Volleyball (11/18)

Chatfield Takes Fourth in First State Appearance

They fell short of their dream, a state championship. Highly ranked all season, Chatfield Gopher volleyball had every right to think it could have contended for and win the Class AA title. But they came up a smidge short in a five-set loss in the semifinals, their only five-set affair of the year. And they were out of steam in the third-place match resulting in a fourth-place finish. But the Gophers, a team with only one regular listed taller than 5’9”, had a remarkable season, notching a program best win total. It was a tremendous season. 

LaPlante’s Big Match Leads Gophers Over Rush City

In the state quarterfinals, #3 Chatfield (Section 1AA Champ, 2-seed, 28-4) hooked up with unranked Rush City (Section 7AA Champion, 7-seed, 28-3). A four-set match saw games go roughly three different ways. In game one, Chatfield controlled and held off Rush City. The Gophers outkilled the Tigers 16 to 9. And yet, they did not put the match away until late. Five Gopher service errors were one reason Rush City stayed close. After Chatfield jumped out 9-4, the Tigers came back to tie it at 12-12. They took the lead briefly at 17-16. With it tied 18-18, the Gophers then scored seven of the final nine points. Kylin Schroeder had a key ace block on a good attack to give Chatfield a 21-19 lead. Two points later, Harper Goldsmith also had a key block. With three blocks in the set, and with Jaelyn LaPlante notching 10 kills, the Gophers took the game 25-20. Set two saw Chatfield start well, fall back, and then never completely recover. They jumped out 8-4 only for serve receive issues to pop up. Rush City had nine aces in the match and five came in game two. The Tigers built a 18-12 lead only for the Gophers to go on a run. Scoring five straight points, they evened the match at 21-21. The score was then knotted again at 22, 23, and 24. Chatfield never had a chance at set point though. They staved off one at down 24-23 but not a second. A Gopher service error and hitting error in succession granted Rush City the win 26-24. But the last two games saw Chatfield control things from start to finish. They jumped out 11-4 in each, and the Tigers really did not threaten. Chatfield’s 1B and 1C on offense, Trindy Barkeim and Cora Bicknese, each had five kills in game three, a 25-12 win. Hannah Tweten had a three-ace, seven-point service session in game four. Chatfield took it 25-15. The Gophers moved on to the semifinals with a 3-1 win (25-20, 24-26, 25-12, 25-16). LaPlante had a huge match with 26 kills on .328 hitting while adding 13 digs. Barkeim (14 kills, 14 digs) and Bicknese (14 kills, 14 digs) also had double-doubles. Bicknese was Chatfield’s top percentage hitter on the day, smacking at a .433 clip with multiple long shot to the open back corner. Goldsmith racked up 50 assists with 12 digs. Tweten led the team with 30 digs and five aces on 17 of 19 serving. K-Schroeder chipped in a couple kills and a couple blocks. Abigail Telander (14 kills), Natalie Rood (27 assists, 11 digs), and Clara Niessen (19 digs) led Rush City. Chatfield hit .260 as a team, the Tigers .074. The Gophs sharpened their hitting the last two sets, with just six errors versus 13 the first two games. 

