Step I: aggressive, impressive in playoff opener (VIDEOS)

On their playoff-opening night, the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team made quick work of No. 8-seeded Benson with aggressive serving, outstanding defense and a balanced offensive attack. The Jaguars improved to 21-7 overall tonight with a 25-10, 25-9, 25-8 sweep over the Braves, who finish their season 6-23 overall. The Jaguars had a whopping 45.2 team hitting percentage with just eight hitting errors on 73 attacks. They missed just three of 73 serve attempts while tallying 10 ace serves.

Benson had just four seniors on the roster, the tallest of the four being just 5'7" (Adysen Himley, setter). Their tallest player is a sophomore, 5'10" middle hitter Kaylin Grube.

No word yet on the outcome of the Brandon-Evansville vs. Parkers Prairie match. The Jaguars will host the winner of that match just two nights from now, Friday, October 29. The match begins at 7 p.m. Before you go to the volleyball match on Friday, remember to go to the Belgrade Lions fish fry and meat raffle, which starts at 5 p.m. at the Brother's Bar in downtown Belgrade. The Belgrade Lions is a key financial supporter of B-B-E school activities. Here is your chance to thank them with your patronage at what is always a fun event!

*UPDATE: the fifth-seeded Parkers Prairie Panthers pulled off the mild upset tonight with a 3-1 win over No. 4-seeded Brandon-Evansville. CORRECTION: it was a 3-2 win, with the Panthers winning game five by a 15-12 score. The Panthers improve to 17-11 overall and will travel to B-B-E elementary school on Friday to take on our Jaguars in the sub-section semifinals. Tonight's win by Parkers Prairie avenges a Little Eight Conference loss to Brandon-Evansville on October 19 (27-25, 25-17, 25-16). Back on October 7, Parkers Prairie defeated Battle Lake by a 3-1 margin (20-25, 25-9, 25-23, 25-19). Parkers Prairie has six seniors on the roster. They have three returning hitters from their 2020 squad that went 7-4: junior Cora Johnson, senior Grace Schroeder and junior Jada Lego.

*Here's a video featuring the starter introductions and the first part of game one tonight; the clip ends with the Jaguars holding a 19-8 lead.


*Here's a video featuring the last few points scored in game two tonight; the clip started with the Jaguars ahead 20-9.


I forgot to post a score from Monday night's play-in round of Sub-Section 6A-South. The No. 7-seeded Kerkhoven-Murdock-Fighting Saints defeated No. 10 seeded Ashby by a 3-0 margin to advance to tonight's quarterfinal round. K-M-S (7-20-1 overall) traveled to Wheaton high school to take on the No. 2-seeded Wheaton/Herman-Norcross Warriors. The Ashby Arrows finished 2-25 overall (1-9 Little Eight Conference).

**Sub-Section 6A-South upset alert! According to MN-Scores.net, the No. 3-seeded Hancock Owls lost tonight on their home floor by a 3-1 margin to No. 6-seeded Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley. If that's true, C-G-B (12-15) will likely travel to the next school to the north of them, Wheaton-Herman-Norcross, for the next round of the playoffs. The Hancock Owls finish the season 10-10 overall.

**Update from Sub-Section 6A-South: in Wheaton tonight, the W/H-N Warriors volleyball team ended K-M-S's season by a 3-0 sweep. The Warriors (18-9 overall) will host neighboring rival C-G-B in the semifinals. That's going to be a wild night with an electric atmosphere at Wheaton Area high school.

Sub-Section 6A-North quarterfinal scores on October 27:
Breckenridge 3, Park Christian 1 (Breckenridge is the No. 1 seed in the north half of Section 6A; they improve to 26-2 overall with this four-set win over the No. 8 seed; in the final coaches' association state rankings, the Cowgirls were rated No. 6; Park Christian finishes 7-14 overall)
Underwood 3, Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal 0 (Underwood is the No. 3 seed in the North and improves to 21-7 overall; NCE/U-H finishes 9-12)
Lake Park-Audubon 3, New York Mills 1 (LPA was the underdog here, as they earn the four-set win on NYM's home floor; No. 4-seeded NYM finishes 18-8 overall, while No. 5-seeded LPA improves to 7-14 and now advances to face top-seeded Breckenridge in the North semifinals)
Henning 3, Battle Lake 0 (Henning is the No. 2 seed in the North; they're 20-8 overall)

Area volleyball playoff scores on October 27:
Willmar 3, New Ulm 1