STEP I: Jaguars overcome Warriors (VIDEOS*)

*This blog post was updated late Thursday morning; fall musical information is posted at the end.

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team has won their fifth straight playoff opener! They defeated Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 3-0 with a game three final score of 25-21 in the Sub-Section 6A-South quarterfinals. The Warriors finish the season 9-19 overall.

UP NEXT: the Jaguars (22-6) host the sub-section semifinals this week Friday at 7 p.m. against either Parkers Prairie or Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg. (More info to come.) **UPDATE: the No. 5-seeded Fighting Saints earned a 3-2 upset win at the home of the No. 4-seeded Panthers. Parkers Prairie's season is a wrap with an 0-1 playoff mark and a final record of 15-12-1. K-M-S improves to 12-16 overall and will travel to Brooten this Friday! We have a bona fide border battle set for the second round of playoffs! I think that is awesome. It will be a rematch of the non-conference match in Brooten on September 19 that the Jaguars won via sweep.

*UPDATE:: game scores in Parkers Prairie were 21-25, 25-23, 25-23, 19-25, 15-12. The Fighting Saints were led by 15 kills from Taylor Haats.

In B-B-E's playoff opener tonight, the No. 8-seeded Warriors took initial leads of 1-0 and 4-2, but a Brooklyn Fischer kill and a W/HN hit out of bounds tied it at 4-4. Ava Mueller hit back-to-back kills to give the Jaguars a 7-5 lead. After working with a three to four-point lead, the Jaguars surged ahead 16-10 with three straight kills by Fischer. An ace serve by Anna Jaeger made it 18-11. The Warriors did not lay down and were scrapping after numerous shots, but the Jaguars took game one 25-20.

B-B-E had a quick 4-1 lead and then a 9-4 lead early in game two. The Warriors cut it down to 10-8, but after they fell behind 17-11 they called a timeout. Late kills by Mueller, Berge and Fischer iced off a 25-16 win.

*Here's a video from the middle of game one tonight starting with the Jaguars holding a 16-10 lead:


In game two, the Jaguars built a 21-13 lead before both teams went back-and-forth down the stretch. Below is video from that late stretch in game two.

VIDEO:


Both teams traded points to start game three, and Fischer's kill tied it at 3-3. Kills by Adley Hagen and Mueller gave the Jaguars a 6-4 lead. B-B-E hitting errors allowed the Warriors to tie it at 8-8. After it was 9-9, the Warriors had an ace block and an ace tip in succession followed by two B-B-E hitting errors to forge a 13-9 lead. The Warriors again had a kill and block plus a B-B-E net violation to go up 18-12. B-B-E's "Big Two" delivered as the chips were down: Mueller had back-to-back kills, and Fischer's ace serve cut the deficit to 18-15. A kill by Fischer later cut W/HN's lead to 21-20, and the Jaguars were rolling and ultimately scored the last 6 points of the night.

**Here's a post-match interview with junior Anna Jaeger. Thank you! She did a terrific job:


For the night, the Jaguars hit at a 23.5 percent clip with 41 kills on 102 attacks. Kylie Weller had 34 set assists, and Abby Berge led the team in digs (11).

In the other side of Sub-Section 6A-South, No. 3-seeded Brandon-Evansville swept Ortonville. No. 3-seeded Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley defeated Benson 3-0 in their playoff opener.

I see that Henning beat No. 8-seeded Rothsay in their Sub-Section 6A-North opener.

At Willmar high school's "Big Red Gym" the Worthington Trojans earned a crazy surprising 3-2 win over the host No. 2-ranked (Class 3A) Cardinals. Game five went to the visitors from the southwest corner of the state by a 15-9 score. Willmar finishes 24-4 overall with a stunning 0-1 playoff record. They were a team built with the potential of winning a state title. This shows that anything can happen in the playoffs - something we should all understand by now!

In other news! This is exciting!
The B-B-E fall musical is Anastasia, and tickets are now on sale! You can click over to the school's website and order yours today! Come one or more nights for sure! Link: https://www.onthestage.tickets/show/bbe-theatre/635197e7cd9fc10e3b94d52a. You can read more at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website by clicking here: https://bit.ly/3DE3PFf.