It was the sixth consecutive winning season for coach Kelsey Morken and the Spring Grove volleyball girls, who finished at 8-4, including a 5-4 conference mark to tie for third place in the six-team SEC East Division race. Considering two break-even seasons, it has been a dozen seasons since the Lions finished below.500, the longest non-losing streak in program history. The … [Read more...]
Lion netters close with wins against Rockets, ‘Canes
Spring Grove closed out the home volleyball schedule with a 3-1 payback win over Randolph on November 18 and then finished the virus-shortened season with a November 19 road triumph at Houston. The 2020 season that started late also ended early, due to public health concerns. Late-season scheduled matches with Grand Meadow and Lanesboro were among many area athletic events … [Read more...]
Fall Sports Thrown Asunder
The week of Monday, November 16 brought a definitive end to the fall sports campaign. The day after that Tuesday’s initial playoff football games, Governor Tim Walz put a four-week pause on high school sports starting Saturday the 21st, per a rise in COVID cases across the state. Volleyball’s regular and post seasons went up in smoke. Teams that could, played their last … [Read more...]
Section 1 9-Man Football Play-Offs
Lions Score Late, Take Section Opener Over ‘Canes Spring Grove (4-seed, 4-2) did not lead Houston (5-seed, 2-4) until the final half-minute. A 21-yard touchdown pass from Isaac Griffin to Reid Bjerke completed a 93-yard, 13-play drive for the Lions’ 20-14 win in a Section 1 9-man football quarter at Blayne Onsgard Memorial Field. The drive remained alive, when on … [Read more...]
Cougars Grab SEC-East Title, Finish Perfect
Mabel-Canton volleyball entered the year with hopes of winning a 1A East title, maybe a Section 1A title, and proceeding on to state. The latter was dashed because of COVID even before the season started. The former two then also got dashed. M-C beat Houston in a sweep (25-15, 25-7, 25-22) to begin the week. Kenidi McCabe (15 kills, 10 assists, 6 digs), Jordyn Newgard (7 … [Read more...]
Hot Shots
Kingsland (3-0, 5-2) and Grand Meadow (4-0, 5-3) volleyball were co-awarded the SEC-West volleyball division title. Only inter-division games counted as SEC league contests. The teams didn’t play each other. L-O (4-2, 5-4) finished third. Fillmore Central (7-1, 9-1), Chatfield (5-1, 7-4), PEM (5-1, 8-2), and Cotter (3-1, 4-2) quad-shared the TRC volleyball title. Chatfield … [Read more...]
Volleyball (11/16 – 11/20)
Chatfield 3, Rochester-John Marshall 2 > 25-23, 25-17, 23-25, 10-25, 18-16 (C: Zayda Priebe 14 kills; Mollie Henry 7 kills; Paige Erickson 6 kills, 6 blks, 6 digs; Peyton Berg 5 kills, 25 digs; Sydney Allen 16 assists, 8 digs; Devann Clemens 14 assists, 9 digs; Abi Hinckley 12 digs. Hinckley (28 of 30) and Berg (23 of 25) combined to go 51 of 55 on serve receive. The … [Read more...]
Cougars Top Burros in Epic Battle, Stay Undefeated
It was probably the best volleyball match of the year so far (as it pertains to ‘Journal 10’ squads). History was almost made. The streak continues. But Lanesboro (8-1) volleyball took a shot as good as any in a long time. They took Mabel-Canton (9-0) to five sets, getting close to ending the Cougars’ decade-plus long SEC win streak. One could’ve expected a battle. In the … [Read more...]
Falcons Win Last Two, Season Ends Prematurely?
Fillmore Central volleyball was in the midst of a very good season. The Falcons had 11 seniors. Included were All-TRC picks Maddie Krage and K.J. Corson. In a normal year, they would’ve been a force in the play-offs. Twenty-twenty isn’t a normal year. And then it just might’ve ended. The Falcons played what appears to be their last two matches of the year on November 10 … [Read more...]
Larks Finish Regular Season Perfect
Grand Meadow football played a game that finally wasn’t somehow super asterisk-worthy significant. After a season of on-field (and off-field) obstacles, Gary Sloan’s group ended the year with a rousing win devoid of any huge meaning, short of it clinched a perfect regular season. The now #1 in 9-Man Larks beat Nicollet 61-20 to conclude the regular campaign 6-0. GM built a … [Read more...]