Early playoff volleyball action saw all the highest seeded area teams moved on to their section quarters.
Houston (17-seed) came back from down 2-0 to beat Kingsland (16-seed) in a 1A play-in game 3-2 (13-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-19, 15-8). Ella Carrier had 18 digs for the ‘Canes while Kadence Aarsvold had 39 digs for the Knights. Houston then fell to top-seed #2 M-C 3-0 (25-12, 25-15, 25-11), as Sahara Morken had 30 assists and 10 digs to lead the Cougars (32-1).
Three-seed #7 FC (21-7) had no problem with 14-seed W-K in a 3-0 sweep (25-13, 25-8, 25-14).
Four-seed SG (22-6) got 27 combined kills from Hailey Normann, Jordis Neeley, and Joelle Halvorson in beating Southland 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 25-16).
Seven-seed R-P (15-12) got 28 digs from Torryn Schneider, 20 assists and 20 digs from Ava Drazkowski, and 17 kills and 6 ace blocks from Tayler Helgemoe in beating GM 3-0. Cheyenne Bakken had 33 digs and Lauren Queensland 22 digs in defeat.
The only 1A upset was 8-seed L-O falling to 9-seed Goodhue 3-1 (21-25, 23-25, 25-18, 19-25). Jenna Olson had 30 assists in defeat.
In Class AA, 1-seed #2 Chatfield (25-2) swept St. Charles 3-0 (25-9, 25-10, 25-13) behind Harper Goldsmith’s 20 assists and 13 aces.
Two-seed #5 Caledonia (24-5) easily handled Lourdes 3-0 (25-11, 25-14, 25-12).
In play-off football, Kail Schott ran for 133 yards and 2 TDs as Chatfield (7-2) beat Cotter 59-12 in a 1AA quarterfinal. The game was moved back a day per lightning. Double-A semifinal games between Chatfield (3-seed, 7-2) and D-E (2-seed, 5-3), L-A (5-seed, 4-5) and Caledonia (1-seed, 8-0), were moved from Saturday the 28th to the Monday the 30th.
Four-seed Houston nipped five-seed Southland 24-20 in a 9-Man quarterfinal on the strength of converting all three of its two-point conversions.
Two-seed #8 in 9-Man L-O beat 7-seed GM 44-22 behind Camden Hungerholt’s huge game (225 yards, 3 TDs rushing, 158 yards, 3 TDs passing). Carter Sweeney caught all three scores. Corbin Ludemann had 210 yards and 3 TDs rushing in defeat. L-O and Houston then fell to SG and Kingsland respectively in the semifinals (See “Football: Knights Crusade Into Section Title Game” and “Football: Lions Return to 9-Man Finals, Oust ‘Cougs and Cards” for more).
Six-seed R-P tested three-seed K-W, but fell 6-0 on a touchdown in the final two minutes.
Photo by Lee Epps