Coming tonight: Holdingford vs. B-B-E Football in Belgrade - Molten Southwest Volleyball Challenge in Marshall for the Jaguars Volleyball team

The Jaguars football team has their chance at starting the football season 2-0 for only the third time in B-B-E history, when they host Holdingford tonight at 7:00pm in the Central Minnesota Conference opener.

Holdingford is in search of their first win, after losing 21-20 in a nailbiter last week to Class AAA Holy Family Catholic.

In 1997, the Jaguars started 2-0 after beating Kimball Area and Lac qui Parle Valley in their first two games of the season, on their way to a 7-4 finish (Section 5AA runners-up). In 2006, the Jaguars started 2-0 after beating Ogilvie and Rockford, only to drop their final six games of the regular season and finish 3-7 after a 1-1 showing in Section 5A.

Below is the welcome message in the programs for this weekend's 32-team volleyball tournament in Marshall, MN. It is the largest volleyball tournament in the Upper Midwest.

The Jaguars volleyball team opens the tournament tonight at 5:00pm at the Marshall Area High School at 5:00pm against Class AAA Woodbury.

On behalf of everyone in Marshall we’d like to welcome you to the 2010 Molten Southwest Minnesota Challenge high school volleyball tournament. This year marks the 5th annual. The Molten Southwest Minnesota Challenge is the largest high school volleyball tournament in the Midwest. In fact, this 32-team event is larger than the Minnesota State Tournament. The 32-team tournament this season is twice as large as any other high school tournament in Minnesota. Teams from Minnesota and North Dakota will play at both Marshall High School and Southwest Minnesota State University.

The Southwest Minnesota Challenge was founded early in 2005 with the completion of the new High School in Marshall. The tournament was created by former MHS assistant volleyball coach, Jon Hegerle and current MHS head volleyball coach, Dan Westby. In 2006 & 2007, the tournament consisted of 16 teams. The field was expanded to 32 teams in 2008.

We’re very excited about the tournament field we’ve been able to assemble this year. The teams competing this year have over 150 state tournament appearances between them. Seven of the teams entered in this year’s Southwest Minnesota Challenge were participants in their respective state tournaments a year ago while three advanced to the state finals. The host team, Marshall, won their third state championship last season. Eighteen teams entered in the tournament this year were ranked in the top ten in their respective classes, including all three #1 ranked teams in Minnesota.

The people of Marshall and the business community in town have been very supportive in joining our volleyball program in this endeavor. Their financial support has been staggering. Our entire volleyball program at MHS owes them many thanks for their gracious contributions.

We hope you enjoy your time in Marshall and we hope your team finds the Molten Southwest Minnesota Challenge to be a great competitive experience. We hope this tournament is as much fun to participate in as it has been to put together.

Best of luck!
The Marshall Coaching Staff

Tournament-opening matches in Marshall tonight:
At Marshall High School (at either 5pm or 6:15pm):
B-B-E vs. Woodbury, Southwest Star Concept vs. Marshall, Hopkins vs. Lincoln HI, Bemidji vs. Burnsville, West Fargo (ND) vs. Belle Plaine, St.Michael-Albertville vs. LeSueur-Henderson, Andover vs. BOLD, Northfield vs. Totino-Grace.

At Southwest State University (at either 5pm or 6:15pm):
Owatonna vs. Yellow Medicine East, Waconia vs. Tracy-Milroy-Balaton, Lakeville North vs. Litchfield, Fergus Falls vs. Minneota, Holy Family Catholic vs. Wayzata, Tartan vs. Eastview, Russel-Tyler-Ruthton vs. Hutchinson, Canby vs. Bloomington Jefferson.

The host Marshall Area Tigers are the defending champions of the event.

Below is a couple paragraphs from the Marshall Independent today.

Marshall (2-2, 0-1 Southwest Conference) will move on from one tough test to another as the Tigers take part in the Molten Southwest Minnesota Challenge, which begins today in Marshall. As the defending tournament champions, Westby said the Tigers will have their hands full fighting through what he said is the best field that the tournament has ever had.

"If you look at the top teams in Class 3A, most of them are here this weekend," Westby said. "If we end up locking horns with any of them, that's going to be difficult. But we've got five opportunities to compete hard and if we do that, win or lose, we'll be fine."