Where Teams Stand In Their Section: D1 Section 1-4

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We are at the midpoint of the 2026 high school volleyball season.&nbsp; I truly believe high school volleyball is the “fastest” season out there where teams play plenty of matches in a short amount of time.&nbsp; We are about one month from when we started the first match of the season and about one month from the start of the post season.&nbsp; We can take a look at where teams stand in Division 1 and what the outlook could be when pairings come out the third week of October.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Volleyball will go to electronic seeding with the chance for teams to appeal.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Where They Stand (9/23/26)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Section 1</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:table --> <figure class="wp-block-table"><table class="has-fixed-layout"><tbody><tr><td>Section Rank (Max Preps)</td><td>Team</td><td>Record (9/23/26)</td><td>Max Preps Rank (D1)</td></tr><tr><td>1</td><td>Hudson</td><td>15-2</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td>2</td><td>River Falls</td><td>22-5</td><td>7</td></tr><tr><td>3</td><td>Marshfield</td><td>18-4</td><td>15</td></tr><tr><td>4</td><td>New Richmond</td><td>14-3</td><td>19</td></tr><tr><td>5</td><td>Chippewa Falls</td><td>20-6</td><td>21</td></tr><tr><td>6</td><td>Holmen</td><td>13-8</td><td>38</td></tr><tr><td>7</td><td>La Crosse Central</td><td>14-6</td><td>40</td></tr><tr><td>8</td><td>Eau Claire Memorial</td><td>9-6</td><td>43</td></tr><tr><td>9</td><td>Tomah</td><td>15-8</td><td>56</td></tr><tr><td>10</td><td>Onalaska</td><td>8-10</td><td>66</td></tr><tr><td>11</td><td>Superior</td><td>6-10</td><td>73</td></tr><tr><td>12</td><td>Sparta</td><td>8-9</td><td>74</td></tr><tr><td>13</td><td>Eau Claire North</td><td>7-16</td><td>75</td></tr><tr><td>14</td><td>Menomonie</td><td>3-10</td><td>78</td></tr></tbody></table></figure> <!-- /wp:table --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>One of the changes in this section is taking the Wausau schools and Stevens Point out and bringing in the La Crosse area schools.&nbsp; Hudson and River Falls have always been at the top of this group where they also are Big Rivers Conference rivals.&nbsp; Hudson has taken round one against RF, but the two will meet again on October 8.&nbsp; River Falls has the edge when it comes to strength of schedule.&nbsp; However, they did drop a match to Marshfield last week.&nbsp; Some names to know in this group would be [player_tooltip player_id='511138' first='Amelie' last='Pankonin'] and [player_tooltip player_id='701235' first='Brooke' last='Dusek'] from River Falls.&nbsp; They are an outside hitter combo who have been leading the pack for River Falls their entire careers.&nbsp; Pankonin was part of the River Falls team who went to state in 2023.&nbsp; [player_tooltip player_id='724577' first='Abby' last='Cera'] is one to watch for Marshfield who is averaging over three kills per set while libero [player_tooltip player_id='935394' first='Jazlyn' last='Kurth'] who is leading their defense at four digs per set.&nbsp; Marshfield has a chance to pick up some high quality wins this upcoming weekend when they head to the Appleton East Tournament while River Falls will be going to the Neenah Tournament the following weekend.&nbsp; Volleyball will be using electronic seeding to start and will then have an appeal meeting for section seeding.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Section 2</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:table --> <figure class="wp-block-table"><table class="has-fixed-layout"><tbody><tr><td>Section Rank (Max Preps)</td><td>Team</td><td>Record (9/23/26)</td><td>Max Preps Rank (D1)</td></tr><tr><td>1</td><td>Bay Port</td><td>12-6</td><td>18</td></tr><tr><td>2</td><td>West De Pere</td><td>11-3</td><td>20</td></tr><tr><td>3</td><td>Hortonville</td><td>11-7</td><td>25</td></tr><tr><td>4</td><td>DC Everest</td><td>11-6</td><td>27</td></tr><tr><td>5</td><td>De Pere</td><td>16-7</td><td>28</td></tr><tr><td>6</td><td>SPASH</td><td>12-5</td><td>33</td></tr><tr><td>7</td><td>Ashwaubenon</td><td>13-4</td><td>41</td></tr><tr><td>8</td><td>Appleton North</td><td>7-12</td><td>57</td></tr><tr><td>9</td><td>Wausau West</td><td>10-11</td><td>63</td></tr><tr><td>10</td><td>Pulaski</td><td>8-14</td><td>79</td></tr><tr><td>11</td><td>Green Bay Preble</td><td>4-11</td><td>80</td></tr><tr><td>12</td><td>Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln</td><td>6-12</td><td>88</td></tr><tr><td>13</td><td>Wausau East</td><td>4-13</td><td>89</td></tr><tr><td>14</td><td>Green Bay Southwest</td><td>5-14</td><td>94</td></tr></tbody></table></figure> <!