It Was a Heart-Breaker... Hard to Put Into Words, Jaguars Volleyball Falls in Five to 2nd-Ranked Windom in State Semi-Finals

Whitney Bertram shown rallying the bench during today's semi-final match.

A loud, proud Jaguars crowd cheering during the semi-final match.


The Jaguars volleyball team suffered only their second loss of this year when they fell in a emotionally-charged 3-2 match to Windom Area. The semi-final loss puts them into Saturday's third-place match, which will be at 11:00am at the XCel Energy Center. The opponent will be Ada-Borup, a team that also fell in a five-game match in their semi-final.

I'll be digging up info on Ada-Borup tonight. The Cougars are 31-2, identical record to our Jaguars. By 10:00 tonight I'll be adding some information I've dug up about their team.

I watched four five-game matches today at XCel. It was madness... Three were in Class A, and one was in Class AA (Jordan vs. Hibbing).

Tonight's match between our Jaguars and the Eagles was the ultimate back-and-forth affair, as both teams traded punch after punch. After a tight game one, games 2-3-4 were full of big runs on each side of the net.

While Windom's service game was one of the toughest imaginable by a team on any level, the Jaguars picked up their level of play and challenged the Eagles for five full games of hard-nosed volleyball.

Game scores were 25-20, 23-25, 25-14, 16-25, 15-7.

Every Jaguar who stepped on the court played their heart out. Coach Weller pointed out two players, Whitney Bertram and Shannon Gruber, for their high level of play. Bertram came off the bench to help fill in for one of the Jaguars who was unable to play due to illness today. She played the match of her life.

B-B-E fans could not have asked for any more from the team. They left everything on the court, and they lost to an excellent team that would do well in Class AA and Class AAA.

It'll be tough putting this one into words on Sunday. I sure will try!

Other results from Day 2 of State:

Martin County West made quick work of Lake of the Woods in one of the Class A Consolation Semi-finals. The Mavericks won 25-21, 25-21, 25-21.

Marshall put a beating on St.Cloud Cathedral 25-21, 25-21, 25-11 in one of the Class AA semi-finals.

Southwest Christian of Chaska outlasted Deer River in one of the Class A consolation semi-finals in five, with game scores of 25-14, 22-25, 28-26, 15-25, 15-12.