Tom Zimdars thought he was done with coaching girls softball following the 2020 season after three years as varsity coach at West De Pere High School. He left coaching and started officiating football and softball. He didn’t think anything could pull him from retirement — until now.

Area high school volleyball teams now know their first opponent for the WIAA girls state tournament.

Tournament play will get underway Oct. 21 in divisions 2-5 and Oct. 23 for Division 1 teams.

Suring, Oconto Falls, Wittenberg-Birnamwood and Lena have a bye in the first round and will play their first match Oct. 23 in the regional semifinal round.

Gillett won the close games and defeated the visiting Coleman Cougars 3-0 on Oct. 14.

Game scores were 25-22, 25-17, 25-20.

Suring 3, Lena 1

Suring topped Lena 3-1 with scores of 25-8, 24-26, 25-12, 25-17.

Chloe Schroeder led the Eagles with 40 assists, three digs and an attack kill.

Aliya Cox collected 13 attack kills, a blocked kill, one dig and one assist.

The Red Raiders and Trojans battled to a 1-1 draw Oct. 14.

Green Bay Southwest opened the scoring with a goal from Brian Hernandez-Castro in the 39th minute. Pulaski got the equalizer in the 60th minute courtesy of a goal by Nolan Pratt.

A steady rain fell throughout the game, and neither team created many opportunities on goal due to the wet conditions.

Besides wrapping up a Central Wisconsin Conference-8 championship, the Marion/Tigerton football team is also back in the WIAA 8-player playoffs for the first time since 2019.

The Thundercatz headed to Wild Rose on Oct. 10 with a chance to win the conference title outright and did that with a 51-16 win over the Wildcats.

Pulaski, Bonduel, Oconto Falls and Lena/STAA will head into their final regular-season football game after posting wins Oct. 10.