Volleyball (9/23)

Cougars Improve to 19-0 with Eight Win Week, Heritage Title

The #2-ranked team in Class A volleyball kept plugging along with an eight-win week which included the Heritage Christian Academy tourney title. Mabel-Canton first went through SEC foes Kingsland and Lanesboro in straight sets. The Knights fell 25-11, 25-5, and 25-9. Sahara Morken had 28 assists, 6 digs, and 5 aces (21 of 24 serving) to lead the way. Kinley Soiney (9 kills, 4 total blks), Saijal Slafter (8 kills), Ella Halverson (5 kills), Tylar Wenthold (5 kills), and Kailey Ingvalson (4 kills, 3 aces) gave the Cougars five with four-plus kills. Lydia Vatland (6 digs), Lainey Hosting (5 digs), and Ava Jacobsen (5 aces) helped. Paisley Robinson (15 digs), Chloe Drury-DeBoer (7 digs), Kaelynn Howard (6 digs), and Chantle Reiland (4 kills, 4 assists) led Kingsland. The matchup with Lanesboro was the two teams yet unbeaten (5-0) in the SEC-East. But M-C dominated in a 3-0 sweep (25-12, 25-17, 25-6). Morken (31 assists, 6 digs, 17-17 serving, 5 aces) fed Soiney (10 kills, 6 digs) and Slafter (10 kills) the most. Vatland (8 digs), Wenthold (6 kills), Jacobsen (6 aces), and Ingvalson (4 kills) helped. Lanesboro was led by Ellie Howard (12 digs), Jensyn Storhoff (11 assists), Ava Rein (8 digs), and Sari Rein (4 kills). M-C then took on the Heritage Christian Academy tourney. In pool play they defeated Holy Family 2-0 (25-15, 25-13), Camden 2-0 (25-4, 25-7), and Spectrum 2-0 (25-11, 25-18). In an eight-team championship bracket, they beat West Lutheran in the quarters 2-0 (25-10, 25-14), South St. Paul in the semis 2-0 (25-18, 25-20), and Holy Family for the title, dropping the first set, but then taking the match in three (26-28, 25-21, 15-12). It was their first dropped set of the year after winning their first 42. It was their second tourney win of the year, as they also won the Floodwood Invite to start the season. The Cougars have won the last three HCA tourneys. Tourney leaders were Morken (161 assists, 33 digs, 11 aces), Soiney (55 kills, 29 digs, 11 total blks), Slafter (49 kills on .554 hitting, 11 aces), Jacobsen (27 digs, 9 aces), and Vatland (27 digs). The Cougars (6-0, 19-0) lead the SEC-East over Lanesboro (5-1, 8-3) and Spring Grove (4-1, 4-1). 

Gophers Knock Off Warriors/Cardinals, Snare First Place 

Chatfield volleyball’s week featured just two games but each was against another squad off to a 3-0/4-0 start to their league season. The first matchup was a key one, at Caledonia (3-0, 6-2). The Gophers (3-0, 5-2) swept the Warriors on the road last year in three tight games, but Caledonia made state out of Section 1AA. A mostly returning Gopher squad, for one-and-a-half sets, controlled a retooled Warrior team, before the final half of the match was highly competitive. Chatfield controlled game one 25-17 with Jaelyn LaPlante smacking down eight kills. It would be her night. Game two saw the Gophers again control things, leading 21-17, before the Warriors started finding a better defensive and competitive groove. A 4-0 Warrior spurt late tied the match at 22-22. But Chatfield has added a strong hitter to the squad, as former libero Cora Bicknese has given the Gophers a third athletic attacker to go along with LaPlante and Trindy Barkeim. Bicknese put down game point on a controversial call where the Warriors nearly had a pancake save. Chatfield took game two 25-23. Game three was then the tightest. Caledonia took its first lead of the night at 13-12. With the Warriors leading 22-19, Chatfield scored five of seven points to tie the match at 24. The Warriors were at set point thrice (24-22, 24-23, 25-24) and Chatfield twice (26-25, 27-26). LaPlante scored thrice with kills in Chatfield’s last five points. But the game ended unemphatically. A Caledonia third-hit bump did not clear the net and the Gophers were the victors 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 28-26)! LaPlante led the way with 17 kills on .370 hitting. Included was her 1,000th career spike in the third set. Bicknese (10 kills, 13 digs) and Barkeim (8 kills, 22-24 serving, 3 aces) gave the Gophers a tri-faceted offensive attack. Rivaling LaPlante for player of the game was libero Hannah Tweten (24 digs). Her transition from setter, to libero, to replace Bicknese, who now plays all the way around, has been key. Setter Harper Goldsmith went for 33 (assists) and 12 (digs). Liv Myhre, a 6’2” senior, led the Warriors with 14 kills. Sienna Augedahl (7 kills, 4 total blks) and Aubrie Klug (6 kills, 13 digs) helped on offense. Avery Augedahl collected 28 assists. Lauren Goetzinger (15 digs) keyed the Warrior defens   e. Caledonia had 10 blocks to the Gophers two. Chatfield had seven aces to the Warriors four. Caledonia had 16 service errors to Chatfield’s eight. Kristi Rindels’ group then hosted Lewiston-Altura (4-0, 8-2) in a battle of 4-0 TRC teams. Chatfield got the sweep with the Cardinals not reaching 20 in any set (25-12, 25-18, 25-12). Bicknese had a team-high 12 kills, hitting .571. Barkeim added 5 kills but scored with nine aces (22-24 serving). LaPlante had 9 kills and 3 aces. Kylin Schroeder added three aces as Chatfield had 18 total. By contrast, they had just 12 total team-digs! H-Goldsmith had 26 assists. The Gophers (5-0, 7-2) and Dover-Eyota (4-0, 8-2) are the last two TRC unbeaten teams. L-A (4-1, 8-3) and Fillmore Central (4-1, 6-4) sit tied for third. 

