Jaguars Volleyball wins two of three on final day of Bethel Showcase Invitational - finishes with 5th place showing

Julie Hieserich in set assist mode.

An attack by Shannon Gruber.

The Jaguars volleyball team went 5-1 overall in their trip to the Bethel University Class A Showcase Invitational, winning three matches on Friday night and two of three played on Saturday. Along the way, they defeated some of the top teams in Minnesota, no small task in a matter of a few short hours. They are now 12-2 overall.

They lost their opening match of Saturday morning, then rebounded to take the next two, finishing fifth out of the 16 teams in attendance.

In the fifth place match, the Jaguars swept the #4-ranked Lake of the Woods Bears, winning in dominating fashion 25-15, 25-21. The Bears lost to Bertha-Hewitt 17-25, 25-19, 15-11 in the quarterfinals.

Another of the Jaguars' wins on Saturday was against Leroy-Ostrander (25-19, 25-17). The L-O Cardinals were the 10th-ranked team in Class A coming into the tournament.

Jaguars' junior setter Julie Hieserich topped the 1,000-career set assist mark at the Showcase Invitational - she now has 1,087 set assists in the stat book.

At the Sauk Rapids Invite, Annandale (12-1) was team champion. They defeated state-ranked Wadena-Deer Creek in the championship match. Sauk Centre defeated Pierz in a 2-1 match for third place.

Sauk Rapids Invite final team standings: 1. Annandale; 2. Wadena-Deer Creek; 3. Sauk Centre; 4. Pierz; 5. St. Cloud Cathedral; 6. Rogers; 7. Dassel-Cokato; 8. Monticello; 9. Sauk Rapids; 10. Melrose; 11. Albany; 12. St. Cloud Apollo; 13. Mora; 14. Little Falls; 15. Elk River; 16. Holdingford.

At the Minnewaska Area Tournament, New London-Spicer defeated Hancock in the championship match. The host Lakers took fourth out of the eight teams at the tournament. At Minnewaska in pool play, Hancock tagged Benson with the Braves' first loss of the season.

At the Becker Tournament of Roses, Kimball Area went 4-1 while taking second place, raising their overall season record to 9-5.