WIAA Soft Launches New D1 Volleyball Sectionals

Sections for Wisconsin High School volleyball soft launched about a week ago and there are some interesting changes to the D1 slate.  “Soft Launched” meaning they just appeared on the website rather quietly a week or so ago.  We're going to take a quick look and see what could be coming later this year.  And yes, there are some big changes. 

Link to New Sectionals

Section 1

This has traditionally been the Western Wisconsin and will still remain with many of those teams.  However there are a couple changes I noticed for this sectional. 

SPASH is no longer in this section, they will be grouped with teams from the Green Bay/Fox Valley area.  This past season, SPASH hosted a sectional final game where they took on top seeded River Falls.   River Falls made the nearly three hour trip to Stevens Point where SPASH would advance to the state tournament in a five set thriller. 

A notable new addition to this group is Holmen.  Holmen was previously grouped in with the Madison schools and made state tournament appearances in 2021 and 2024. 

Past Winners: 

2025 - SPASH

2024 - Hudson

2023 - River Falls

2022 - Chippewa Falls

2026 Favorite: Hudson and River Falls

Section 2 and Section 3

For nearly ten years it was a race to state between Kimberly and Appleton North.  In 2024, Bay Port advanced to the state tournament where this past season, Kimberly was the one to advance.  The section was all of the Green Bay area schools along with all of the Appleton area schools.  However, there is a new divide. 

The Green Bay area schools will stay together, but the big changes are SPASH, Wisconsin Rapids, and Wausau area schools coming into this section.  SPASH returns a large core of their state tournament lineup and becomes the immediate favorite.  

Appleton North and Hortonville will stay North in Section 2, but reigning 2025 section champion Kimberly will head South where they will be grouped with other sectional favorites Cedarburg, Fondy, Manitowoc Lincoln, Neenah, Oshkosh West, and West Bend West. I always think its interesting when high schools in the same city are split.  Appleton North will stay North in section 2 while Appleton West and Appleton East will go South in section 3. 

Section 2 Favorite: SPASH 

Section 3 Favorite: Kimberly, Cedarburg, Manitowoc Lincoln

Section 4

We can call this the Madison area section.  In 2025 there was a split among the Madison area schools where part of the Madison area schools went West and schools like Verona and Madison Memorial went Southeast.  Madison Memorial advanced to the section final as a Cinderella team defeating higher seeds Burlington and Milton along the way before running into Verona who advanced to state.  Waunakee advanced out of section two with a win over Holmen in the sectional final.

Waunakee will be the heavy favorite in this section.  They were a final four team in 2025 and will return key players for 2026.  Verona will be in the mix and watch out for a DeForest squad who is on the rise. 

Favorite: Waunakee

Section 5 

There are two names that jump out right away.  Arrowhead and Oconomowoc.  Two perennial powers from the Classic 8 Conference have faced off in plenty of big matches over the years, even a state title match. Other Classic 8 teams that will be in this section are Kettle Moraine and Mukwonago.  A team to be aware of here is Watertown.  They were 28-7 in 2025 and will return Ella Peirick Ella Peirick 5'10" | OH Watertown | 2027 State WI who had over 300 kills last season. 

Favorite: Arrowhead and Oconomowoc

Section 6

The “Southern” teams.  These will be teams from the Kenosha and Racine areas which also means the likes of Burlington and Westosha Central. Last season Burlington was upset in the regional rounds to Madison Memorial, but will return a strong senior class in 2026.  Westosha Central will bring back Payton Scifres Payton Scifres 6'1" | S Westosha Central | 2027 State WI who is one of the top setters in the Class of 2027 where her presence makes a major impact. Franklin and Muskego will be in this section where they have bounced around to different sections in years past.  Waukesha West and Waukesha South will be in this section, but Waukesha North will be in section five. 

Favorite: Burlington and Westosha Central 

Section 7 and Section 8

This one is a head scratcher.  To the point where I want to say, “Are we sure about this?”.  The past two state titles have been between DSHA and Sussex Hamilton.  DSHA won titles from 2022-24 with Hamilton taking the crown in 2025.  Now these two teams are in the same sectional together.  This is not a two horse race either as this sectional will also include Brookfield Central, Brookfield East, Menomonee Falls, and Wauwatosa East.  

In section 8 there are two schools who standout right away in Oak Creek and Wisconsin Lutheran. Oak Creek has advanced to the state tournament the past two seasons and Wisconsin Lutheran was bounced in the sectional final by DSHA in 2025.  Oak Creek lost some key seniors after this past run and Wisconsin Lutheran will have a team who will be extremely tough this fall. The past few years they have drawn the short straw by always being in the section of DSHA. 

Section 7 - DSHA and Sussex Hamilton

Section 8 - Wisconsin Lutheran

Any chance you can combine these two sections and separate them out at the seeding meeting?  Menomonee Falls and Hamitlon made the 90 minute drive to Neenah last fall to play a sectional final.  The teams in these two sections are all in the Milwaukee area so distance can't be a barrier to the solution.  The history of the state tournament has shown the top two teams have come from the Milwaukee area for D1. The last team outside of the Milwaukee area to advance to a final was Appleton North in 2021. 

Quality of Talent vs. Geography

This is one of those “Tale As Old As Time” debate.  Is the goal of the state tournament to get the best teams there or is the goal to have an even distribution geographically? Or does it depend on the sport? Football seemed to go to a system where they had no problem seeding teams 1-32 in their playoffs, sending teams across the state to play each other.  I'm not saying that Burlington needs to go play Hudson where we make cross state trips, but it would be interesting to be a little more creative when it comes to the postseason.  As volleyball continues to grow, so does the idea of postseason play.