That's as incredible as I've seen! Jaguars win five-game thriller at Maple Lake! Now 4-0 in the CMC - Girls' tennis wins too

The Jaguars celebrate their incredible win at Maple Lake tonight...Oh boy that was amazing!

The Jaguars celebrate earning match point, taking game five by a 15-13 score at Maple Lake!

What an incredible night for Jaguar fans!!!

It was the most exciting and entertaining regular season volleyball match I've ever witnessed. (I've got the photo above posted on the Sauk Centre Herald's Facebook page too.)

At Maple Lake, two heavyweights slugged it out on the court, with the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team picking up a huge win in Central Minnesota Conference action after taking game five by a 15-13 score.

What was most incredible about the win was that Maple Lake really lit up the Jaguars in game four. The score ended up 25-17 in favor of the Irish to tie the match at two games apiece.

I have to hand it to Coach Kiebel's Maple Lake team after they lost. They played with a ton of heart and hustle against B-B-E. The Irish took it to the Jaguars in game four to even it at 2-2. B-B-E looked tired at that point while the Irish appeared as fresh as if the match had just started. The Jaguars dug deep, though, and found a way to win in game five after taking leads of 9-5 and 14-10 that was too much for the Irish to overcome.

In the deciding game five, Maple Lake took leads of 1-0, 2-1 and 4-2 before the Jaguars went on a 5-0 run to seize control. The five points came on a BBE kill, a ML hit out of bounds, a BBE kill, a ML hit into the net and another BBE kill. The Jaguars dug deep and found a way. The Jaguars went up 14-10 on a kill by sophomore middle Becca Gruber and then watched as Maple Lake scored 3 straight points to make it a cliffhanger. Becca had a huge ace stuff to end the match. It was truly epic.

Maple Lake (14-2, 3-1 CMC) was the #10-ranked team in Class AA coming into the match. The Jaguars (12-3, 4-0 CMC) are ranked #8 in this week's Class A poll.

Up next: the Willmar Cardinal Classic tournament on Saturday beginning at 9 a.m. Teams included are the host Cardinals, Benson, Central Minnesota Christian, New London-Spicer, Renville County West, Annandale and Buffalo. I noticed a couple Annandale scouts were at the match tonight in Maple Lake; they're 5-10 overall and play at Maple Lake next Monday night.

Here's video showing the end of game five!!! Take special note at about the 1:15 mark!!!


Also tonight, the Jaguars girls' tennis team did something truly special too, on a different level, as they clinched the school's first winning regular season record for girls' tennis with a 6-1 win at West Central Area. They are now 9-7 overall and 4-2 in the Prairie Conference heading into next Monday's match at Annandale. The Section 5A playoffs open up next week too.

Central Minnesota Conference volleyball scores on Sept. 29:
Pierz 3, Rockford 0
Kimball Area 3, Holdingford 0
Eden Valley-Watkins 3, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 0

Area volleyball results on Sept. 29:
Minnewaska Area 3, Paynesville Area 0
Minneota 3, MACCRAY 1
Wadena-Deer Creek 3, Sauk Centre 0
Browerville 3, West Central Area 1
Upsala 3, Royalton 0
Albany 3, New London-Spicer 2
Benson 3, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 2