Photo by Paul Trende
Evidently, it was meant to be this way. Mabel-Canton Head Coach Lonnie Morken has led a lot of really good volleyball teams. He’s a coaching legend. But the Cougars haven’t been to state since 2001. Ten times since they lost in a 1A final. Eight were to Faribault B.A. (which has the advantage of being a private school in a city of 24,000) and twice to Medford. As Morken once said, “It just hasn’t happened.” Now it has. And Morken’s team has a couple other Morkens, Lonnie’s two youngest daughter’s Sophie and Sahara as key players. It was meant to be at this time. It is a blissful revelation for Cougar volleyball troupe/nation. And the 1A trek was a true battle.
Mabel-Canton (2-seed, 31-2) played Alden-Conger (7-seed, 21-9) in the quarters. The #5 Cougars had to fight hard to earn a ‘“W.” Set one flowed easy. M-C went from up 8-7 to up 22-10. They prevailed 24-13. Game two took 62 points to decide! The Knights used a strong defense and varied hitting attack to match the Cougars same attributes. The set had 18 ties. M-C trailed 18-13 but came to tie at 21. The Cougars also faced set point (24-22) but got a trio on Kinley Soiney kills in succession to lead 25-24. Nine total set points were staved off. Finally, Soiney scored with back-to-back kills. M-C won 32-30 to lead 2-0. But game three was a fight too. It had eight ties and also went extra points. The Cougars led 21-17, 23-20, and 24-22. The Knights resisted three match points. A McKenzie Wasmoen kill tied things 25-25. M-C then errored. Knight Ashley Newman scored the final point. A-C stayed alive with a 27-25 win. But M-C stayed steady and A-C petered out. The Cougars ended game four on a 9-2 run to prevail 25-14. M-C won 3-1 (25-14, 32-30, 25-27, 25-14). Saijal Slafter (23 kills, .311 hitting) and Soiney (18 kills, 5 total blks) led M-C on “O.” Kailey Ingvalson (16 kills, .500 hitting, 26 digs, 23-23 serving, 3 aces) was efficient on “O” while serving the final eight points. Sisters Sophie Morken (8 kills, 26 digs) and Sahara Morken (5 kills, 59 assists, 16 digs) were super busy. MaKenzie Kelly (team-high 27 digs) and Lydia Vatland (15 digs) helped M-C have 121 digs. A-C was unofficially led by Alyvia Newman (15 kills, 16 digs), Madison Hendrickson (42 assist, 28 digs), and Ellen Merkouris (33 digs – 22 in game two). They unofficially had 140 digs.
The #5 Cougars (2-seed, 32-2) then faced #6 Kenyon-Wanamingo (3-seed, 23-8) in a re-match of last year’s 1A semis, a match won 3-2 by K-W. It followed 2021’s lead only with plot twist. M-C came out strong in game one. The Cougars went on an 8-0 run mid-set, mostly amidst a Sahara M. service session, to lead 18-10. They won 25-18. Game two saw the Knights control things. They led by least two from 4-2 on, winning 25-19.