Lions and Cards Grab Wins in GM 

Grand Meadow hosted a couple key SEC volleyball matches, with East power Spring Grove, and West rival LeRoy-Ostrander. The visiting clubs came away with wins in each match. 

Spring Grove knocked the Larks out of the SEC West Division lead via 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 25-10, 25-19) win. The Lions won two of the three close sets and dominated another. Blocking and serving were determinants for the Grove girls who had only two more kills (45-43) but scored with an impressive 11 blocks to the Superlarks four. GM suffered at the service line where each team had eight errors, but the Lions served 11 aces to three for the home team. For SG, Jordis Neeley poured in 20 kills (33% efficiency) and assisted on seven blocks while serving three aces. Joelle Halverson had 8 kills with 6 each from Emerson Ingvalson and Hailey Normann. Kendal VanMinsel had 36 of the Lions’ 40 set assists and dug 11 times on defense. Sydney Holland had 16 digs, Ingvalson 15, and Halverson 13 along with 11 saves each from VanMinsel and Izabel Kauffman. The Superlarks had a balanced attack with Kendall Jack putting in 9 kills, Lauren Queensland 8, Haylie Paul 8, Gracie Foster 7, and Rylee Schaufler 7. Hallie Hendrickson had 36 assists and 9 digs. Cheyenne Bakken dug 16 times while Jack and Queensland had 15 digs each and Schaufler 13. The Lions led for most of the match. In set one, the Larks saved five set points before falling by only three points. In set two, a late GM rally was successful, taking eight of the final 11 points to win by two. After 15 Superlark kills in each of the first two sets, GM managed only five kills in the third set, dominated by SG 25-10. Set four was tied seven times. Spring Grove broke a 19-19 tie by winning the final six points with two kills, two blocks and two aces. SG also beat Glenville-Emmons on the week (See SEC Volleyball). The Lions (4-1, 4-1) are a half game behind Lanesboro (5-1, 8-3) for second place with M-C (6-0, 19-0) leading the SEC-East. 

