Photo by Deb Finseth
Fillmore Central, ranked #2 in Class A, entered its final TRC match game, having already done a lot of the hard work towards a conference title early in the season. Big wins over second place Dover-Eyota and third place Caledonia happened in league games one and three. Travis Malley’s group’s last obstacle to a conference title was Lewiston-Altura. FC took the first two with room to spare 25-14 and 25-17, ceded the third 25-17, before clinching the title in the fourth set, 25-17. Lauren Dahly had a match-high 13 kills plus five total blocks, while Madi Zwart had 10 kills. Hannah Vaalemoen (8 kills, 18 assists, 3 aces) hit and split the setting with Braelynn Dierkes (17 assists, 5 digs, 17-18 serving, 3 aces). Norah Nagel added 5 kills. Libero Josie Corson had a team-high 18 digs plus 4 aces (19 of 20 serving). Ava Larson (13 digs) and Alexis Hershberger (10 digs) helped defensively. FC had 13 aces in the match. Balance has driven FC’s attack all year. Zwart leads the team with 268 kills, but Dahly and Nagel are closing in on 200, and Vaalemoen is over 150. Corson has over 400 digs. Often runner-up and third place in the conference (to Caledonia or Chatfield), it is FC’s first out-right TRC title since the 2014 group (Morgan Malley, Sammi Bakke, Leah Scheevel, Sara Schultz) that was ultimately 1A runner-up. The Falcons (10-0, 21-6) have surpassed 20 wins. D-E (9-1, 24-3), Caledonia (8-2, 14-14), Chatfield (6-4, 14-14), and the Cardinals (6-4, 13-5) round out the top five teams in the league. FC is 1A’s 1-seed, will host 16-seed Houston (6-17) in the first round.
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