A group of Northwest Wisconsin girls competed at the AAU Junior National Volleyball Championships June 17-20 in Orlando, Florida. Competing in the 15 Premier Division, ClubRed of Frederic placed 15th out of 97 teams.
The team earned a record of 7-3 throughout the week, going to battle against teams from Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Puerto Rico.
“[I’m] so proud of these girls and how far they have come this season,” said assistant coach Stephanie Kulzer Warner in a post-tournament Facebook message. “Fun group of girls, wild, crazy, loud, sassy, and sweet. Couldn’t have asked for a better group.”
ClubRed was stymied from reaching the gold bracket by eventual champions AFive. Hailing from Atlanta, AFive went on to defeat a team called Kairos in the final. The only loss suffered by Kairos up to that point was to ClubRed.
“We knew Kairos had solid defense and offense,” said head coach Carrie Olson. “So we had to serve tough and swing hard to cause them to get out of system.”
The victory over Kairos is what propelled ClubRed into its “knockout” match with AFive. But that match didn’t go as well as the Kairos match, with the team losing in straight sets.
“Our first set we looked very scared and out of sorts, which caused us not to play well as a team,” said Olson. “We settled down the second set and almost came out with a win (in that set), which made me very proud.”
The girls who play for ClubRed come from all over Northwest Wisconsin. Andrea Erickson plays for Unity, Alexis Halverson for Barron, Shella Olsvig for Turtle Lake, and Addison Schmidt for Rice Lake.
Britta Olson, McKenna Warner, and Catherine Williams all play for St. Croix Falls and were part of the 2023 Division 3 State Championship team.
Meanwhile, Rylan Coppernoll, Charlee Durand, and Lexi Kromrey all play for Osceola.
The girls practice in Frederic every Wednesday evening and Sunday. This was a tremendous commitment, given that the season extended nearly seven months from November to June.
“Balancing high school sports and ClubRed practices and tournaments can be hard,” Olson said. “But prior to the season I try to go through all the different schools’ sports schedules to make sure the tournaments aren’t interfering with school games. Also, these girls are very dedicated to what they are in, along with being great communicators.”
In January, ClubRed played its first tournament in Rochester, Minnesota, at the Frost Bite Freeze. The team did not get off to a great start, placing fifth behind a 2-4 tournament record.
At that time, the team was still “getting used to each other as players and as coaches,” said Olson. They were also still trying to discern their best lineup.
This process continued throughout February and March as ClubRed began to win more games and place better at local tournaments. But the team’s potential really showed in April with a second-place finish at the Pentagon AAU Grand Prix in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Despite losing in the final, this tournament represented a major breakthrough in the way the team played volleyball. Specifically, instead of running a 6-2 scheme where there are two setters in the rotation, the team began running a 5-1 scheme with only one setter.
After losing the first two matches of the tournament, Olson felt switching to a 5-1 was her only choice. “It was probably one of the hardest decisions to make, but I knew it would give us other options on how to utilize players in different positions.”
The team went on to win the rest of their games before losing narrowly in the final.
ClubRed reached even greater heights a couple weeks later by winning the Fiesta Midwest Championship in Bloomington, Minnesota. To accomplish this feat, the team bested Lake Elmo powerhouse Kokoro Volleyball not just once, but twice.
Beating such a top team “lifted our confidence and highlighted the talent our team has,” said Olson.
By this point, all the groundwork had been laid for a successful run at AAU Nationals. The girls needed only to continue practicing hard so they could peak at the right time. And the ClubRed coaches feel that they did just that.
“It was a great experience and hopefully we can continue to grow as a team next year and come back with a different focus at Nationals,” Olson said.
On the season, ClubRed compiled a record of 35-19, for a .648 winning percentage.
In addition to serving as head coach for the 15 Nationals Team, Olson wears a second hat as director of the entire ClubRed organization.
ClubRed also has an 18-and-under team, a 16 Nationals Team, a 15-and-under Club Team, and a 14-and-under club team. All five teams practice out of Frederic High School.
Reflecting on the season, Olson said: “The team this year was amazing to work with and coach. Our girls come from many different schools, but all of them came with the same focus and goals. They were determined to fight and work hard, which helped the outcome for this team to be amazing.”
“We learned and grew as a team and from our losses, and the wins were a bonus! I am excited to see these girls go back to their school programs and reflect what they learned this past season.”
The girls’ school volleyball teams will certainly be waiting for them. And so will next club season.
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