The WIAA has released its 2026 sectional assignments for Division 2 girls volleyball, and the bracket that produced a five-set Sauk Prairie state championship over Grafton last November looks different heading into next fall. Ninety-six schools were sorted into four sectionals for the coming season, with a Division 3 state qualifier moving up, two programs dropping to Division 3, and last year’s two sectional finalists landing in each other’s old bracket.
Sectional 1: Barron Steps Up, Saint Croix Falls Steps Down
The headline addition to the entire division is Barron, which joins Division 2 after reaching last season’s Division 3 state semifinals — the Golden Bears fell to eventual champion Manitowoc Lutheran in straight sets at the Resch Center. Barron slots into Grouping 1A with Altoona, Baldwin-Woodville, Black River Falls, Ellsworth, Hayward, La Crosse Logan, Osceola, Rice Lake, Saint Croix Central, Somerset and West Salem.
Going the other direction is Saint Croix Falls, which was part of Sectional 1 last fall and now drops to Division 3, joining a sectional built around Amery, Bloomer, Cameron, Cumberland, Elk Mound, Grantsburg, Northwestern, Prescott, Spooner, Stanley-Boyd and Unity.
Sectional 1’s Grouping 1B also picks up Portage, which spent 2025 in Sectional 3 — and which, in one of the sport’s small ironies, hosted the sectional final where Sauk Prairie eliminated Waukesha Catholic Memorial in five sets to reach state. Portage now joins Antigo, Ashland, Lakeland, Mauston, Medford, Merrill, Mosinee, Reedsburg, Rhinelander, Waupaca and Wisconsin Dells. Shawano, part of the Sectional 1 field the past two seasons, moves out to Sectional 2.
Sectional 2: Green Bay Splits in Two, Waupun Arrives, West Bend East Leaves
Green Bay East fielded a co-op program with Green Bay West last season; for 2026 the two schools field separate teams, and Green Bay East lands in Grouping 2A alongside Fox Valley Lutheran, Freedom, Green Bay West, Little Chute, Luxemburg-Casco, Marinette, New London, Notre Dame, Oconto Falls, Seymour and the newly arrived Shawano.
Grouping 2B adds Waupun, a Sectional 3 team a year ago, to a lineup of Campbellsport, Denmark, Kewaskum, North Fond du Lac, Oshkosh North, Plymouth, Sheboygan Falls, Sheboygan South, Two Rivers, Winneconne and Xavier. West Bend East, part of that same group in 2025, exits to Sectional 3. And Howards Grove, also a 2025 Sectional 2 team, drops to Division 3 entirely, joining a sectional with Carmen Northwest, Cedar Grove-Belgium, Chilton, Kiel, Manitowoc Lutheran, New Holstein, Oostburg, Saint Mary’s Springs, University School of Milwaukee and Valders.
Sectionals 3 and 4: Last Year’s Finalists Trade Places
The tidiest storyline in the whole realignment: Grafton and Catholic Memorial, the two programs that played for last year’s Sectional 3 and Sectional 4 titles, have swapped sectionals. Grafton, which swept Milwaukee Pius XI Catholic in the 2025 Sectional 4 final at Whitefish Bay, moves into Sectional 3’s Grouping 3B alongside Brown Deer, Fort Atkinson, Jefferson, Kettle Moraine Lutheran, Lake Mills, Lakeside Lutheran, Milwaukee Vincent, Pewaukee, Port Washington, West Bend East and Whitewater. Catholic Memorial, which pushed defending state champion Sauk Prairie to five sets in the 2025 Sectional 3 final at Portage, moves into Sectional 4’s Grouping 4B with Audubon, Cudahy, Martin Luther, New Berlin Eisenhower, New Berlin West, Racine St. Catherine’s, Saint Francis, Saint Thomas More, Shoreland Lutheran, Whitnall and Wilmot Union.
Sauk Prairie itself stays put in Sectional 3, now grouped with Delavan-Darien, Edgerton, Edgewood, Evansville, Lodi, McFarland, Monroe, Mount Horeb, Platteville and Turner in Grouping 3A. Sectional 4’s Grouping 4A is otherwise unchanged, anchored by Pius XI Catholic alongside Cristo Rey Jesuit, Dr. Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy, Golda Meir, Hmong American Peace Academy, Messmer, Milwaukee Madison, Milwaukee Marshall, Milwaukee School of Languages, Saint Anthony, Saint Joan Antida and Shorewood.
2025 sectional champions and where they play in 2026
| 2025 Sectional | 2025 Champion | 2026 Sectional |
|---|---|---|
| Sectional 1 | Waupaca | Sectional 1 |
| Sectional 2 | Luxemburg-Casco | Sectional 2 |
| Sectional 3 | Sauk Prairie | Sectional 3 |
| Sectional 4 | Grafton | Sectional 3 |
Sauk Prairie’s title defense and Grafton’s sectional runner-up program will now share Sectional 3, while Sectional 1 and Sectional 2 keep the same numbers as last year.
Division changes
| School | Move | 2025 Division / Sectional |
|---|---|---|
| Barron | Up to Division 2, Sectional 1 | Division 3, Sectional 1 (state runner-up) |
| Saint Croix Falls | Down to Division 3, Sectional 1 | Division 2, Sectional 1 |
| Howards Grove | Down to Division 3, Sectional 3 | Division 2, Sectional 2 |
Regionals for the 2026 season are set for Oct. 20, 22 and 24, with sectionals following Oct. 29 and 31. The Division 2 state semifinals and championship return to the Resch Center in Green Bay Nov. 5-7.
This realignment is drawn from the WIAA’s official 2026 assignment sheet compared against 2025 sectional bracket results. OnFocus was not able to independently confirm the administrative reasons behind Green Bay East’s split from its co-op, or the enrollment basis for Barron’s, Saint Croix Falls’ and Howards Grove’s division changes — confirm those directly with the schools or the WIAA before publication.