Gophers Relinquish 2-1 Lead, Blocked by Hawley From Making State Finals

In the state semifinals, the #3 Gophers (2-seed, 29-4) played #4 Hawley (3-seed, Section 8AA Champs, 27-5). Chatfield defeated the Nuggets 2-0 at the Class AA Showcase. At times, the Gophers looked the better team but late hitting errors and a string of Hawley blocks nixed any state title game hopes for Chatfield. The first set went back and forth. The Gophers led 10-7, then trailed 17-13, only to lead again at 23-21. But the Nuggets had two critical setter dump kills late into open voids in the Gopher defense. They ended on a 4-0 run to swipe the set 25-21. Chatfield rallied and controlled set two. Hawley had a lot of errors and was out of sorts, leading to a 25-15 Gopher victory. Chatfield then controlled set three also, albeit by lesser margins. They took the lead for good at 6-5. LaPlante had a two-ace, four-point service session to make it 10-5. Hawley was as close as one as late as 20-19, but Gopher Bicknese had a hot hitting set, scoring with six kills. Included were the last two points, as Chatfield went ahead 2-1 by a 25-20 tally. Kristi Rindels’ group was then up 10-7 in game four, only for their hitting to waver. Some of it was Hawley’s long block. The Nuggets finished with 13 total rejections. Some of was Nugget libero Hannah Stotts who repelled a bevy of Gopher shots. Some of it was Chatfield simply hitting the ball long. From the 10-7 score in the fourth set, there were 11 total hitting errors (unofficially) to end the match. Chatfield had 10 of them. Four straight Gopher hitting miscues helped the Nuggets turn the 10-7 fourth set deficit into a 10-2 run and a 17-12 lead. It was the key spurt, as Hawley evened the set with a 25-18 win. Early in game five, Chatfield smacked three more shots wayward, aiding a 5-1 Hawley run and a 7-3 lead. Chatfield fought back though, as LaPlante had three kills in the final set. The Gophers got to down 10-9. But Hawley ended the game with four blocks over their final five points. Annaka Johnson, a 5’11” junior middle hitter, was in on all of them. Coming back from down 2-1, the Nuggets moved on to the state title match via a 3-2 win (25-23, 15-25, 20-25, 25-18, 15-10). LaPlante (19 kills, 11 digs, 22-24 serving, 4 aces), Tweten (29 digs), and Goldsmith (3 kills, 48 assists, 16 digs) led Chatfield with help from Barkeim (15 kills, 11 digs) and Bicknese (12 kills, 16 digs). K-Schroeder added 5 kills. Setter/hitters Ingrid Rustad (10 kills, 25 assists, 20 digs), Sella Fleming (6 kills, 20 assists, 16 digs), Katarina Vetter (16 kills, 18 digs), Johnson (15 kills, 9 total blocks), and libero Stotts (22 digs) led Hawley. The Nuggets hit .192 with 22 errors while Chatfield hit .137 with 31 errors. And then there was the 13-to-3 blocks discrepancy. Vetter, Stotts, and Johnson made All-Tourney for Hawley, which then downed Southwest Christian 3-1 for the state title. 

#1 Versus #3 Third Place Match is All #1 

And thus, after a couple mild upsets in the 1AA semifinals, #3 Chatfield (2-seed, 29-5) took on #1 Albany (1-seed, Section 6AA Champ, 29-3) for third place. The Huskies lost to #7 Southwest Christian 3-0 (25-12, 25-18, 25-17) in the semifinals in a shocker by its lopsidedness. Albany took out its frustrations on the Gophers, who entered coming off a loss in a semifinal match they definitely could have won. It was almost all Knights. Albany jumped out 14-6 in game one and Chatfield never recovered in dropping the first 25-14. They regrouped to contend in game two for a bit, as the set was tied 16-16. But Albany’s Ellery Ehresmann served eight straight points to make it 24-16. The Gophers battled to down 24-22, as LaPlante had four kills in the 6-0 run. But Albany finally got a Hannah Klein kill to take the set 25-22. Set three was tied 13-13 before Albany spurted 7-1 to lead 20-14. The Gophers eventually fell 25-20. Albany posted the 3-0 sweep (25-14, 25-22, 25-20). Chatfield’s biggest lead in the match was just two. The Gophers are not super tall with their three hitters LaPlante (5’8”), Barkeim (5’8”), and Bicknese (5’7”). The Knights, with four girls 5’10” or taller who played, limited Chatfield to .015 hitting. They had 30 kills and 28 hitting errors. Albany had 40 kills and just 12 errors. LaPlante (14 kills, 9 digs) and Barkeim (9 kills, 6 digs) led the offense, but the duo had 88 combined attacks for 23 kills. Goldsmith (26 assists, 7 digs), Bicknese (3 kills, 18 digs), and Tweten (17 digs) helped. Klein, a 6’0” senior, led Albany with 20 kills (.410 hitting). Ehresmann (34 assists, 9 digs) and Kiley Lange (14 digs) also did work. Klein and Ehresmann made the All-Tourney team. Chatfield’s excellent season thus ends at 29-6. The Gophers’ biggest loss will be the high-jumping, hard-hitting LaPlante. The four-year starter had a team-best 59 kills on the state stage. LaPlante and Tweten, who posted a team-best 76 digs over the three matches, made the Class AA All-Tourney team. Also graduating are ancillary pieces Mya Henry, Kylin Schroeder and Addison Allen. Four of the Gophers big five will return in Goldsmith, Barkeim, Bicknese and Tweten. The 29-win season is a program best, apropos for the program’s first state team. 

