Jaguars Volleyball Earns First-Ever State Semi-Final Berth at State... 3-0 Sweep vs. Martin County West in Quarter's

Leaping for joy, right after winning their state quarterfinal match!

The Jaguars volleyball 3-0 sweep of Martin County West improves their record to 31-1 overall. Up next, the Final Four round! This is as exciting as it gets. How on earth am I gonna sleep tonight? I hope the B-B-E crowd will be as large, loud, and proud as ever for their second round of the 2008 state tournament.

In today's match the Jaguars fought through a close game one, which they took by a 25-21 margin. They never trailed in game two, winning 25-18. The Jaguars started out strong in game three, never trailing after an early 5-4 deficit. The Jaguars ultimately won the match with a 25-23 margin in the third set.

After the win, numerous reporters flocked on the scene to interview Heidi Lensing and Emily Roelike, as well as Coach Weller. I caught a bunch of what they said on my recorder and will be summarizing that later tonight.

Lensing pointed out how relaxed the team was as they took the court today, citing the big boost it is that they've been here before. Roelike gave big credit to the team's non-starters, as the excitement and energy from the bench gave extra fuel to those playing on the court.

Martin County West, now 24-7-1, entered the tournament ranked #14 in the final Class A Coaches Association Poll. They will face Lake of the Woods (20-8) in tomorrow's consolation semi-finals.

The Jaguars will face 2nd-ranked Windom Area (32-3) in the state semi-finals on Friday at 3:00. Windom shredded Lake of the Woods in their quarterfinal match, which took place at the same time as the Jaguars' match.

I am in the process of going through a large amount of scouting information on Windom. Tonight I'll have that posted before hitting the sack. Here are some bits & pieces from Windom's state quarterfinal match against Lake of the Woods: Their star player is senior Megan Ysker, a unique hybrid setter/hitter who led their team with 17 kills (30-of-33 attacks!) and 15 set assists.

The Eagles run a 6-2 offense, with another senior setter, Morgan Borsgard. She had 24 set assists tonight. The Eagles' second-leading hitter tonight was Courtney Ysker, who had 8 kills on 13-of-15 attacks. She is a sophomore outside hitter, the younger sister of Megan.

I'll add a newspaper story about Windom later tonight. It will be worth reading.

**Important...fans who cannot make the match on Friday can listen to it on Smooth Magic 107 out of Glenwood (107.1 FM). Pre-game starts around 2:35. If you can't pick up that on your radio where you work or live, then please make sure to try it out on your computer. If you have a good internet connection you can go to the following website address to listen to the match LIVE!

Please make sure to tell friends and family (anywhere in the world!) that they have this option.

http://smoothmagic107.com/kmgk_sports.htm

That link will point you to the schedule, and at match-time around 2:30 you should be able to load up a Real-Audio player with the play-by-play on your computer. Smooth Magic's sports broadcaster, Dave McClurg, will be doing his usual steady and solid coverage of the Jaguars volleyball team.

What was interesting to note is that all four top seeds in the tournament won via sweep over their "blind draw" opponents.

Other results in the Class A quarter's=
Ada-Borup 3, Southwest Christian 0
Bethlehem Academy 3, Deer River 0
Windom Area 3, Lake of the Woods 0

Sixth-ranked Ada-Borup had no trouble sweeping 8th-ranked Southwest Christian. They will face #1-rated (defending Class A champion) Bethlehem Academy in the other semi-final match on Friday.

I have TONS of info to post tonight, including bits and pieces I picked up from radio and newspaper interviews for some of the Jaguars players as well as Coach Weller.

Time for supper, then back at it to add scouting info on Windom as well as photos from the exciting and record-setting match.

In Class AA tonight, St.Cloud Cathedral (30-3) defeated Stewartville (26-5) 3-1 (18-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-23). Both were teams highly ranked in the coaches poll. Hats off to Coach Lindsay Ashburn and her high-powered Crusaders team, as they prepare for their state semi-final match tomorrow against defending state champion Marshall. That match is on Friday night at 7:00. In 2007, Marshall overcame a 2-0 deficit in games to knock down Cathedral in last year's state championship match.

This Jaguars volleyball state tournament update brought to you by Jana Mae's in Brooten, Big A Auto in Brooten, as well as L & L Foods in Belgrade.

I will be posting more information at the 10:00pm hour tonight. I'm going to spend the 9:00 hour RELAXING! I haven't done much of that lately, having way too much fun with this big post-season run!