STATE seeding! LET'S GO, JAGUARS! Bring on the Gators! (VIDEOS)

Hot off the press!

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team opens state on Thursday, November 10 as the No. 5 seed in the tournament. They face No. 7-ranked Badger/Greenbush-Middle River in the quarterfinals at 5 p.m. in St. Paul. This is all official! I will post more after 1 p.m.  I have a lot to comb through and also have to get myself approved for state media credentials!

This afternoon I will post the MSHSL link here so people know how to order tickets.

**WIN or LOSE, the Jaguars will play on Friday at 1 p.m. in either the championship or the consolation bracket.

**I went back to the previous blog post (Step IV) and updated it with a recap of the 33-31 win in game three last night. Check that out.

EXCITING TIMES IN JAGUAR COUNTRY! I will need AT LEAST today and then some to recover from the excitement of last night's win. The adrenaline is still going.

Class 1A 2022 state tournament seeding:
1. Minneota
2. Mayer Lutheran
3. Mabel-Canton
4. Badger/Greenbush-Middle River
5. B-B-E
Unseeded are Pine River-Backus, Ely and New Life Academy.

**Here's the link to access state tournament ticket purchasing...all tickets are purchased online. I am 99.9% sure you cannot show up at the Xcel Energy Center without tickets (electronic on a device) and expect to get in. That gets above my pay grade: https://www.mshsl.org/tickets.

Delays, delays, delays...delays on state opponent scouting and blogging here as I am tied up with applying for MSHSL media credentials at Xcel Energy Center.

*I'm finally getting back to video from last night; here's Coach Hunter talking about the win last night after her Jaguars took down Henning:


**Here's an exciting video recorded on my cell phone late in game two...


B/G-MR is the Section 8A champion out of northwest Minnesota. They advanced to state by defeating Lake of the Woods in their section finals last night. They are a co-op team paired from the high schools of Greenbush-Middle River and Badger. They have seven seniors on the roster: middle hitter Jade Reese, defensive specialist Keyasha Housker, outside hitter Kinsley Hanson, setter/right hitter Honna Westlund, middle hitter Riley Gust, libero/outside hitter Hannah Bergsnev and setter Cassidy Dahl (daughter of head coach Stacy Dahl). Another of Coach Dahl's daughters is sophomore McKenzie Dahl, who is one of their key hitters. She exploded with 10 kills in their section finals match on Friday night, including six in game two. I've got more on that win over Lake of the Woods throughout this blog post.

Just saw this: Riley Gust's stats in her junior season were incredible with 323 kills, 90 blocks, 168 digs and 23 ace serves.

Also learned this: B/G-MR head coach Stacy Dahl is a veteran coach in northern Minnesota who achieved her 200th career win during the 2017 season.

The Gators are 30-2 overall and went 6-0 this year in the Polar Lights Conference. This will be another "Lights Out" and near-invincible team our Jaguars will face, just like Henning was. You can see a nice highlight reel from their Section 8A championship win over Lake of the Woods by clicking over to the MaxPreps website: https://www.maxpreps.com/mn/badger/badger-greenbush-middle-river-gators/volleyball. That match against LOTW was held at the U of M-Crookston campus. Out of 157 teams in Minnesota's Class 1A, the Gators were most recently ranked No. 4.

To advance to the section finals, B/G-MR won in four sets over Ada Borup-West in the Sub-Section 8A-West finals, which was held last Tuesday night (November 1) at Bagley high school.

Earlier this season at the Burnsville tournament, the Gators earned what I call "super high quality" wins against both No. 9-ranked Spring Grove and No. 6-ranked Kenyon-Wanamingo. They also faced stacked Top-Five teams from top-ranked Minneota and fifth-ranked Mabel-Canton, which they both lost in straight sets. I haven't been able to access game scores from that tournament, but I'll try. All that you really need to know is that B/G-MR is an extremely tough volleyball team. We will have another outstanding match to take in when we open the state tournament at the X!

September 24 was the last time the Gators took a defeat in volleyball. That was the day they fell to Minneota and Mabel-Canton in Burnsville. Every other day they've stepped on the volleyball court this fall, they were winners.

Another thing to know about the Gators is that they were a state tournament team last year. The Gators had just 3 seniors on the roster last year with 7 juniors. Those 7 juniors are now the leaders of the team. Also, to get to state, B/G-MR won in five games over Kittson County Central. The Gators lost 3-0 to Minneota in the state quarterfinals and then Legacy Christian in the consolation bracket. What does this mean? The point is that they have two matches more of recent state tournament experience than we do. A silver lining there: senior Ava Mueller was one of our top hitters as a freshmen in the last state trip in 2019.

Back in the COVID-19 season of 2020, the Gators went 8-4. In 2019, the Gators finished 19-11 with a 2-1 record in the playoffs.

Prior to 2021, B/G-MR's last section championship appearance was in 2010, when Lake of the Woods beat them 3-0 in the Section 8A finals.

Now it's time to head to Grace Lutheran church in Belgrade. Their event was published on page 4 of this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

*Sunday night update: I've added a few more videos and content to this post and the "Step IV" post tonight. My MSHSL media credentials were approved. It's been a long but successful day. We are all gearing up for an exciting, sleep-deprived week! Time to go to sleep early tonight.

Good night, Jaguar Country!