Fillmore Central Takes Fourth at State 

One could say they played with house money. At the start of the year, Fillmore Central volleyball was probably not expected to win the Section 1A title and make state. They graduated a 1,000-kill hitter (Kammry Broadwater) and over 600 kills of last year’s 23-8 1A runner-up team, played tough regular season competition, notching a notable TRC win over Cotter, but finished 14-15 to end the regular season. But they pulled off a five-match win streak at the right time to push all the way to the state semifinals. Eleven years since their other state visit, and in Coach Travis Malley’s 11th year as head man, the Falcons had a memorable run with a unique lineup (two lefty hitters and a 10-girl rotation). Unranked all year, the Falcons took fourth place. 

Injury Flips Momentum, Falcons Still Upset #7 New Life Academy in Quarterfinals

It is unbelievably uncanny how momentum can mean so much in the game of volleyball. And just as weird how it can flip on specific things or at the drop of a dime. Fillmore Central (6-seed, Section 1A Champs, 17-15) dealt with it in the state quarterfinals versus #7 New Life Academy (3-seed, Section 4A Champ, 17-12) of Woodbury. For two plus sets, Travis Malley’s Falcons had the Tigers’ number. FC did it with serving, serve receive, and defense. New Life Academy’s serve receive struggled. FC had at least three aces in all five sets. The Tigers, at times through the first two-plus sets of the match, were all discombobulated. They hit balls out of bounds. They sent sets to the upper official. They got called for two hits. Nonetheless, the first was a set that went back and forth. NLA led 5-1 to start. FC then scored 10 of 11 for a 10-6 lead. The Tigers later went on a 5-0 run and led 16-14. FC then spurted to 9-3 to lead 23-19. With just five kills up until its final four points, FC ended with four straight kills, two each by Ella Dahly and Maddie Zwart for the 25-20 win. New Life had nine hitting errors in the set. Game two, the Tigers’ setting struggled with six errors while their serve receive gave up five Falcon aces. FC went on the all-critical 7-0 run to take a 13-7 lead. Hannah Vaalemoen served six of those points. It led to a 25-18 set win and a 2-0 FC lead. The Falcons were then seemingly closing in on the win in game three. They had all the momentum with a strong start and an 11-3 lead. But NLA then had a player down to injury, and FC lost its surge. Maybe playing for their fallen comrade, or just getting a big break to regroup, New Life Academy became a different team. Gone were the errors. They outdid FC two-to-one on points after the injury to get close at down 17-15. FC went back-and-forth with them for a while. The Falcons even got to set point at 24-22. But getting eight kills from Marisa Michaelis in the set, NLA staved off four more match points, 24-23, 25-24, 26-25, and 27-26. Finally, an FC error and a Michaelis kill gave the Tigers the set, 29-27. They rode that momentum to a 12-4 start in game two and FC never got closer than four. NLA tied the match 2-2 with a 25-20 win. But then the Falcons regrouped. Early in game five, they grabbed a 6-3 lead. Senior Ella Dahly later put away a kill, followed with an ace, and then served four more points, giving FC a 12-5 lead. NLA’s serve receive again was dicey. Aubrey Daniels finished off the match and set with back-to-back aces. Fending off the dreaded up 2-0, then lose, FC pulled the upset in five sets (25-20, 25-18, 27-29, 20-25, 15-7). The Falcons had 17 service aces! Zwart (14 kills) and E-Dahly (12 kills, 12 digs, 3 aces) led the offense. Kyla Hellickson (8 kills, 17 digs) did the best all-around work. Setters Daniels (16 assists, 17-17 serving, 6 aces) and Vaalemoen (26 assists, 6 digs, 24-28 serving, 5 aces) combined for 11 aces. Josie Corson (13 digs), Lauren Dahly (4 kills, 5 digs), Annika Mensink (5 kills), Katelyn Scheevel (4 kills), and Lily Miller (8 digs) helped. Michaelis (match-high 22 kills, 12 assists, 8 digs), who made the All-Tourney team, neared a triple-double. Makenna Lilly (11 kills, 9 digs) also had double-digits spikes. Setter Ella Borner (29 assists) and libero Ella Servais (22 digs) also did work for NLA. The Tigers outkilled FC 51 to 48. They also outblocked the Falcons. But FC had all those aces and only six setting errors to NLA’s 11. 

