Photo by Paul Trende
It was unheard of for decades. Coming off a 3-0 loss to Spring Grove which ended Mabel-Canton volleyball’s 231-match SEC win streak, M-C started their next/last league match by dropping sets one and two to Grand Meadow. M-C had thus lost five straight SEC sets, and they were flirting with a second straight SEC loss after not losing in league since 2009. And GM had controlled the first two games. Claire Stier served 10 straight points in game one for a 20-9 Lark lead. They won 25-16. The Larks were then out 5-0 in game two. M-C rallied back to tie, the last at 17-17. But Quinn Schaalma then served five straight Lark points for a 21-17 lead. GM won 25-22 for the 2-0 lead. But M-C rallied the wagons, switching up the rotation. Freshman hitter Braylee Stortz took over in game three with nine kills. The Cougars got that set 25-19 to restore swagger. They took game four 25-15, as things started to look more Cougar SEC-dominant-like. The final game saw Lonnie Morken’s crew jump out 12-3. Pulling the reverse sweep, M-C came back for the 3-2 win (16-25, 22-25, 25-19, 25-15, 15-5), which ensured the Cougars (11-3, 21-8-1) a shared SEC-East title with SG (13-1, 18-9). Stortz was massive with 30 kills on .464 hitting. Ella Halverson added 19 kills. Gwen Rein had 48 assists. Kaylee Kleppe (18 digs, 30-30 serving, 5 aces), Lauren Burke (18 digs, 3 aces), Livia Garness (4 kills, 13 digs), Rein (11 digs), and Stortz (10 digs) all got to double-digit digs. Mya Tweten added 5 kills. GM was led by libero Rylee Holst’s 29 digs. Schaalma (19 assists, 15 digs, 3 aces), Alyvia Olson (12 kills), Cloey Breitbarth (10 assists, 7 digs), Riley Bungum (6 kills, 7 digs), Claire Munson (6 kills), Peyton Nordeng (9 digs, 4 aces), Aubri Buttke (10 digs) and Keira Stier (5 kills) also did work. GM (9-5 SEC, 13-13 overall) is Section 1A’s 9-seed, plays at 8-seed Faribault B.A. (11-17).
By way of a fourth tie-breaker (M-C lost less sets in SEC-East play), the Cougars rather than Spring Grove (shared East champs), played Lyle/Pacelli (West Champ) in the East-West Showcase game. They again had to go five sets, despite sweeping the Athletics in the regular season 25-12, 25-19, 25-11. L/P took sets one and four in extra volleyball 29-27 and 28-26. But M-C won set two 25-18 and set three 25-22, then controlled the final set 15-6 for the five-set win. Stortz was again big with 25 kills on .353 hitting. She had 18 kills on .857 hitting (21 attacks) the first time the teams played. Halverson added 15 kills. Tweten (5 kills), Garness (4 kills), and Hailee Eiken (4 kills) also put a few down. Garness (31-32 serving, 3 aces) and Kleppe (15-16 serving, 4 aces) were key servers. Burke led the defense (21 digs). Garness (15 digs), Rein (14 digs), Kleppe (14 digs), and Stortz (11 digs) also got to double-digits. Rein set 44 assists. Stortz’s 30 and 25 kills, and Rein’s 48 and 44 assists, were their season-highs (albeit their first five-set matches this year). Stortz went over 400 kills, Rein over 800 assists. The Cougars finish the regular season at 13-1 in the SEC, 22-8-1 overall. They are 1A’s 4-seed, will host 13-seed LeRoy-Ostrander (11-14).
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