In the first match of the year between the teams that tied atop the SEC-West a year ago, LeRoy-Ostrander senior middle hitter Benita Nolt’s exploits led to a big early-season Cardinal win over Grand Meadow. When Nolt was in the front row she was a force. L-O led most of game one in picking up a 25-19 win. GM came back from down big in game two to win the set 25-22. Game three was the tightest with six ties. Lindsay Milks’ group used a 5-0 run to annul an early 12-7 deficit. The match’s last tie was at 19-19. But L-O then scored five of seven points to lead 24-21. GM staved off two game points but a Kaci McKenzie kill gave L-O the set 25-23 and the 2-1 lead. The Cardinals then led big in game four, 18-9, withstood a GM comeback, but prevailed 25-20. L-O grabbed the 3-1 win (25-19, 22-25, 25-23, 25-20). Nolt had 25 kills, 12 digs, 3 blocks, and 5 aces (on 18-20 serving) to lead the way. She hit .446. McKenzie (8 kills, 18-19 serving, 4 aces), Brooke Jasper (9 kills, 17 digs), and Maria Almaraz-Nolt (8 kills, 12 digs) helped big on offense. Meah Stevens had 45 (assists), and 9 (digs). Miranda Nagel (5 kills) and Addie Harn (10 digs) provided ancillary help. Gracie Foster had 11 kills, 10 digs, and 3 aces to lead GM. Hallie Hendrickson (26 assists, 6 digs), Lauren Queensland (7 kills, 9 digs), Cheyenne Bakken (13 digs), Haylie Paul (5 kills, 9 digs, 5 total blks), Rylee Schaufler (9 digs), and Kendall Jack (6 digs) helped. When the week was through, Southland (3-1, 3-1) led the SEC-West over L-O (3-3, 6-8), GM (3-3, 6-9), and L/P (3-3, 3-11). 

Three Rivers Conference Volleyball (9/10 & 9/12)

Rushford-Peterson 3, Wabasha-Kellogg 0 > 25-16, 25-15, 25-19 (R-P: Torryn Schneider 10 kills, 18 digs; A. Drinkall 21 digs; Avree Connaughty 11 assists, 15 digs; Kayla Magin 9 assists, 20-20 serving, 2 aces; Ava Helgemoe 6 kills, 3 ace blocks; Lindsey Hoiness 4 kills, 13 kills. R-P (1-3, 4-4) grabbed its first TRC win and won its fourth straight) 

Cotter 1, Fillmore Central 3 > 25-23, 25-20, 23-25, 30-28 (FC: K. Hellickson 33 digs; Katelyn Scheevel 12 kills, 3 ace blocks; Ella Dahly 7 kills, 17 digs, 20-23 serving, 3 aces; Annika Mensink 10 kills; Lauren Dahly 7 kills, 20 assists, 8 digs; Aubrey Daniels 13 assists, 8 digs; Lily Miller 9 digs; Izzy Nagel 4 kills, 5 digs. FC came back from down 21-17 to win the first set. The third set had 10 ties and the fourth nine. FC trailed 17-13 in game four while also withstanding Cotter being at set point three times. FC scored the final three points of game for the win, as Scheevel put down match point) 

Caledonia 2, Cotter 3 > 25-15, 22-25, 26-24, 19-25, 9-15 (Cal: Liv Myhre 18 kills, 4 ace blocks; A. Augedahl 41 assists, 7 digs; Sienna Augedahl 9 kills; Aubrie Klug 8 kills, 28 digs; Lauren Goetzinger 13 digs; Elsa Blum 11 digs; Kensey King 5 kills. The Warriors are 3-2 in the TRC, 6-4 overall) 

Fillmore Central 3, PEM 0 > 25-19, 25-18, 25-17 (FC: A. Mensink 12 kills; E. Dahly 4 kills, 13 digs; L. Dahly 6 kills, 13 assists, 7 digs; A. Daniels 18 assists; K. Hellickson 12 digs; K. Scheevel 5 kills; L. Miller 7 digs; I. Nagel 4 kills, 8 digs; Brooklyn Simon 5 kills.) 

Southeast Conference Volleyball (9/9 – 9/12)

SG 3, Glenville-Emmons 0 (25-3, 25-8, 25-9) (SG: Jordis Neeley 7 kills, 5 aces, 3 blks; S. Holland 8 aces; Kendal VanMinsel 5 kills, 12 assists; Joelle Halverson 7 kills; Katie Klug 3 aces; Emerson Ingvalson 4 kills, 2 aces) 

Houston 0, Southland 3 > 16-25, 15-25, 12-25 (H: Emily Botcher 10 kills, 4 digs; Olivia Yohe 9 assists; Jaden Woodard 4 kills; Ellasyn Carrier 10 digs; Emmie Melbo 6 digs) 

Lanesboro 3, Lyle/Pacelli 1 > 25-23, 22-25, 25-16, 25-22 (L: E. Howard 26 digs; Jensyn Storhoff 26 assists, 17 digs; Jentrey Schreiber 8 kills; Taylor Hanson 8 kills; Hailey Erickson 7 kills; Ava Rein 11 digs; Sari Rein 4 total blks, 3 aces;) 

