An Interesting “Vets” Tourney

Wabasha always hosts a late September volleyball tournament.  Fillmore Central, Kingsland, and Rushford-Peterson were among this year’s entrants.  The tourney glared the unpredictability of the area volleyball scene.  FC got an easier pool and went 3-0, beating La Crescent (25-18, 25-10), Lake City (25-9, 25-17), and R-P (25-15, 25-23).  R-P went 2-1 in that pool, beating Lake City (25-22, 25-20) and La Crescent (25-22, 28-28).  Kingsland got the tough pool.  They went 0-3, falling 2-0 to Kenyon-Wanamingo (12-25, 9-25), splitting with Norwood-Young America (15-25, 25-22) and Caledonia (10-25, 25-21) but losing.  It was Kingsland’s first set victory over the Warriors since 2009.  FC got the 1-seed in tournament play, but fell to 8-seed Goodhue (25-22, 18-25, 14-16).  L-A got the 2-seed but lost to 7-seed Caledonia.  Thus, the tourney’s top two seeds each lost in the first round.  R-P got the 6-seed and fell to 3-seed W-K (16-25, 9-25).  W-K then beat Caledonia (25-23, 18-25, 15-12) in the semis.  The Warriors, ranked #3 in Class A, beat the unranked Falcons 3-0 (25-22, 25-18, 26-24) in a TRC match on September 14.  W-K then went on to beat 5-seed K-W (25-18, 25-21) in the finals.  K-W, a vote-getter in the Class AA polls, beat #2 in Class A Hayfield 3-2 (26-24, 22-25, 25-22, 19-25, 15-12) also on September 14.  Kingsland beat D-E (25-15, 25-18) and Lake City (26-24, 25-12) to win the consolation bracket.  Knight tourney leaders were Lauren Buchholtz (42 kills), Ellie Buchholtz (59 assists), Taylor Zimmerman (31 digs), and Kori Kruegel (20 kills).  Kingsland is 2-2, 8-9.  They have matched last year’s win total.  Falcon tourney leaders were Madison Scheevel (65 assists, 14 kills, 31-31 serving, 28 digs), Paige Donlinger (28 kills, 24 digs), Cailey Rindels (23 kills, 30 digs, 8 aces), Kaelyn Marzolf (25 kills), and Kjerstiana Corson (30 digs).  Trojan tourney leaders were Lauren Lawston (19 kills, 20 digs), Peyton Hoiness (36 assists), Olivia Hoff (37 digs), and Kensay Clobes (37 digs, 41-43 serving, 4 aces).  R-P is 1-3, 7-9.