-- /wp:table --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There are some new additions to this section with the Wausau schools as well as SPASH who is a state tournament team from 2025.  Kimberly has traditionally been in this section as well, but they will be heading South for their route to the state tournament.  Bay Port and West De Pere are currently at the top, but there is potential for a lot of movement with Bay Port, West De Pere, and De Pere being in the same conference and still need to play each other in FRCC play.  This upcoming weekend at the Appleton East Tournament there will be Appleton North, De Pere, DC Everest, Green Bay Preble, GB Southwest, Hortonville, Pulaski, and SPASH.  This will be a big day when it comes to potential matchups that could be seen late October.  This could also be a chance to build their tournament resume when it comes to appeal their seeding.  Bay Port is led by Truman State commit [player_tooltip player_id='509331' first='Meghan' last='Bruss'] who has surpassed 2,000 assists in her career.  Her top target is outside hitter [player_tooltip player_id='770412' first='Alexia' last='Stephens'] who is averaging over four kills per set.  West De Pere has Boston College commit [player_tooltip player_id='564276' first='Lauren' last='Tisler'] who has nearly 1200 career kills.  Bay Port and West De Pere square off Thursday night in conference play.  D.C. Everest and SPASH are from the Wisconsin Valley Conference and have picked up big wins early in the season against the likes of West De Pere and De Pere.  Everest has [player_tooltip player_id='934871' first='Brooke' last='Johnson'] and [player_tooltip player_id='565667' first='Ella' last='Eckhoff'] that provide the 1-2 punch offensively while [player_tooltip player_id='522106' first='Nora' last='Kruger'] of SPASH already has nearly 150 kills for the season.  Keep an eye on these teams at the Appleton East tournament this weekend where things could look much different come October 1 for this section. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Section 3</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:table --> <figure class="wp-block-table"><table class="has-fixed-layout"><tbody><tr><td>Section Rank (Max Preps)</td><td>Team</td><td>Record (9/23/26</td><td>Max Preps Rank</td></tr><tr><td>1</td><td>Kimberly</td><td>19-3</td><td>4</td></tr><tr><td>2</td><td>Neenah</td><td>17-4</td><td>8</td></tr><tr><td>3</td><td>Fond du Lac</td><td>11-5</td><td>13</td></tr><tr><td>4</td><td>Cedarburg</td><td>15-6</td><td>14</td></tr><tr><td>5</td><td>Manitowoc Lincoln</td><td>12-8</td><td>23</td></tr><tr><td>6</td><td>Oshkosh West</td><td>11-6</td><td>30</td></tr><tr><td>7</td><td>Appleton East</td><td>8-7</td><td>44</td></tr><tr><td>8</td><td>Germantown</td><td>8-9</td><td>52</td></tr><tr><td>9</td><td>West Bend West</td><td>4-14</td><td>59</td></tr><tr><td>10</td><td>Kaukauna</td><td>5-12</td><td>70</td></tr><tr><td>11</td><td>Homestead</td><td>3-15</td><td>81</td></tr><tr><td>12</td><td>Menasha</td><td>4-8</td><td>90</td></tr><tr><td>13</td><td>Sheboygan North</td><td>3-9</td><td>95</td></tr><tr><td>14</td><td>Appleton West</td><td>2-10</td><td>97</td></tr></tbody></table></figure> <!-- /wp:table --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This section is rugged with the top six teams being ranked in the top 30 of D1.  Kimberly and Neenah are at the top right now after a big weekend at the Charger Challenge.  Kimberly was able to defeat Fond du Lac and Cedarburg last week while Neenah finished in the final four of the Charger Challenge.  