Lady Jaguar Volleyball - Step 3, Sub-Section Championship Win: "HOW SWEET IT IS!"

The Paynesville Area High School's roof was raised by the excitement level of these Lady Jaguars, shown moments after achieving match point in Game Four against Sauk Centre tonight, winning 3-1 over the neighboring rival Mainstreeters and earning their third straight Sub-Section 6AA-17 crown and fourth since 2002.

Our high-powered Lady Jaguar volleyball team dismantled the 27-5-1 Sauk Centre Mainstreeters tonight in thunderous fashion, pounding on them through four hard-hitting games and showing they are on an unstoppable mission to return to the Class AA state tournament for the second straight season.

Their level of play tonight was nothing less than stellar, using a high level of excitement and self-motivation to overpower a very good Sauk Centre squad. In the process, they raised their overall record to 28-3, tying the school record for wins set in 2005. They also showed how they indeed can play through pressure, shaking it off and giving Jaguar fans the most exciting show on a volleyball court we could ask for.

The teamwork displayed tonight was nothing less than amazing, with every player on the court crashing the floor, diving for digs, dishing out wonderful passes, and converting excellent sets into booming, untouchable kills.

An unbelievably loud and proud Jaguar section was out in full force tonight as well, getting a most welcome and uplifting boost from Paynesville and Albany fans (it was something special to see). Their support will be most needed at the large and spacious environment at the University of Minnesota-Morris fieldhouse (capacity 3,000) on Saturday, November 4th, as the Lady Jaguars will work to complete step four during the Section 6AA Championship and advance to the State Tournament for the second straight season.

The match begins at 7:00. Montevideo, the Lady Jaguars' opponent, will no doubt bring a large following themselves. Their 10-12th enrollment is 341, compared to our Jaguars' 181. (Strange how we are stuck in Class 2A, is it not?) Their overall record is 24-1-1, winning their school's first-ever sub-section volleyball title tonight over Maccray 3-1. They have one quality win over state-ranked St.Cloud Cathedral, although playing it at their high school had a big part of that win. Other than Cathedral, they have not played any strong teams this season, so their one-loss record is most certainly nothing to fear, just something to respect. They have regularly choked during playoffs in recent memory, bringing numerous number-one seeded teams to the sub-sections since 1997 and never getting out, sometimes losing in the second round. This season, though, they are senior-dominated, anxious to make it to state, showing no signs whatsoever of choking...but they have not played a team like our Lady Jaguars this season.

Saturday night's volleyball match will be a truly electrifying event to witness, so call up your friends, family, and neighbors...anyone close enough to Morris to make it there on Saturday. We've sent three exciting and talented teams to that fieldhouse before, first in 1997 with a record-breaking 20-5 boys basketball team, second in 2002 with another record-breaking 23-3 boys basketball team, and last in 2004 with a 23-5 volleyball team. All three times our teams were soundly defeated by a faster, better opponent (54-32 to eventual state champion Hancock in 1997, 65-41 in 2002 against Ortonville, and 3-0 in 2004 in volleyball against Maccray).

This time, however, our Lady Jaguars are without a doubt the better team, and they will "bring it" Saturday night...this is the last event you would want to miss.

It should be noted as well that the current seniors on the 2006 team played in that Section 6AA final in 2004 against Maccray, and they no doubt remember the thumping they endured and will use that as one more motivational tool to come out strong and show West Central Minnesota that we have the best volleyball team around.

An elated team of Sub-Section 6AA-17 Lady Jaguars poses with their trophy after trouncing rival Sauk Centre 3-1 at the Paynesville Area High School.

Now this was classy - here's the sign that the Albany varsity volleyball team was holding throughout the entire match. After being beaten by our Lady Jaguars in the semi-final they came out in full force supporting them against Sauk Centre.

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An update regarding talented, winning teams in the Central Minnesota Conference teams that are in Section 5AA (Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted, Pierz, and Maple Lake): Pierz had a huge upset in the 5AA-20 semi-final against Maple Lake, winning a 3-2 match that put them in the sub-section championship against St.Cloud Cathedral. Tonight, Cathedral soundly defeated the Pioneers 25-21,25-16, 25-12, and will play the 5AA-18 champion on Saturday night for "State". The Lakers of Howard Lake actually put up a better game against Cathedral in the semi-final match against the Crusaders, losing 3-0 in closer games (25-22, 25-13, 25-16). The CMC has very good volleyball teams in their top-four. Pierz finished 19-10-2, Howard Lake finished 14-12, and Maple Lake finished 21-7 (breaking their school record for wins, but not getting a bit of playoff hardware).

Maple Lake was gunning to advance to the state tournament for the first time in their school history, and no doubt are still stunned after their loss to Pierz in the sub-section semi-final. They had a very talented team in 2006, tying our Lady Jaguars for the CMC championship. It shows how playoff pressure can get the best of teams, meaning our area should be thankful that our girls were up to the challenge tonight.

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