NIAGARA — Two local rivals are set for a postseason collision tonight in the WIAA Division 4 regional girls varsity volleyball tournament.

Both Florence, the No. 3 seed in the Sectional 2 bracket, and No. 2 seed Niagara were victorious in opening round matches Tuesday to advance to Thursday’s clash on the Badgers’ home court at Niagara High School. Game action is set to begin at 7 p.m.

The LadyCats topped Goodman-Pembine 3-0 (25-20, 25-12, 25-6) on Tuesday in Florence to advance in the WIAA tournament.

“Goodman-Pembine is improved and a young team,” Florence coach Teresa Chrisman said. “(But) Kamdan Johnson came alive and led the way with 16 kills.

“It was nice to have a more balanced attack tonight,” the coach added. “We will need that moving forward.”

Niagara quickly dispatched Elcho in a 3-0 sweep (25-13, 25-18, 25-9) in its first-round matchup at home Tuesday.

“Elcho played tough,” said Niagara coach Carol St. Arnauld. “They worked hard to pick up every ball. Our girls did well and really showed improvement in passing, which has been our goal. We were also able to play a couple different players and, overall, they did well.”

Morgan Borchardt paced the Badgers with three aces, four kills, 15 assists and nine digs, while Mallory Sanicki chipped in nine kills, one block, three assists and three digs.

Other contributors for Niagara in Tuesday’s sweep included Abigail Wells (4 aces, 8 digs), Raegan Frappier (3 aces, 2 kills, 10 digs) and Erin Lukowicz (1 ace, 3 kills, 4 digs).

“We are going to take this win and prepare for Thursday,” St. Arnauld said. “We know that Thursday is going to be a good match and we need to play up to our potential to continue to move through regionals.”

Chrisman said the LadyCats are also looking forward to Thursday’s matchup and that there “is always an intense rivalry” between the two volleyball programs.

“There is a long history of Badger-LadyCat volleyball matches,” Chrisman added. “It will be something great to be a part of once again.”

The winner of the second-round clash will advance to take on the winner of another Thursday night matchup — No. 1 seed Laona-Wabeno versus No. 4 seed Three Lakes — on Saturday at 7 p.m.