Up Next for the Jaguars, Ada-Borup Cougars in the Class A Third-Place Match

A photo showing the reaction the Jaguars had after winning game two against Windom. I've got quite a few really good "reaction" shots like this one. And yes, Shannon is at least a couple feet in the air (on the left).

A shot of the incredible Jaguars crowd at the semi-final match vs. Windom... this is a lower-quality shot, I took a few others of this angle of the crowd.

This is the clip that shows the final moments of the Jaguars' 3-0 win over Martin County West in Thursday's quarterfinals


**Late but important notes to get up before my Friday night comes to a close... A welcome-home ceremony will take place for the Jaguars volleyball team on Saturday night. It will most likely be between 5:00 and 6:00. Also, the B-B-E music department's Small Ensemble will sing the National Anthem at one of the 9:00am state tournament matches on Saturday morning.

(Yikes! That means I gotta be there before 9:00!)

Also, be sure to check out my online photo gallery of the Jaguars volleyball team at the following URL = http://saukherald.mycapture.com Just today, my State Quarterfinal album picked up 205 "photo views", which is a big number considering I've only got 24 of my 202 photos from that match uploaded to that album.

Families of the Jaguars volleyball team will all have a chance to purchase photo CD's from this season. Most families have already pre-paid for those orders, which I have to say is greatly appreciated by me!

Now back to Ada-Borup's volleyball team...
The Cougars have a balanced hitting attack with three seniors coming into the state tournament with at least 260 kills. Katy Ness (343), Corin Gunderson (289), and Nicole Smart (260) provide a strong attack.

The Cougars entered the state tournament without much 4th or 5th game experience, much like our Jaguars did. Ada-Borup dropped only five sets all season long, while the Jaguars dropped only four.

While Ada-Borup's offense is very balanced, they also have a very strong defense to back it up. They recorded 68 digs against Southwest Christian in the quarterfinal match. Southwest Christian's leading hitter came into "state" with 423 kills this season, a 13.6/match average. The Cougars held her down to 10 kills in the state quarterfinal match, and the Stars only totaled 26 kills as a team.

Today against Bethlehem Academy today, Ness led the Cougars with 21 kills on 55-of-58 attacks. Gunderson was next with 16 kills on 48-of-50 attacks.

A few more words on today's state semi-final loss for our Jaguars... The moment after match point was decided in the 15-7 win for Windom in game five, emotions poured from the Jaguars both on the court and the bench, as they came together one final time before the post-match huddle. This loss stung very, very hard. It is very telling how much energy these athletes put into volleyball. They show us the true spirit of a competitor and make me proud to give them media coverage.

When you think about what this team has done, in the face of immense pressure combined with obstacles of illness and injury to key players, it really is remarkable that we now get to cheer them on to a win for a third-place trophy at the state tournament.

We've come a long ways at B-B-E with the volleyball program since their first strong post-season showing in 1994. That was the first year a B-B-E volleyball team put a playoff trophy in the high school trophy case (losing a 3-2 barn-burner to Sauk Centre in the Sub-Section 5A-3 championship).

In his post-match interview with the St.Cloud Times's Tom Elliot, Coach Weller was asked about the Junior Olympics program at B-B-E. Coach Weller mentioned how he and his wife Micki started the J.O. program back in the mid-1990s. What's noteworthy is that the first group of players that picked up serious off-season J.O. time were the same group of players who won our first sub-section championship in volleyball (the 1997 squad that finished 21-8 and won the Sub-Section 5A-20 title).

At least two of the players from that 1997 team were at today's state tournament, Becca Serbus (now married) and Amanda Illies (now married also).

In the past few years, J.O. success has always carried over into big-time success for the Jaguars volleyball team in the fall season.

Volleyball fans at B-B-E should be very thankful that we are blessed with hard-working athletes and families that support them 12 months of the year. When people thank me for the efforts I give to the Jaguars athletic program, I have to remind them that I'm not much different than the fans... we're all just lucky enough to get to go along for the ride with our hard-working Jaguars sports teams.

Eden Valley-Watkins was blanked in the football state quarterfinals, losing 24-0 to Hawley tonight. Another score was especially jaw-dropping = New London-Spicer 61, Proctor 0! NL-S has now won a section final and a state quarterfinal by a combined 91-0 score.