Jaguars Volleyball is tagged with first loss of the season at Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted Invite

The Jaguars went 3-1 at the HL-W-W Invite, settling for the third place title for the first time since 2006. The Jaguars won a 2-0 match against Glencoe-Silver Lake before falling in a three-game match to Class AAA Maple Grove.

The Maple Grove Crimson were 3-1 going into the match against the Jaguars, with their loss coming to Class A power Meadow Creek Christian in a 3-1 match at Andover on September 3. MCC is the 9th-ranked team in the latest Class A coaches poll.

After the loss to Maple Grove, the Jaguars won 2-0 over Cedar Mountain-Comfrey to earn a place in the third-place match. The CM-C Cougars are a team including numerous athletes who won the Section 2A girls basketball title last year and made it all the way to the Class A championship game, where they were hammered by Ada-Borup 61-31.

In the third-place match, the Jaguars split the first two games against Norwood-Young America before rallying for a 15-12 game three win.

The Jaguars are now 5-1 overall. They travel to Hancock to face the Owls in a non-conference match on Monday night (Sept 14) - the Owls are 3-2 overall after taking fifth place at the same tournament Sauk Centre participated in on Saturday. (See more on that below)

For argument's sake, Maple Grove is not a bad team to lose to - they were a Class AAA section finalist in 2007, the last time the Jaguars faced them in the HL-W-W tournament. That year, the Jaguars defeated them 2-1 on their way to winning the tournament title with a 3-1 match record. (They lost to Norwood-Young America that year in the opening match of the day)

Other area results:
Kimball Area went 1-3 at the Buffalo Invite.

Sauk Centre won the Stacy Polzin McIntyre Memorial Tournament, held at the sports complex of the University of Minnesota-Morris on Saturday. They squeezed out a thrilling 2-1 win over West Central North Conference and Highway 71 rival Long Prairie-Grey Eagle, after dropping the first game to the Thunder in the championship match.

Morris Area took third place in that same tournament.

More will follow on Sunday night.

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