The Jaguars volleyball team won 25-22, 26-28, 27-25, 26-24 to take the Section 5A championship and advance to the Class A state tournament for the first time since 2008. It will be their fourth state tournament appearance since 2005.
My thoughts: the match was plain wicked! The intensity was like nothing I've ever witnessed in a section volleyball match.
One word comes to mind when talking about the Jaguars' performance vs. Nevis: perseverance.
Game one: the Jaguars trailed 14-11 after Nevis went on a 10-3 run that erased an early 9-5 lead for B-B-E, then the Jaguars tied it at 14-14 before going on to win 25-22.
Game two: the Jaguars trailed 9-5 early and ultimately 18-13 before going on a run to tie it at 19-19, 20-20, 21-21, and then taking a 23-21 lead! The Tigers stormed back to force ties at 24-24, 25-25, before winning 28-26.
Game three: With a strong start, the Jaguars jumped out 3-1 and 4-2 before the Tigers tied it at 6-6. Nevis went up 10-6, 13-7, and 15-11 before a kill by Taylor Braegelman tied the match at 15-15. A 19-15 lead for the Jaguars was not enough to close out the game, as Nevis came back to tie it at 22-22 and ultimately go up 24-23 and 25-24. The Jaguars got a kill by Brittany Roelike, a tip from Maggie Gruber, and then a Nevis hit out of bounds to win in dramatic fashion 27-25!
Game four: Nevis came out on fire with two ace serves and an ace tip to go up 3-0 right away. Their lead expanded to 5-1 and 7-2 before the Jaguars dug in and fought back to an 11-8 deficit. After falling behind 14-8 and taking a timeout, the Jaguars continued to claw back into it and tie the game at 17-17. It was nuts by that point! Nevis went up 20-17 before the momentum switched completely to the Jaguars, who tied it at 21-21 and went up 23-21. Nevis tied it at 24-24, then Julie Hieserich made one of the smartest plays a setter could make, forcing a tip back down on a wide open spot on the Tigers' court to bring match point. Shyan Kuefler finished off the match with a kill shot to give B-B-E a wild 26-24 game four win.
The Jaguars take a 27-2 record into state. I'm hoping we'll get a #4 seed, which would happen tomorrow morning.
The Jaguars receive their Section 5A championship medals.
Note: Effective today, most or all other volleyball videos will be "locked down" as to not allow for opposing state tournament coaches to scout from my videos. More photos will be added tonight, Sunday.
Volleyball playoff scores today, not grouped by section:
Sauk Centre 3, Rocori 1
Mayer Lutheran 3, Southwest Christian 1
Wabasha-Kellogg 3, Bethlehem Academy 1
Minneota 3, Windom Area 0
Ada-Borup 3, Hancock 1
Marshall Area 3, BOLD 0
Delano 3, Maple Lake 0
Martin County West 3, Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop 1
Class A section champions:
Section 1 - W-Kellogg (30-1)
Section 2 - Martin County West (28-2)
Section 3 - Minneota (30-2)
Section 4 - Mayer Lutheran (20-11-1)
Section 5 - B-B-E (27-2)
Section 6 - Ada-Borup (25-6)
Section 7 - Cherry (22-2)
Section 8 - Win-E-Mac (30-2-1)
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