NEW GLARUS — The Brodhead Cardinals entered the season with a slew of senior-laden talent and high goals — namely, to return to state, where they had played as recently as the spring 2021 alternate fall season.

“I’m speechless. I was not ready to be done, but, you know, all good things come to an end,” said Brodhead senior setter Alexis Kammerer. “We had a really good postseason run — all 13 of us worked our butts off.”

The No. 5-ranked Cardinals were able to sweep Mineral Point in the sectional semifinal at home on Oct. 27, but ultimately fell to No. 3 Randolph in a tight 5-set sectional final, 25-16, 16-25, 25-22, 17-25, 12-15.

“To be honest, I can’t be more proud of them,” said Erin Kammerer, Brodhead coach. “We set a goal to not give up, to be all-out for each ball — and they totally followed the gameplan. It just wasn’t our night to come out on top. They have nothing to hang their heads about.”

The first two sets mirrored each other, as one team controlled the back half of the set after a tight battle to the midway point. Brodhead closed the opening frame on an 11-3 run. Randolph closed the second period with a 16-6 run. 

In the third set, the Rockets scored the first four points and looked like the momentum was about to carry over, but the Cardinals stayed even-keeled and fought back to tie it at 6-6. Neither team led by more than two points the rest of the way until the Cardinals scored the set-point to win by three.

“We got caught in a rotation, and we needed to make adjustments, but we didn’t make them fast enough,” Erin Kammerer said. “We came back out and it’s a clean slate. We knew if we served tough enough, we could keep them out of system and go get the win.”

In the fourth set, Randolph went on the match’s biggest run, 17-5, and led 20-8. Brodhead coach Erin Kammerer noticed a struggle in her serve receive unit, and opted to make a substitution, bringing in freshman Alecia Dahl, who immediately made an impact. 

“She came in — and that gives a ton of credit to my kids that aren’t between the lines, because they are always ready to go and she just proves it,” Erin Kammerer said. “The fact that she can come in that young and play ball is just an attribute to what we have coming up.”

The Cardinals rolled off a 5-0 run to bring the score back to within seven at 20-13, and later got as close as six points at 23-17, but the magic ran out as Carizma Muth and Jorey Buwalda finished with back-to-back kills to force the fifth and final set.

The Cardinals led just twice in the fifth set: 1-0 and 6-5. The Rockets used four-straight points to go up 9-6, but Brodhead kept scratching away and brought it back to a one-point deficit at 13-12 after an Abbie Dix kill. 

“We played with grit, definitely. We worked out hardest, but Randolph is a very good team and found things that we couldn’t get to,” Alexis Kammerer said.

However, Muth, a first-team all-state pick, closed it all out herself. She had the kill from the right line to get a side-out, then at the service line sent over a tricky ball. The Cardinals pushed it back across the net, but Muth finished it off with a back row kill, as the ball bounced on the wrong side of the net for Brodhead blockers Dix and Kirsten Fish.

Alexis Kammerer finished the night with 40 assists and nine digs. Dix had 14 kills, 14 digs and three blocks. Mckenna Young had 13 kills, Fish tallied five blocks and 11 kills, and Kaidynce Bevars added three aces.

Muth had 29 kills and four aces, with Alvin adding another 13 kills and six blocks. Buwalda tallied 48 assists and 14 digs.

“(Muth) had some very good line shots and found our weaknesses, and (Rylea Alvin) reached over our blockers. Props to them,” Alexis Kammerer said.

The loss ends one of the most-storied classes in program history. Dix and Alexis Kammerer were starters as freshmen, with Fish, Young and Bevars all with the team on the state runner-up run in the 2020 alt-fall. In their four years in high school, the volleyball program won four regional titles.

“It is a heck of a run. We talked about the expectation of being good, but it’s not about being good — these kids worked their butts off day in and day out. They earned everything they got. To walk away with over 100 wins — four regional titles — they earned every ounce of that,” said Erin Kammerer.

The senior class is loaded with overall athletic talent as well. Alexis Kammerer is headed to Dubuque to play college volleyball; Fish to UW-Green Bay; Dix to UW-Whitewater and Young will play softball at South Dakota.

“It’s pretty awesome when you grow up with these people, you know what their strengths are, and you know how to work together and get the job done,” Alexis said.

The loss also brought an end to Erin coaching daughter Alexis. The volleyball program has been a family affair in the Kammerer household, with father Brian Kammerer an assistant coach, freshman Gretchen on the bench, and son Landen as manager. 

“It’s been a joy to coach her. The gym is not going to be the same without her,” Erin said. “Alexis was my coach on the floor. She did a really nice job of running the floor, and always knew exactly what I wanted to be done at what time.”

Sectional Semifinal

Brodhead 3, Mineral Point 0

BRODHEAD — The Cardinals closed the final match on their home court with a thrilling sweep of Mineral Point, 25-21, 26-24, 25-15.

“It went through my mind” that this was the last match on the home court, Fish said. “I quickly turned it off because I wanted to focus.”

Dix led the way with 17 kills, nine digs and three blocks. Alexis Kammerer had two aces and 36 assists. Fish finished with nine kills. Young and Kaidynce Bevars each had nine digs, while Bevars had two assists, and Addison Yates notched eight kills.

In each of the first two sets, Brodhead led by five late, only for Mineral Point to rally and make it close. In the final set, the Cardinals opened on a 5-0 run with Alexis Kammerer at the service line, and eventual took an 8-point lead at 13-5 after an Abbie Dix block. The Pointers would bring it to as close as 18-13 before Brodhead ran off a 6-0 run with Bevars at the service line to bring it to match point. Three serves later, and the Cardinal seniors were celebrating a win on their final game on the home court.

“It’s really amazing,” Dix said. “A lot of sweat, blood and tears on this court. I couldn’t appreciate it any more.”

“We’ve worked really hard over these years. Being a senior, it’s fun to see how each new team grows. This team has stuck together so much and gone through so much together,” Fish said. 

“Everyone worked so hard all year to get us to this point. All 13 players have grinded in and out of practice every day,” Alexis Kammerer said. “It was nice that we didn’t have it end here on our home court and we could move one.”