The Seneca volleyball team hosted the LaFarge Wildcats on Tuesday. LaFarge was at the Reedsburg Tournament with the Indians, so there was some familiarity with each other.  

“We knew the LaFarge season goal was to take Seneca down,” Seneca coach Dawn Ray acknowledged later. “The Seneca girls came prepared to play hard for the conference title and the Wildcats were in the way.”  

In game one, the Indians played sharp taking down LaFarge 25-13.  

In Game 2, the Wildcats started to come alive and came out swinging. At one point, the Wildcats were up 22-12 on the Indians.  

With some strong serving by Seneca’s Becky Trautsch and some tough net play, the Indians found some spark and were able to inch their way back into the game before finally going down to LaFarge 25-19.

Regrouping and having the momentum going in their direction, the Indians came back and took Games 3 and 4, 25-19 and 25-17.  

Leading the Indians at the net was Liv Swanson with 10 kills and two block kills. Nicole Manders had nine kills and one block kill, while Haley Wall and Emily Garfoot each had eight kills and Jena Konichek had five kills. The Seneca setters set up strong with Becky Trautsch with 19 and Emily Garfoot with 16.  

Digging up LaFarge’s hits was libero Alivia Salinas with 17 digs.  

The girls served strong from behind the line with Nicole Manders at 20-20 Emily Garfoot at 19-19, Jena Konichek at 14-14, Alivia Salinas at 9-9, Becky Trautsch at 14-15, and Haley Wall at 11-13.  The girls were handed the Ridge and Valley Conference Trophy for the first time in five years. It was a goal the team set for themselves at the beginning of the season. 

Next up the Indians traveled to Hornet territory, were they going to share the title with DeSoto or was it going to be theirs alone.  Apparently the Seneca Indians don’t like to share. They came ready to play and end their conference season being undefeated.  

Seneca wasted no time, taking down Wauzeka-Steuben, 25-13, 25-14, 25-10.  

The Indians put up some solid net play with Nicole Manders with 14 kills, Liv Swanson with 11 kills and two block kills, and Jena Konichek with seven kills.  

Assisting the hitters again was Becky Trautsch with 16 assists and Emily Garfoot with 13 assists. Libero Alivia Salinas wasn't too busy with digs, only having fivethe Hornets had a tough time setting up the ball.  

Behind the line, it was Alivia Salinas with 19-20 and three aces, Haley Wall 15-16 and two aces, Nicole Manders 14-14 and two aces, Jena Konichek 10-11 and two aces, Emily Garfoot 7-8 2 aces, and Becky Trautsch 5-5.  

The Seneca Indians were able to win the Ridge and Valley Conference Championship with a record of 7-0.

“A goal was met and I'm very proud of the girls, now onto our next goal,” coach Dawn Ray said after the match.

Next, the girls start their tournament run ranked second behind the River Ridge Timberwolves.  Seneca will host Wauzeka on Tuesday, Oct. 20 with a possibility of hosting the winner of DeSoto/Ithaca match on Thursday.  

“We have to take each game and play to our potential and we hope to have another rematch with River Ridge on Saturday,” Ray said. “But in tournaments everyone is 0-0, and the game will go to the team that wants it more.”

Keep your eyes on the Seneca Indians!!