Photo by Molly Thomas
It was a reduced week of volleyball on the whole. The TRC had just one day of league games while SEC matches saw top teams handle weaker ones. The biggest development was the ongoing outstanding season of the Chatfield Gophers. Team Chosen Valley beat La Crescent/Hokah 3-1 (24-26, 25-12, 25-14, 25-22) in their sole league game of the week. Jaelyn LaPlante had 21 (kills) and 15 (digs) to lead the way. Kara Goetzinger (9 kills), Trindy Barkeim (7 kills, 6 digs), Harper Goldsmith (40 assists, 5 digs, 4 aces), Cora Bicknese (13 digs), and Tatum Allen (3 aces) helped. Chatfield then trekked to Pine Island for some tourney action. The Gophers beat W-K 2-0 (25-19, 25-6), Hill-Murray 2-0 (25-17, 26-24), Lake City 2-0 (25-20, 25-19), and Lanesboro 2-0 (25-12, 27-25) to post an 8-0 set record in pool play. In the three-team gold championship pool, Chatfield beat Grand Meadow 2-0 (25-18, 25-13) and Red Wing 2-0 (25-21, 25-18) to win the tourney title. They became the fourth “Journal” team to win a tourney (M-C twice, SG, R-P). Notably for the tourney, H-Goldsmith had 118 assists, LaPlante 54 kills, and Bicknese 34 digs. Tatum Allen was 97 of 97 serving. Evy Goldsmith had 6 kills in the match with Lanesboro, which featured the Gophers toughest set win (27-25). Goetzinger had 6 kills and 4 total blocks, Bicknese 11 digs and 9 of 9 serving, in the win over GM. LaPlante had 10 kills and 7 digs in the win over Red Wing. GM and Lanesboro also competed (See Volleyball). The Gophers (8-0, 22-1) are essentially tied with Caledonia (6-0, 11-8) atop the TRC.