Falcons Can’t Sustain, Fall to #3 Minneota in Semifinals

The Falcons (6-seed, 18-15) then took on perennial volleyball state-goer #3 Minneota (2-seed, Section 3A Champion, 23-11) in the semifinals. The Vikings’ record over Coach Hayley Fruin’s nine-year tenure is 249-41. They have made state 15 times since 2001 with four total championships including three since 2018. For two-plus sets, the Falcons stood strong against tradition. FC outkilled the Vikings 16 to 7 in game one and survived going 16 of 24 from the service line. Corson served five straight points including a pair of aces to put the Falcons in front for good at 18-15. Minneota closed to down one thrice including at 22-21, but a Mensink kill and back-to-back Viking errors gave the Falcons the set 25-21. The freshman Zwart had five kills in the game for FC. They then trailed 10-6 early in set two but built a 23-16 lead. FC needed just two more points. They scored just one. The Vikings ended on an 11-1 run to steal the set. Minneota had just two kills in the span too, as the other eight points all came by Falcon error. FC again outkilled Minneota 14 to 7 in the loss. The Vikings then controlled set three, as Eden Meagher had 6 kills. The Vikings blocked well and handled their serve receive better. Minneota went ahead 2-1 with a 25-15 win. But Travis Malley’s group would not go quietly into the afternoon in game four. The Falcons again built a nice lead, 16-10, only to give up an 8-2 run for a 18-18 tie. FC then trailed 22-19, only to fight back to even at 23-23. They staved off a set point at 24-23 but could not do the same at 25-24. Minneota blocked a Zwart attack back at the Falcons, who then got called for a lift on the recovery. It gave the Vikings the 3-1 match win (21-25, 26-24, 25-15, 26-24). Meagher, just a freshman, led the Vikings on the attack (15 kills). Elivia Faris (9 kills), Jalyn Coequyt (8 kills), and Sarah Gruenes (8 kills) gave them four with at least eight spikes. Libby Sussner (20 assists, 15 digs) and Neveah Hennen (18 assists, 9 digs) split the setting. Autumn Anderson (22 digs) and Abigail Rolbiecki (20 digs) led the Viking defensive effort. Faris, Coequyt and Rolbiecki made the All-Tourney Team. Freshmen Zwart (11 kills) and Katelyn Scheevel (9 kills) led FC’s offense. Hellickson (8 kills, 28 digs) and E-Dahly (6 kills, 22 digs) were busy all-around. Vaalemoen (23 assists, 9 digs) and Daniels (3 kills, 20 assists, 8 digs) did the setting. Mensink added 8 kills. Corson had 19 digs and 4 aces (18-18 serving), Lily Miller 11 digs. FC outkilled Minneota 51 to 46 for the match but they had 13 service errors to the Vikings 3. 

FC Runs Out of Steam Versus #8 West Central in Third Place Game 

After a very late Thursday night match with New Life Academy (which ended at 10:40), and then a tough afternoon Friday semifinal loss to Minneota, the Falcons (6-seed, 18-16) played #8 West Central Area (4-seed, Section 6A Champ, 28-5) for third place. The teal and black ran out of steam. The Falcons fought from behind in all three sets, spotting the Knights 10-4, 10-4, and 12-4 leads. FC was only able to rally back to even in game two. The game was tied 19-19. West Central first, FC second, each team had a 4-0 run for another tie, 23-23. But an Isabelle Puchaski kill and a Falcon hitting error gave the Knights the game, 25-23. It was the closest of the three. FC fell by sweep, 25-19, 25-23, and 25-16. Mya Foslien, the Knights’ sole All-Tourney team selection, was FC’s biggest adversary, as she notched a match-high 17 kills plus 12 digs. Setter Macy Grosz added 31 assists and 16 digs. FC frosh Zwart continued her excellent tourney with 12 kills (.432 hitting). She finished with a team-best 37 kills for the event, good considering she played junior varsity up until late in the year. Hellickson (5 kills, 20 digs) and E-Dahly (4 kills, 9 digs) played all the way around. Daniels (15 assists, 9 digs) and Vaalemoen (18 assists) co-set. Mensink (8 kills) and Scheevel (6 kills) chipped in on offense, Miller (12 digs) and Corson (8 digs) on defense. FC had a tourney low one ace in the match with 10 service errors. West Central had four aces and five service errors. The Falcons finish a crazy season at just 18-17 but as a state fourth place finisher. The team has five seniors, regulars E-Dahly, Mensink, Miller, plus Brookyln Simon and Izzy Nagel, who each contributed more in the regular season. They had five underclassmen contributors as state, sophomores Corson and Lauren Dahly, freshmen Zwart, Scheevel, and Vaalemoen, plus third-year junior contributors Hellickson and Daniels. The run, on top of its remarkableness, puts FC as a team to watch heading into next season as multiple big pieces return. Hellickson (21 kills, 65 digs) was the sole Falcon to make the All-Tourney team.