Photo by Heather Kleiboer
It is about that time of year. It is about the time when Mabel-Canton volleyball finishes out its SEC schedule perfect and beats whoever the West has in the East-West Showcase contest. Only once in the last 10 years has that not happened; 2021 when GM won the Showcase. Lonnie Morken’s Cougars ended the SEC regular season by handling Southland 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-11). It was their 30th win. Kinley Soiney (15 kills, 5 digs, 13-14 serving, 3 aces) and Sahara Morken (3 kills, 38 assists, 10 digs, 14-15 serving, 2 aces) led the way. Saijal Slafter (8 kills, 7 digs, 11-12 serving, 3 aces), Hope Erickson (7 kills), Tylar Wenthold (5 kills), Lydia Vatland (9 digs, 14-15 serving, 4 aces), and Kailey Ingvalson (4 kills, 6 digs) helped. M-C then took on LeRoy-Ostrander in the Showcase game. The Cardinals were playing in their first such game since 2012, and doing so over co-West champion Grand Meadow. The tiebreaker was L-O beat GM 3-1 in the regular season while GM beat L-O 3-2. The match-up with M-C took three sets. The Cougars won 3-0 (25-7, 25-15, 25-12). Morken (3 kills, 29 assists, 8 digs, 24-24 serving, 4 aces), Soiney (15 kills, 4 total blks), and Slafter (8 kills, 9 digs, 13-13 serving, 3 aces) were again big. Wenthold (5 kills) and Vatland (6 digs, 13-13 serving, 3 aces) helped. Morken, Slafter, and Vatland combined to go 50-50 serving with 10 aces and 39 total points. L-O was led by Benita Nolt (9 kills, 5 digs), Jenna Olson (17 assists, 6 digs), Kaci McKenzie (5 kills), Maria Almaraz-Nolt (8 digs), and Maddi Huntley (7 digs). The second-ranked Cougars (14-0, 31-1) are 1A’s top seed and will host either 17-seed Houston (5-21) or 16-seed Kingsland (8-17). The 8th-seeded Cardinals (11-3, 19-10) will look for win #20 at home versus 9-seed Goodhue (11-13).