Jaguar volleyball wins Homecoming match in four

It was a 3-1 win tonight for Homecoming as the Jaguars volleyball team defeated Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted to improve to 3-0 in the Central Minnesota Conference. Game scores were 25-21, 25-14, 19-25, 25-13.

It was a sluggish match from start to finish, and whenever the Jaguars would build a nice lead they struggled to put the Lakers away until they cruised in game four. The Lakers fell to 2-8 overall and 0-3 in the CMC with the loss.

Game one started out well for the Jaguars as they built early leads of 5-0 and 9-2. The Lakers got back into it with some B-B-E errors and got within an 11-9 deficit. After kills by Kinlee Swanson and Megan Weller put the Jaguars ahead 14-9, the Lakers cut the lead down to a 16-15 margin. HL-W-W eventually went ahead 18-17 and 20-19 before the Jaguars put the game away with a 6-2 run. Becca Gruber's ace serve, Jamie Meyer's kill and two Lakers hitting errors ended it.

The Jaguars built leads of 9-2, 12-6 and 20-9 in game two. An ace serve by Tessa Halvorson and an ace block by Hailey Braegelman pushed the Jaguars over the top in the 25-14 win.

A flat team took the floor on B-B-E's side in game three, while the Lakers went up 4-1 and 9-5. Gruber's kill tied it at 10-10, but the Lakers went on an 11-4 run to go in front 21-14. A late kill by Weller and a late block by Gruber were not enough in the 25-19 loss.

The Jaguars caught fire in game four and built a quick 10-4 lead with kills by Weller and Swanson and an ace serve and a kill by Randi Gafkjen. Two more ace serves by Gafkjen put her team in front 14-4, and the Jaguars closed out the win with a 7-3 run to win it 25-13.

Celebrating a point after Kinlee Swanson got a kill in game four and put her team ahead 11-4.

Getting fired up for Homecoming during pre-match drills.

Best volleyball fans in the area! Shown is a shot of the crowd right after the match was over.

Up next: a visit to Wildcat Country when they travel to New London-Spicer next Tuesday for a non-conference, rivalry border battle. NL-S is 10-4 overall and 3-2 in the rugged Wright County Conference.


And here's some video action from late in the match:

Central Minnesota Conference volleyball scores on Sept. 19:
Pierz 3, Kimball Area 0
Maple Lake 3, Rockford Area 1
Eden Valley-Watkins 3, Holdingford 2 (Eagles win game five 15-10)

Area volleyball scores on Sept. 19:
Melrose Area 3, BOLD 1
Bertha-Hewitt 3, Verndale 1
Alexandria 3, Willmar 0
West Central Area 3, Ashby 1
MACCRAY 3, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 0
Albany 3, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 0
Sauk Centre 3, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 0
Minnewaska Area 3, Paynesville Area 2