Step IV: the dream ends (VIDEOS added)

A spectacular, exciting and marvelous dream season has ended. The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team closes out the 2021 slate with a 23-8 final record. The Jaguars lost game five 18-16 in a true nailbiter during which neither team had more than a two-point advantage. It was crazy. The Fergus Falls high school gymnasium was rocking with near deafening crowd noise throughout game five.

Game five was one for the ages. Breckenridge started out with back-to-back ace blocks for a 2-0 lead. The Jaguars rallied back with a kill from Ava Mueller, and the Cowgirls were called for a double hit. Mueller had an ace block, and the Cowgirls then hit into the net with B-B-E on a 4-0 run with a 4-2 lead. Breckenridge then scored three straight, but Mueller's kill made it 5-5 with the side out. Kailey Fischer's ace serve brought the B-B-E crowd to its feet. The 6-5 lead was short-lived, however, with Breckenridge tying it with a block. Breckenridge served long, and Abby Berge's ace tip put the Jaguars up 8-6. You could really feel the momentum on B-B-E's side. Breckenridge had other ideas, though, and they rattled off a 4-0 run to gain the upper hand. Brooklyn Fischer's block brought a badly-needed side out and a 10-9 deficit. Berge's kill tied it at 10-10, but Cameron Kaehler then had a kill. Emily Kern had an ace attack on a tip to tie it at 11-11. The final stretch was crazy, and the step forward to the state tournament was not meant to be.

The loss stings very hard. Earning B-B-E's 7th trip to the state volleyball tournament would have been a thrilling way to close out the 2021 season. The Jaguars are one of Class 1A's elite programs and have been in the mix of Top 10 teams in all but just 2 seasons since 2005. That will continue. It's very difficult to have a target on your back year in and year out, but the Jaguars have done it unfazed. Our community is extremely blessed to have a group of student athletes who work as hard as our Jaguar volleyball players do.

Time to head home.

**Here's video featuring the majority of game one tonight...many things went well for the Jaguars in the opening set:


*Here's a video clip from game one in which the Cowgirls scored three straight points after trailing 19-15:


**Added Sunday night...here's a video featuring the final points scored in game one; it starts with the Jaguars holding a 19-18 lead coming out of Coach Breitbach's timeout:


Game two was the big one. The Jaguars really needed to win that set. But it was not meant to be.

The Section 6A volleyball championship match lasted 2 hours and 12 minutes. Crazy.

In Section 6AA, Sauk Centre defeated Pequot Lakes in a 3-2 match to advance to the Class 2A state tournament. In Section 3AA, Paynesville Area's dream season ended in a 3-2 loss to Jackson County Central. Jackson County Central, runners-up in the Big South-West Conference, takes a 27-6 record into the state tournament. Paynesville Area, who was a third-place team in the Central Minnesota Conference, finishes their best season in school history with a 23-4 record. It was a remarkable year for the Bulldogs after they went 6-5 last year and 6-17 in 2019. 

Walker-Hackensack-Akeley swept Pine River-Backus 3-0 in the Section 5A finals at Crosby-Ironton high school. The W-H-A Wolves take a 28-5 record into state. It was their team who the Jaguars defeated in the 2019 Section 5A championship at Little Falls. B-B-E trailed 14-9 in game five before roaring back with a historic late comeback to earn the program's sixth trip to the state tournament. W-H-A was 10-1 last year and went 24-7 in 2019 with the Section 5A runner-up finish.

In Section 3A, juggernaut Minneota swept Tracy-Milroy-Balaton to advance to state. The T-M-B Panthers finish 23-9. The Vikings take a 29-4 record into state. They were state champions in 2019.

Football scores from section finals on Friday, November 5:
Section 5A finals: Minneota 20, BOLD 0
Section 6AAA finals: New London-Spicer 28, Pierz 24
Section 4, 9-man finals: Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 14, Verndale 12
Section 6AA finals: West Central Area/Ashby 19, Osakis 14
Section 6A finals: New York Mills 32, Breckenridge 0
Section 5AA finals: #2 seed Eden Valley-Watkins 42, #1 seed Royalton 6 (EV-W lost at Royalton by a 30-8 score in Week 6 of the regular season; they were co-champions of the Mid State Sub-District 2)