Don't look now, but our B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team has done it again! They pulled out another classic border battle slug fest for the second time in three nights. They did so with their backs to the wall almost the entire night. It was a heavy lift, but the Jaguars pulled out a 3-2 win at Paynesville Area that also started the Central Minnesota Conference schedule.
GAME SCORES! What a night! They fell behind in sets by a 2-1 margin and had to gut it out the rest of the way.
Game one: Paynesville Area 25, B-B-E 20.
Game two: B-B-E 28, Paynesville Area 26.
Game three: Paynesville Area 25, B-B-E 20.
Game four: B-B-E 27, Paynesville Area 25.
**Here's a video clip from game four tonight; this begins with the game tied at 5-5 after Brooklyn Fischer's kill:
Game five! What can I say? I can say so much about it. The Jaguars had a tough start to game five and played from one point down for an extended period of time. Once they tied it at 6-6 with a kill by Ava Mueller, they went on a run and built a 9-6 lead. The Bulldogs got a side out, but the Jaguars then reeled off three straight points to take a solid lead at 12-7. Things got sticky from there, with Paynesville reeling off five points in a row at one stretch to tie it at 13-13 after B-B-E had a 13-8 lead.
Game five! WOW! GAME FIVE FINAL SCORE: B-B-E 18, Paynesville Area 16! That's right! The Bulldogs held game and match point at a 15-14 lead, being at the precipice of pushing the Jaguars over the edge. The Jaguars then scored three of the last 4 points of the game to close out the heart-stopping win.
Game two also brought its share of drama, as the Jaguars had built a 15-5 lead at one point. When that was the score, they appeared as if they could do no wrong. The Bulldogs scored two points after that coming out of a timeout to make it 15-7. The Jaguars then reeled off four straight points on consecutive tip attacks by Adley Hagen, an ace block by Brooklyn Fischer and the Bulldogs hitting long. A lead of 19-7 is very commanding...but enter rally scoring volleyball drama! Sure enough, Paynesville found another gear and proceeded to score six straight points to get back into it. Suddenly the Bulldogs could do no wrong, and they eventually tied game two at 20-20 and then took a 21-20 lead on a "double" call against B-B-E. At that point all I could think was, "Someone find me some valium!" That insurmountable 19-7 lead was long gone. Fischer then earned a tip kill to tie it, and Ava Mueller had a kill for a 22-21 lead. The Jaguars took leads of 23-21 and 24-22 only to see the Bulldogs score two in a row. Tie game at 24-24! A Bulldogs net violation brought game point to B-B-E at 25-24, but Paynesville super star Kyleigh Tangen hit back-to-back kills to give her team game point at 26-25. The Jaguars were that close to going down 2-0 in sets. Enter sophomore Hagen! She had a kill to tie it, the Bulldogs committed another net violation, and BOOM! There were the Jaguars at game point ahead 27-26. Tangen then had an attack, but Kylie Weller dug it out and passed it to libero Harley Roering, who hit the ball in a straight shot back over the net. The Bulldogs were not prepared for it, and the ball was dug out of bounds to give the Jaguars the crazy, wild 28-26 win. Sidebar: Tangen finished with 29 kills and 18 digs! She is the real deal.
The match statistics showed B-B-E had a total of seven solo blocks, 52 kills and a team hitting percentage of 18.8 percent. As a team, the Jaguars had a 93.8 percent serving clip.
**Trying out something new here...here's my firsthand comments from tonight's win:
The Jaguars now have an incredibly short amount of time to rest, as they head to Marshall tomorrow for the grueling 32-team Southwest Minnesota Challenge tournament. Their first match is at 5 p.m. from Marshall Area high school.
One match video from tonight is uploading. Stay tuned. I'm in my makeshift "sports studio" right now (the family camper) over two hours after the match ended, and my ears are STILL RINGING! What a crazy night. And now storms are moving in, so I have to get the yard cleared up and try to pick a few tomatoes from the garden.
AND for the record! I've been sports reporting for the Jaguars for 19 years now...yes, 19 years ago I first began covering B-B-E varsity sports. The number of "16 years" that I had in my head while I made that video represents the length of time that I've operated this Jaguars Sports blog. The first blog post here was in October of 2006.