Kingsland 0, Lyle/Pacelli 3 > 16-25, 19-25, 19-25 (K: Vaira Merkel 10 kills, 8 digs; Kalyn Stier 9 kills; P. Robinson 29 digs; Kaelynn Howard 22 digs; Macie Rasmussen 10 assists, 7 digs; Chloe Drury-DeBoer 11 digs; Aliyah Holland 9 digs; Emma Howard 12 assists) 

Schaeffer Academy 0, Houston 3 > 25-8, 25-12, 25-15 (H: E. Botcher 15 kills, 4 digs; O. Yohe 24 assists; Jorja Meyer 7 kills; E. Melbo 7 digs; E. Carrier 8 digs; Taylor Stutzka 5 aces) 

Non-Conference Volleyball (9/14) 

Wabasha-Kellogg Tourney (Lanesboro went 3-2, beating Kingsland 2-0 (25-16, 25-16), Houston 2-1 (17-25, 25-15, 25-11) and Blooming Prairie 2-0 (25-22, 25-18) while losing to W-K 1-2 (25-17, 20-25, 5-15) and Goodhue 0-2 (17-25, 24-26). Leaders versus Houston; Ellie Howard (20 digs), Jensyn Storhoff (6 kills, 15 assists), Ava Rein (6 kills, 16 digs). Leaders versus Kingsland: Storhoff (7 assists, 7 digs), Howard (6 digs), Taylor Hanson/Chloe Miller/Cora Mayer (4 kills). Leaders versus BP: Storhoff (5 kills, 18 assists, 5 aces), A-Rein (5 kills, 14 digs), Howard (11 digs). Leaders versus W-K: Storhoff (16 assists, 11 digs), Jentrey Schreiber (6 kills, 2 aces, 2 blks), Kaylee Gilbertson (9 digs). Leaders versus Goodhue: Storhoff (10 assists, 11 digs), Howard (12 digs), A-Rein (5 kills). Lanesboro is 5-1 in the SEC, 8-3 overall. L-O went 2-2, beating St. Anthony 2-0 (25-18, 25-15) and Blooming Prairie 2-1 (25-23, 20-25, 16-14) while losing to Goodhue 0-2 (21-25. 15-25) and Houston 1-2 (25-17, 22-25, 13-15). Cardinals tourney leaders: Benita Nolt (35 kills, 23 digs), Meah Stevens (72 assists, 21 digs), Brooke Jasper (17 kills, 26 digs), Kaci McKenzie (10 kills, 20 digs), Maria Almaraz-Nolt (17 digs, 6 aces), Tessa Lewison (20 digs). The Cardinals are 3-3 in the SEC, 6-8 overall. Houston went 2-3, beating Kingsland 2-0 (25-18, 25-17) and LeRoy-Ostrander 2-1 (17-25, 25-22, 15-13) while losing to Lanesboro 1-2 (25-17, 15-25, 11-25), Wabasha-Kellogg 0-2 (14-25, 15-25), and W-K again 0-2 (23-25, 16-25). Houston tourney leaders: E. Botcher (31 kills, 31 digs, 11 aces), O. Yohe (66 assists, 22 digs), E. Carrier (51 digs), C. Koehler (17 digs), E. Melbo (13 kills, 27 digs), J. Meyer (20 kills, 6 total blks). The Hurricanes are 2-3 in the SEC, 5-9 overall. Kingsland went 0-4, losing to W-K 0-2 (5-25, 13-25), Lanesboro 0-2 (16-25, 16-25), Houston 0-2 (18-25, 17-25), and Goodhue 0-2 (6-25, 12-25). Knight tourney leaders: K. Stier (12 kills), P. Robinson (13 digs), Jill Moore (13 digs), K. Howard (13 assists). The Knights are 2-5 in the SEC, 2-12 overall)

Rushford-Peterson Tourney (R-P lost to Dover-Eyota 0-3 (25-27, 23-25, 17-19) and La Crescent/Hokah 1-2 (23-25, 19-25, 24-26), as each match was three sets no matter. Trojan tourney leaders: A. Helgemoe (14 kills), L. Hoiness (13 kills, 25 digs), T. Schneider (6 kills, 19 digs, 21-22 serving, 7 aces), K. Magin (27 assists, 10 digs), A. Connaughty (17 assists), A. Drinkall (27 digs). The Trojans are 1-3 in the TRC, 4-6 overall)