Kimberly dropped an early match at the Charger Challenge against Mukwonago which caused a three way tie in their pool which sent them to the bronze bracket which they were dominant.  A lot of these teams will be in the West Bend Sprawl as well as the Neenah tournament.  Kimbelry and Neenah will be squaring off in conference play on October 8 in Kimberly.  The Papermakers are led by plenty of balance, but outside hitter [player_tooltip player_id='545677' first='Brianna' last='Hagglund'] is scoring a lot of points.  She is explosive in her approach and has a variety of shots.  Neenah has two outside hitters in [player_tooltip player_id='510416' first='Lillian' last='Romjue'] and [player_tooltip player_id='781349' first='Brielle' last='Brown'] who are explosive along with Southwest Minnesota State commit [player_tooltip player_id='827590' first='Paige' last='Hoelzel'] who provides quite the presence with her block and swing. Keep an eye on Manitowoc Lincoln.  The ships had an impressive weekend at the Charger Challenge where they have three key seniors in [player_tooltip player_id='484915' first='Abigail' last='Weidmayer'] and [player_tooltip player_id='724537' first='Mollie' last='Junk'] on the outside and [player_tooltip player_id='595947' first='Cora' last='Foster'] who is a crafty setter and right side. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Section 4</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:table --> <figure class="wp-block-table"><table class="has-fixed-layout"><tbody><tr><td>Section Rank (Max Preps)</td><td>Team</td><td>Record (9/23/26</td><td>Max Preps Rank</td></tr><tr><td>1</td><td>Waunakee</td><td>20-7</td><td>11</td></tr><tr><td>2</td><td>DeForest</td><td>13-6</td><td>34</td></tr><tr><td>3</td><td>Oregon</td><td>16-9</td><td>35</td></tr><tr><td>4</td><td>Verona</td><td>15-7</td><td>37</td></tr><tr><td>5</td><td>Madison Memorial</td><td>13-8</td><td>47</td></tr><tr><td>6</td><td>Sun Prairie East</td><td>10-6</td><td>48</td></tr><tr><td>7</td><td>Sun Prairie West</td><td>11-10</td><td>49</td></tr><tr><td>8</td><td>Madison East</td><td>11-8</td><td>61</td></tr><tr><td>9</td><td>Baraboo</td><td>10-12</td><td>65</td></tr><tr><td>10</td><td>Middleton</td><td>5-9</td><td>67</td></tr><tr><td>11</td><td>Monona Grove</td><td>9-12</td><td>68</td></tr><tr><td>12</td><td>Beaver Dam</td><td>9-11</td><td>71</td></tr><tr><td>13</td><td>Madison West</td><td>1-17</td><td>101</td></tr><tr><td>14</td><td>Madison LaFollette</td><td>0-16</td><td>102</td></tr></tbody></table></figure> <!-- /wp:table --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This is no surprise that Waunakee is at the top of this section.&nbsp; They play a rugged schedule of non-conference tournaments and return some key pieces from their 2025 state final four team.&nbsp; [player_tooltip player_id='345274' first='Lauren' last='Sprague'] is the top prospect in the Wisconsin Class of 2027 and will head to Notre Dame.&nbsp; They are two really steady setters in Bemidji State commit [player_tooltip player_id='435879' first='Amy' last='Denkert'] and [player_tooltip player_id='587068' first='Lauren' last='Van Wie'].&nbsp; Van Wie has plenty of length and is a right side when she heads to the front row.&nbsp; However, this section has plenty of balance and teams who are used to playing each other all season long.&nbsp; DeForest, Oregon, and Verona are right next to each other in the rankings.&nbsp; DeForest dropped a five set match to Oregon and will have a big match against Waunakee on October 6. Oregon just dropped a tough five set match to Waunakee proving they are right there in the hunt.&nbsp; The Panthers are led by sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='915802' first='Allie' last='Mamerow'] and senior [player_tooltip player_id='806436' first='Liza' last='Studebaker'] who combine for over 5.5 kills per set. Verona is 5-1 in their conference with their only loss coming to Janesville Craig.&nbsp; They were a state tournament team in 2025 and return top scoring outside in [player_tooltip player_id='796520' first='Macy' last='Stremlow'] who is averaging nearly five kills per set.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->