Like the normal ebb-and-flow of volleyball, M-C was out early (7-2 and 12-6) in game three. But behind Tessa Erlandson (8 kills in the set), one of many holdovers from last year, the Knights were even at 17-17. K-W then broke a 20-20 tie by scoring four of five points (24-21). Erlandson had two kills. M-C staved off one set point, but a back-row Erlandson kill put K-W up 2-1 courtesy of a 25-22 win. A season ago, M-C led 2-1. Backs against the wall, the Cougars started game four 7-1, suppressed a push that made it 9-7, and went ahead 17-10. They cruised to a 25-15 win. At that point, like 2021, M-C’s set wins were bigger, K-W’s narrower (yet
Photo by Paul Trende
the Knights won last year). Something had to give. Tight matches often come down to bounces here and there. Game five had nine ties. M-C trailed 10-8 and 12-10 only force ties. K-W was at match point, 14-13, following an Erlandson tip kill. But Cougar sophomore MH Saijal Slafter was huge late. Her tip-kill tied the match 14-14. She followed with a bigger kill shot (15-14). A big block by K-W’s Grace Nystuen tied things at 15, the last tie. But Slafter tipped for a kill and then tipped again after a long volley. Cue the “the way the ball bounces.” The tip deflected lightly off a blocker’s fingers and fell to the floor for the game deciding point. In a five-set classic, M-C made the 1A finals courtesy of a come-back 3-2 win (25-18, 19-25, 22-25, 25-15, 17-15). Slafter scored M-C’s final four points and had seven kills in the set. Soiney (25 kills, 5 total blks) and Slafter (21 kills) were M-C’s big two. Sophie M. (9 kills, 23 digs) was the only other Cougar with more than five kills. Sahara M. (57 assists, 28 digs, 3 aces) went 50-20. Kelly (22 digs) and Ingvalson (20 digs) each topped 20 digs. Vatland (18 digs) helped. K-W’s “O” was led by Erlandson (18 kills, 30 digs), Josi Quam (15 kills, 26 digs), and Norah Rechtzigel (12 kills, 6 total blks). Libero Rachel Ryan had a team-best 27 digs. Carmen Nerison (27 assists) and Emma Paulson (21 assists) split the setting.
The #5 Cougars (2-seed, 33-2) then faced #4 Faribault B.A. (1-seed, 20-12) for the 1A title. Many a good M-C team has fallen to the Cardinal dynasty. But not on this day. A team can’t play perfectly, but the Cougars played awfully well the entire match, starting in set one, jumping on B.A. 6-2, leading the duration. Frosh sensation Kinley Soiney had 11 kills. B.A. inched close late, down 24-22. But Soiney’s final kill gave the Cougars the 25-22 win. Game two was then the most contested. For a second time, M-C played a 62-point game. It had 17 ties. M-C was up 18-14 only for B.A to go on an 8-0 run, take a 22-18. The Cougars then staved off set points at 24-22 and 24-23 to tie 24-24. Six ties later, after the teams staved off eight total game points, B.A. got a Lindsay Hanson/Sydney Dienst combo block followed by a Kate Trump back-row kill for the 32-30 win. They tied the match 1-1. Soiney had 10 kills. Like game one, set three saw M-C roar early, up 11-2. M-C fed middles Soiney and Slafter time-and-time again. And why not? B.A. wasn’t stopping them. Each had seven kills in the set. They killed all tourney. Never trailing, M-C won 25-16 to go up 2-1. Game four was then again competitive. Though B.A. is no longer coached by Hall of Famer Franz Boelter, they have tradition. They battled with a varied attack. Five hitters accrued at least seven kills. The game’s eighth tie made it 19-19. B.A. then scored back-to-back kills (21-19). They were pressing for a fifth set, but M-C said “no!” A B.A. service error followed by a Soiney kill tied things at 21. The 5’10” frosh then scored with three more kills in succession. Up 24-21, the victory was near. Sophie M. served the final point. Ingvalson killed it. The drought was over and the Cougars (coach Morken included) were naturally emotional. Mabel-Canton is the 2022 Section 1A champ, 3-1 (25-22, 30-32, 25-16, 25-21)! Soiney was massive with 38 kills on .465 hitting and seven total blocks. She had at least seven kills in every game, setting the M-C single-match kill record. Slafter had a strong 23 kills. Sahara M. had 68 assists and 24 digs. She set the M-C single-match assist mark. Sophie M. had 4 kills, 18 digs, and 4 aces on 29 of 29 serving. Kelly had 25 digs. Vatland (11 digs), Hope Erickson (7 digs), and Ingvalson (4 kills, 11 digs) helped. MC was 98 of 100 serving. B.A was unofficially led by Trump (20 kills, 31 digs), Hanson (18 kills, 15 digs), and Reagan Kangas (63 assists, 16 digs). It is M-C’s third overall state trip. Seeded third, #5 M-C (34-2) will face unranked Pine River-Backus (27-4).
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