L-C girls making sixth state appearance

Luxemburg-Casco won the Div. 2 WIAA volleyball sectional title at Seymour Saturday, punching its ticket to the 53rd State Girls Volleyball Tournament at the Resch Center in Green Bay.

The Spartans (34-12) made their sixth state appearance as the four-seed, taking on top-seeded Sauk Prairie (29-5) at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Nov. 7. Second-seeded Grafton (27-10) played three-seed Waupaca (27-10). The two winners will play in Saturday’s 5 p.m. D-2 championship match.

“We are excited about the opportunity to compete and play at the state tournament,” said Head Coach Jeff Frey. “There are only four Division 2 teams that have earned the chance to end their season on the Resch Center floor. I think this is one of the most wide-open state tournaments in a while.”

Frey said the Spartans split with Waupaca during the regular season, both really competitive, intense matches. Waupaca has the #1-ranked player in the state in the Class of 2026, Peyton Carlson, a Creighton commit. Frey said Sauk Prairie is a good, a well-balanced team, with Mallory Hartwig (a South Dakota State commit) one of the best players in the state.

Top-seeded Sauk Prairie earned a berth at state for the first time since 2022. The Eagles defeated defending champion Catholic Memorial 25-10, 15-25, 25-15, 19-25, 15-8 in the sectional final at Portage.

Second-seeded Grafton is at state for the first time after a 25-9, 25-14, 25-13 sweep of Pius XI Catholic in the Whitefish Bay Sectional final. Waupaca, the third seed, is also at state for the first time after a five-set victory in the final of the Altoona Sectional. They battled back from an 0-2 deficit to win the match by set scores of 22-25, 24-26, 25-21, 25-20, 15-12.

L-C’s sixth appearances have all come since 2017. The Spartans were champions in 2019, 2020 and 2021, and runners-up in 2017 and 2024. Last season, L-C lost to Memorial 25-18, 25-10, 25-22 in the title match.
Frey isn’t counting the Spartans out in 2025.

“We are more battle tested than any team in this tournament, and we’re playing our best volleyball of the season,” Frey said. “That’s all you can ask for heading into state.”

To be successful, he said they need to win the serve and serve-receive game, and continue to play with grit and passion.

“It is going to be a grind, a tough tournament, but we have already had to beat three really good teams in Oconto Falls (ranked #8 in the state in Div. 2), Fox Valley Lutheran (ranked #3) and Xavier (ranked #4) just to get here,” he said.

This weekend will mark the end of Coach Frey’s 14th season. His 14 teams have a combined record of 435 wins and 184 losses.

Senior Alayna Deprez had 4,086 career assists heading into the weekend, smashing the previous record of 3,393. Meanwhile, junior Aubrey Frey had increased her single-season kills record to 712. The old mark was 643.

The state boys and girls tournament finals Saturday will be broadcast on Green Bay television channel CW14.1 (girls) and Comet 14.2 (boys), as well as on the WIAA State Television station websites. Pre-final matches will be live on the WIAA.TV portal of the NFHS Network on a subscription basis.

Sectional scores

At Seymour last Saturday, the Spartans improved to 34-12 on the season with a 3-0 match shutout of Xavier, 25-14, 25-21 and 29-27.

Alayna Deprez had 29 assists and 12 digs, Aubrey Frey 17 kills and 10 digs, Claire Schleis 14 kills and Rylan Kaminski 16 digs.

“We came locked in and focused,” said Coach Frey. “I loved the resiliency we showed in set two, down 15-8 and come back and get that set. Then to stay in the fight in set three down 22-18 and grind, and find a way. Says a lot about our young ladies on this team. I could not be more proud of them.”

In Thursday’s sectional semifinal, L-C won at Fox Valley Lutheran. The Spartans took the first two sets, 28-26 and 25-14, lost the third 22-25 and won the fourth 25-21.

Deprez had 43 assists, seven digs and three blocks; Frey 31 kills, 10 digs, two blocks and two aces; Claire Schleis eight kills and two aces; Ali Jansen eight kills and Rylan Kaminski 15 digs and four aces.

“The first set was the key,” said Coach Frey. “It felt like we were in control the whole set, and then at the end we were down 22-24. To come back and win 28-26 was huge.”