In their Central Minnesota Conference opener tonight, the two-time defending champion B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team overcame an experienced front line of the Holdingford Huskers, who has six seniors overall, to win in a 3-0 sweep and improve to 3-1 overall. I saw that also winning in their CMC openers tonight were Paynesville Area (7-1 overall) and Royalton (5-2 overall). The Royals are a vastly improved unit after going 4-24 overall last year and 0-7 in the CMC. The Bulldogs are a contender once again in the CMC as they have been since 2017.
After playing even for most of game two with Holdingford and trailing 21-17 at one point, the Jaguars got back in system at the end and squeezed out a 25-22 win to go up 2-0 in sets. The third game started out with a struggle at first, with Holdingford holding early leads of 5-3 and 8-6. Back-to-back kills from Brooklyn Fischer and Kacey Fischer tied it, but Holdingford took an 11-9 lead after falling behind 9-8. Brooklyn Fischer's kill started a rally that resulted in a 7-2 run that turned the match in favor of the Jaguars.
*Here's a video featuring the final points scored of game two tonight:
Game three final score: B-B-E 25, Holdingford 14. The Jaguars finished out the third set on an incredible 9-0 run! Getting big swings in down the stretch were Kacey Fischer, Kadynce Haider and Adley Hagen. B-B-E won the opening set 25-11. Video is uploading.
Early in game one, junior setter Kylie Weller surpassed 1,000 career set assists. She ended with 41 set assists to go with two ace serves and five digs. Congratulations! It was seriously great to see all but one of her siblings in attendance tonight. Her older brother Jared couldn't make it, but Ryan (Class of 2008), Shane (Class of 2009) and Megan (Class of 2014) were there. Another great small town/small school moment to take in!
Watch the first points scored in this video, which also features Weller passing 1,000 set assists for her career:
What was largely missing on Tuesday night against NL-S was a tough block, and the Jaguars had that tonight with one solo block (Brooklyn Fischer) and six block assists. They also hit remarkably well with just 13 hitting errors on 101 attacks (52 kills for 38.6 percent hitting). Leading the way was senior Brooklyn Fischer with 19 kills on a monstrous 51.6 percent hitting night. Kadynce Haider hit 58 percent on 12 attacks with eight kills, and Kacey Fischer had 12 kills on 27 attacks for a hitting mark of 26 percent.
NEXT: the Jaguars travel to Marshall for the 32-team Southwest Minnesota Challenge. On deck at first is a 5 p.m. match against Class 4A Maple Grove. Overall the Jaguars will play five matches in Marshall: two on Friday and three on Saturday. It's a grinder of a schedule, but they will grow and improve from it. Maple Grove is 2-1 this year and plays in the Northwest Suburban Conference. They went 19-12 last year and were 7-3 in their conference. In the playoffs, they went 1-1 in the Section 5AAAA playoffs with a semifinal loss to Champlain Park, one of the top volleyball programs in the state.
Holdingford falls to 0-3 overall, although I don't have their result from Tuesday, August 29 when they were supposed to play Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted. I'll follow up on that. I still have a long night ahead, as I plan to pull out a few stops and record my first Sports Show of the 2023-2024 school year tonight! It has been awhile.
Central Minnesota Conference volleyball scores on September 7:
Paynesville Area 3, Maple Lake 0
Kimball Area 3, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 1
Royalton 3, Eden Valley-Watkins 0
We had an outstanding home crowd on hand tonight! Also, I can't miss giving credit to our opposing team's fans, as they had a smaller but still loud and proud student section cheering for the Huskers. As I said Tuesday: this is great to see! This is what high school sports is about. Rallying around your fellow peers and displaying pride in your school and your hometown.
We wish the Jaguars luck on Friday and Saturday in Marshall! They leave the high school around 2 p.m. for the overnight tournament. Late on Friday afternoon I'll get a new blog post started that will feature updates for the football team's game at West Central Area.
Area volleyball scores on September 7:
Pine River-Backus 3, Clearbook-Gonvick 0
Sauk Rapids-Rice 3, Willmar 0
Upsala 3, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 1
Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 3, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 0
Swanville 3, Osakis 1
Albany 3, New London-Spicer 1
Minneota 3, Redwood Valley 1
Hillcrest Lutheran Acadmy 3, Hancock 0
