Jaguars Volleyball goes 1-1 on opening night of the Southwest Minnesota Challenge in Marshall

The Jaguars Volleyball team suffered their first loss of the season tonight, losing in an incredibly close battle with #2-ranked Class AA Marshall Area. Though the Jaguars were swept in two games, they lost both by 25-23 margins. Not only is Marshall the defending champion of this tournament, they were also Class AA champions in 2009.

The Jaguars (4-1 overall) began the evening with an overtime win over Class 3A Woodbury, winning the third set by a 15-13 score. The Royals lost a 3-2 match against Bethlehem Academy earlier this week (Sept 7).

At 9:30am on Saturday morning, the Jaguars will lock horns with Class AAA Burnsville in the first of three matches. The Blaze (3-2 overall) swept Bemidji on Friday night 2-0 before losing to Hopkins 2-0.

At stake is a high placing in the 9th-16th place bracket in the 32-team field.

Marshall Area opened tonight's action with a 2-0 sweep over Southwest Star Concept, winning both sets by identical 25-11 margins. They were shell-shocked when they found themselves in the battle of their lives while trying to get past the Jaguars about two hours later.

Woodbury went on to defeat Southwest Star Concept 25-16, 25-14 to improve to 3-4 overall. SSC fell to 1-3.

At the fifth annual Molten Southwest Volleyball Challenge tonight, the Jaguars duked it out with a tough Class AAA Woodbury squad in the opening match. Shown is game point for the first set, which was won by the B-B-E Jaguars.

Another clip from game three vs. Woodbury.


Information on the Burnsville Blaze volleyball team...the Blaze (3-2 overall) defeated a visiting Woodbury team on August 31 in their season opener in a five-game marathon - game scores were 25-18, 25-23, 20-25, 18-25, 15-9.

Burnsville's first loss of the season was in a 3-0 sweep to Cretin-Derham Hall.

The Marshall Independent has a story on the B-B-E vs. Marshall match up, check back on Saturday to read more on that.

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