Leader Staff
Three area teams will have targets on their backs as top seeds in their respective WIAA volleyball regionals.
Bonduel and Wittenberg-Birnamwood are top seeds in Division 3, and Bowler earned a top spot in Division 4. Shawano is the second seed in its Division 2 regional.
The brackets were released Wednesday.
Shawano (22-13, 5-2 Bay Conference) will face seventh-ranked Marinette (5-25, 0-8 North Eastern Conference). Shawano topped the Marines early in the season at a tournament in Crivitz, 25-14, 20-25, 15-1.
“I think that we’ve made a lot of great improvements and they should be ready,” Shawano head coach Breanna Young said.
Shawano needed five sets to defeat Seymour (20-17, 5-2 Bay), which got the third seed and a meeting with the sixth-ranked Clintonville Truckers (5-21, 1-7 NEC).
Oconto Falls, also out of the NEC, received the top seed in the regional.
Young said that the key for making a postseason run will be to “continue working as one team instead of six individual players, tough serve receive and fewer unforced errors on our side.”
Bonduel (10-5, 4-4 Central Wisconsin Conference-8) received a bye into the regional semifinals. The Bears will play either No. 5 Coleman (5-11, 5-3 Marinette & Oconto Conference) or No. 4 Laona/Wabeno (11-8, 9-5 Northern Lakes). Menominee Indian (0-9, 0-8 CWC-10) got the seventh seed in the same regional and will face No. 2 Crivitz (7-9, 6-2 M&O) on the road Tuesday.
Wittenberg-Birnamwood (32-7, 10-0 CWC-8) took home the top seed in its regional, securing a match against Iola-Scandinavia (1-11, 0-8 CWC-8).
Gresham (13-11, 6-7 CWC-10) is the three seed in its Division 4 regional. The Wildcats secured a matchup with sixth-seeded Oneida Nation on Oct. 18. The two teams met during the Gresham Invite on Oct. 1, with Gresham sweeping the Thunderhawks, 25-18, 26-24, 15-5.
Bowler (16-5, 11-2 CWC-10) has a bye into the second round, waiting to face the winner of No. 5 Lena vs. fourth-seeded Gillett on Tuesday.
In another Division 4 regional, Tigerton (14-7, 7-6 CWC-10) got the third seed and a meeting with Almond-Bancroft (2-7, 2-7 CWC-10), while Marion (3-7, 2-7 CWC-10) secured the fifth seed, traveling to Assumption (5-15, 1-5 Marawood-South) for the regional quarterfinal.
All regional quarterfinal matchups are scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday.