Jaguar volleyball finishes strong at St. Michael-Albertville tournament

I don't have complete results yet, but I am pleased to report that the Jaguars volleyball team placed 15th out of 32 teams at the St. Michael-Albertville tournament on Friday and Saturday this weekend.

The Jaguars beat St. Cloud Tech 2-1 before losing 0-2 to Class AAA Andover on Friday night. On Saturday they lost in the opening match of today to Class AAA powerhouse Waconia 2-1 and then Class AAA Rosemount 2-1 before beating Elk River 2-0 in the match for 15th place.

Nevis defeated Rosemount 2-0 on Saturday before losing 0-2 to Waconia and then defeating Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 2-0 in the 11th-place match.

Maple Lake fell into the 25th-32nd place bracket after losing both matches on Friday night. One of their two losses last night was in two games to Elk River, which is interesting. The Irish won all three matches on Saturday in their bracket, including a 2-1 win in the 25th-place match over Champlin Park.

Up next: a short trip to Eden Valley-Watkins on Thursday to face the Eagles in a Central Minnesota Conference match. If the Jaguars (20-7, 5-0 CMC) win that night, they will clinch a share of the Central Minnesota Conference championship. They've won the CMC every year since 2006 and finished runners-up in 2004 and 2005. Other CMC titles were earned in 2000, 2002 and 2003.

In the Mora tournament today, Pierz lost 2-0 to the host Mustangs in the championship match after going 2-0 in pool play and winning the semi-final over Class AAA North Branch.

A photo gallery with over 200 photos from last night's Homecoming tailgate party and football game can be viewed at the Sauk Centre Herald website:

http://saukherald.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=1338334&CategoryID=66250&ListSubAlbums=0

More will follow on Sunday night.