knew I had to step up fast.”

Goecks finished the night with 26 kills, three aces, three blocks and five digs. 

In the crucial fourth set, Cuba City opened up a 13-13 game with a 7-1 run that put Brodhead down 20-14. Goecks slammed home a kill to slow the momentum, but the Cubans rebounded with a kill of their own from sophomore Hailey Stich. Trailing 22-16, Kammerer called her second timeout in seven serves. The Cardinals rebounded with three straight points thanks to a Cubans violation, a block from Dix and Kail, and an ace from freshman Alexis Kammerer. It was as close as Brodhead would get in the set before Cuba City closed it out, but the groundwork was laid for the decisive fifth set.

“Cuba is one of the toughest teams. I think everyone is going to mimic a lot of what they did,” coach Kammerer said. “Props to Cuba — the battle was on. Their ability to dig — I knew we weren’t going to battle in the long run if we couldn’t serve better.”

The Cubans had three straight errors to open the tiebreaker and trailed 4-2 after six serves. Enter Kail at the service line.

“I was just thinking, ‘this has to be in,’” Kail said of her first serve. “And then I got one and wanted to be stronger and stronger every time after.”

Kail pounded the ball each serve into the middle of the box, and Goecks played the role of dynamite with three kills in a five-point stretch. Kail went on to serve eight times in a row before the Cubans could get a side-out, and by then the Cardinals had built a 12-3 lead in set where the first team to 15 wins.

“We could see that Cuba was kind of eating themselves away. That helped us so much. We couldn’t have done it without them destroying themselves. It just carried over,” Goecks said.

“Madisyn stepping up in that last game (and) serving the crap out of the ball was what we needed to find momentum,” coach Kammerer said.

Goecks couldn’t let the match end without being involved on the final two points of the match either — a kill by the future Edgewood College player pushed the score to match-point at 14-4, where Goecks then took the ball at the service line. Once the final spike hit the ground, the bench erupted into the air in delight, and the home fans screamed in pride. Moments later Goecks and fellow seniors Catherine Speckman and Liz Green carried the regional championship plaque back to the huddle at midcourt and the student section stormed the hardwood to join in the celebration.

“It was awesome. Our last set was our best one. We worked together as a team,” Dix said.

Dix had 18 kills, two aces and three blocks, while Alexis Kammerer recorded 54 assists, three aces and 14 digs. Five Cardinals had double-digits in digs, with a sixth — Bailey Matthys — one away with nine. Brodhead collected 85 digs in the match, as well as 57 kills and 11 aces. As a team, Brodhead served 94.2%.

“It also comes from my back row kids. You can’t run a middle without passers. Everybody really stepped up and made it work,” coach Kammerer said. “I’ve never been prouder of those guys.”

The last time the Cardinals won a regional championship, the team went on to reach the state tournament for just the second time in school history. One of the key contributors in 2013 was Carly Mohns, now back with the program as an assistant. The head coach in 2013 was Erin Kammerer, who still holds the reigns of the program. Kammerer was also an assistant on the 2008 state qualifying team.

Now the Cardinals get to host River Ridge, the ninth-ranked team in the state. The sectional semifinal will be played at Brodhead Oct. 31. The winner will get either 10th-ranked Laconia or second-ranked Waterloo in the sectional championship at Dodgeland Nov. 2.

“It’s so big to be able to play on our home court again. It gives us another advantage,” Kail said.

“Beside the fact that it’s our blood, sweat and tears on this court, it’s our crowd. Being at home is amazing for us, and to be honest I think it motivates the girls. It really shows me, how the community comes together, that these kids mean a lot to a lot of people. We’ll take that to our advantage, being at home,” coach Kammerer said.

Oct. 24, WIAA Division 3 Regional Semifinals

Brodhead 3, New Glarus 0

BRODHEAD — In the second round of the WIAA Division 3 playoffs, the Cardinals swept the visiting Knights 25-18, 25-22, 25-8.

“Thursday was a very slow-paced game,” Goecks said.

Alexis Kammerer had five aces, eight digs and 28 assists for Brodhead, while Sabrina Siegel had four aces, five kills and seven digs. Goecks finished with nine kills, two blocks and an ace. Dix had three aces, two blocks and six kills.

Junior Alexa Mellenberger finished with seven kills and 10 digs for the Knights, while Lola Gillaspie had five kills and two aces. Lily Himmelmann, a senior like Gillaspie, had four kills and a block. Freshman Grace Nommensen dished out 21 assists and had seven digs, and senior Brooke Watrud added seven digs.

New Glarus finishes the season with a 13-14 overall record.

Cuba City 3, Darlington 0

CUBA CITY — The Cubans won a tight second set that took the wind out of Darlington’s sails. Cuba City fended off their SWAL rival in straight sets 25-18, 26-24, 25-18.

Sydney Beasley led Darlington with 13 kills, while Taylor Wedig added five blocks. Lizzie Schwartz distributed 14 assists, Alyssa Tuescher had three digs and Laura Sturtz added five aces for the Redbirds.

“(Cuba City) was ready to go and we were ready, too. We just didn’t get the breaks we needed tonight,” Darlington coach Jen Schwartz said. “We wanted this one pretty bad. Sometimes when you try too hard it becomes a bad thing. My kids fought the whole night, but we just had some things not go our way, and that was hard to fight against, especially up against a very talented Cuba City team.”