Supremacy denied

In their bid to remain perfect in the Central Minnesota Conference, the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team struggled at the net at the wrong times while the Maple Lake Irish earned a 3-0 road sweep. Game scores were 26-24, 25-22, 25-21. Overall, B-B-E's hitting percentage was fairly good, but not quite good enough to overcome a very fine performance by the Irish. In the blocks category, the Jaguars tallied no solo blocks and just two block assists.

The new CMC standings after tonight show:
1. Maple Lake (6-1)
2. B-B-E (5-1, a half match out of first place)
3. Paynesville Area 5-2
4. Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted and Eden Valley-Watkins (both 3-3)
6. Pierz (2-4)
7. Holdingford or Kimball (their scores have not been reported on any media site as far as I can tell)

Next for the Jaguars (19-4) is a home match next Monday night against sub-section rival Browerville (10-12). The Tigers won the Prairie South Conference title outright with a 7-3 record. It will be vitally important that the Jaguars come out strong and rebound with gusto after tonight's loss. They travel to Pierz next Tuesday to wrap up the CMC schedule; they will need to win in order to claim a share of the conference title. If they lose, Maple Lake will win the CMC outright for the third straight season.

In the Prairie Conference tonight, Royalton swept Long Prairie-Grey Eagle to claim the Prairie North title outright with a 9-1 record. Osakis finished in second place at 8-2. The Royals (17-4) loom large on the horizon in the upcoming Sub-Section 5A-South playoffs.

More to follow. I need a break to catch my breath! It has been a very long week.

**Here's video from late in game one...the Jaguars had a 20-19 lead when I started recording:


**Here's the last points of game one, with the Jaguars falling 26-24 from a net violation:

Area volleyball scores on October 11:
Willmar 3, Fergus Falls 0
Brainerd 3, Alexandria 1

Wadena-Deer Creek 3, Sebeka 0

BOLD 3, Montevideo 2
Minnewaska Area 3, Melrose 0
Benson 3, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 1
New York Mills 3, Bertha-Hewitt 1

Verndale 3, Henning 2 (Verndale wins game five 15-13 to improve to 14-7; this was a battle of second-place teams in the Park Region Conference that is led by 21-1 New York Mills)
MACCRAY 1, Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 1
Menahga 3, Pillager 2

"Live boldly. Push yourself. Never settle."
##ConquerEveryDay