Yes, they are excited...the expression on her face says it all.The Lady Jaguars won their fifth straight sub-section semi-final match tonight in a 3-1 win over the third-seeded Albany Huskies at the Paynesville Area High School. It also marked the fourth season in the past five that our Lady Jaguar volleyball team will have at least one player finish the season with over 300 kills, as April Hansen earned her 300th kill of 2006 tonight in game four.
They also up their record to 27-3 while closing in on their third straight sub-section championship title in 6AA-17. To achieve that lofty mark, they will have to defeat Sauk Centre this Thursday night, November 2, back at the Paynesville Area High School. Match time is 7:00. Fans will need to come early and be prepared for a standing-room only crowd.
Since 2000, the Lady Jaguars have played in six Sub-Section 6AA-17 championship matches. In 2000, after going 8-0 in their second season in the Central Minnesota Conference, they met a state-ranked and heavily-favored Sauk Centre team and lost 3-0. In 2002, they met Sauk Centre once again, this time as slight underdogs, and defeated the MainStreeters 3-1 for the first time in school history, in the sub-section championship. In 2003, they met a state-ranked Albany Huskies team and lost 3-0 in the sub-section championship. In 2004, they went in as the number one seed and defeated Melrose 3-0 for the school's third sub-section championship. (The first was earned in 1997 by a Mandy Illies-led squad that finished 21-8 overall, losing in the Region 5A semi-final match to 6th-state-ranked Delano.)
Then in 2005, as everyone vividly remembers, the Lady Jaguars went in as the number one seed and defeated Sauk Centre 3-1 for the Sub-Section 6AA-17 championship, on their way to the school's first ever team-state tournament berth.
Again, fans are asked to come early to Paynesville and be ready for the most rock-'em-sock-'em volleyball match this area has seen in playoff action this century.
And bring your Jaguar pride while you're at it.
