Step III: Hearts broken in Fergus Falls (VIDEO)

An early 7-2 lead in game four did not hold up in the Sub-Section 6A-South championship tonight at Fergus Falls high school. The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team showed flashes of brilliance and seemed to have turned the corner early in a must-win set.

The five-time defending sub-section champion and top-seeded Jaguars came out strong in the fourth set with early 3-0 and 5-1 leads. Two straight Brooklyn Fischer kills made it 7-2.

The Knights held strong and regained the lead at 10-9, but a Kacey Fischer kill put B-B-E back in front 11-10. Offense became tough to come by over the next stretch, as hitting errors plagued the Jaguars. WCA got a kill into a block to take a 13-11 lead. Kacey Fischer's tip made it 13-12, but Mya Foslien had a kill, and B-B-E was called for a "double" error that put them in a 15-12 hole. Another kill by Kacey Fischer made it 15-13, and the Jaguars fought and scrapped and clawed to keep it within reach. Ava Deters dug out a Foslien attack, and the Knights miffed the return to make it a 16-15 deficit. The following attack was just barely long to make it 17-15. Brooklyn Fischer's kill cut it to 17-16, and Kamie Fischer's tip tied the set at 17-17.

At that point of the fourth game, it was GO time! But it was not meant to be.

WCA surged down the stretch in a 25-19 win to claim their program's first-ever subsection title. It was difficult to take in. I can accept being beaten in that opening set. The Jaguars were flat. They were on for game two, but they should have taken that third set. No excuses, it just had to get done to go ahead 2-1 in sets. What can I say? This was not our year to go deeper. It is a tough, tough feeling.

*Here's video from the opening points scored in game three tonight...


Game one did not feature Jaguar volleyball...
Three straight unforced errors put the Jaguars down 3-0 out of the gate to open the match. Smelling blood in the water, WCA cranked it up with a kill, 2 ace blocks and an ace serve to quickly make it 7-0. Two additional errors and another WCA kill made the hole 10-0, but the match's first side out finally arrived when WCA hit long. Kadynce Haider's kill cut it to 10-3, and Kacey Fischer's kill made it 11-4. The struggle continued for another big stretch, as WCA expanded that big lead up to 18-5 with three straight kills. The deficit became 14 at 19-5 and 20-6. Three straight WCA errors and a kill by Kenna Lieser made the score 20-9. The feeling in the gym improved at that point, with Brooklyn Fischer's ace serve making it 20-11 and causing WCA to call for a timeout.

Kylie Weller's ace tip and another kill from Haider made the score 23-14 in game one. Haider's kill off a block and Brooklyn Fischer's kill cut it to 24-17, and although they were right at the edge of losing that set, the mood was far brighter as the Jaguars had finally turned it on. The Knights ended the set with a kill for a 25-17 score.

After that thoroughly rough performance in game one, the Jaguars were the clear stronger team in game two. The Jaguars surged out to a 15-7 lead before the Knights scored 5 straight. The lead grew to 21-14 and then 22-15. WCA scored 3 straight to get within four points, but Kacey Fischer's kill brought it to 23-18. A tip for a kill by Kylie Weller and a kill from Kamie Fischer ended the game in favor of the Jaguars to tie the set at 1-1.

The Jaguars scored the first point on a long rally in game three with a right side kill by Adley Hagen. Mya Foslien's kill tied it up as the first of three straight WCA points. A kill and an ace block by Kacey Fischer tied it at 3-3 as the early stage of that set developed in see-saw fashion. Kacey Fischer's kill lifted the Jaguars on top 5-4, and with Kylie Weller serving, the Jaguars scored four straight to take a 9-5 lead. WCA called their first timeout, and Jacqueline Nelson's ace block gave them a sideout with a score of 9-6. The back-and-forth nature continued, with WCA scoring two in a row only to see B-B-E score two straight. B-B-E scored three out of four points to go up 18-13, at which point WCA called their final timeout. The Knights then got a kill, but a hitting error gave the Jaguars a 19-14 lead. A WCA net violation put them ahead 21-14, and Brooklyn Fischer's ace serve made it 21-14. The momentum was on the side of the Jaguars, and that feeling continued on the next series as WCA had another hitting error to fall behind 22-14.

Almost inexplicably, the wheels fell off for B-B-E, and a WCA kill with a sideout made it 22-15. The Knights went on a huge surge of their own, one that I will unfortunately have etched in my head for a long, long time. The Jaguars committed five consecutive hitting errors to shift all the momentum back to WCA. Down 22-20, the Knights then got back-to-back kills to tie it at 22-22. The Jaguars went into their final timeout of the set, but the bleeding was too severe at that point. Two late kills ended the set for WCA as they took a 2-1 set lead with a 25-22 win.

Final scores: 17-25, 25-19, 22-25, 19-25. WCA was especially strong on serve-receive, as the Jaguars collected just four ace serves all night. I also felt that the Knights put up an effective block at times that was just strong enought to keep the Jaguars in check during the three set wins. For the match, the Jaguars hit at just 12.8 percent efficiency.

The Jaguars finished a marvelous season 22-6-1 overall. I really felt we had a solid chance at taking this match. I've had full, clear hopes on a repeat state tournament trip!! We have only had back-to-back volleyball state tournament trips once, back in 2007 and 2008. In our favor is the fact that we return an incredibly strong nucleus for 2024. The dream is on hold until next fall.

West Central Area takes a 22-9 overall record into Saturday's Section 6A finals, which will be held back in the same location in Fergus Falls. The Underwood Rockets defeated Hillcrest Lutheran Academy via sweep 25-19, 25-14, 25-15 to claim the Sub-Section 6A-North title. They take a 25-6 record into the section finals against WCA, who has never played in a section championship volleyball match. The last time the Knights made it this far (subsection finals) in volleyball was in 2007, when they had 11 seniors on the team.

Now we turn our full attention to the FargoDome! Kickoff is at 10 a.m., and I hope to get to Fargo by 9 a.m. No rest for the wicked.

Around the area tonight...
Big news out of Sub-Section 3AA-North! The Paynesville Area Bulldogs battled through a five-set barn burner with neighboring rival New London-Spicer at Willmar's Big Red Gym. After coming back from a 2-1 set deficit, the Bulldogs found themselves in an 11-11 tie in game five. They came alive from there and won 15-12 to advance to the Section 3AA finals for the third straight season. Paynesville (20-6) forced the final set with a 25-18 game four win. Emma Flanders powered down a match-leading 27 kills, eight coming in game one. Quite fittingly, her 27th kill ended the match. Overall, it was a wild match, and game five had eight ties and four lead changes. Next for Paynesville Area is a battle with Redwood Valley in the section finals; the Cardinals swept Windom in their south subsection finals tonight.

In Section 6AA, I saw that Albany ended Melrose's season with a 3-0 sweep in that section's semifinals. I also saw that No. 2-seeded Pequot Lakes won 3-2 against No. 3-seeded Sauk Centre in the other 6AA semifinal match. Pequot Lakes is the defending section champion, and they took second at the Class 2A state tournament last year. The Mainstreeters finish 23-7 overall with back-to-back section semifinal losses. They were Class 2A champions in 2021 with a 33-1 final record. I'll never forget when our Jaguars went to Sauk Centre that season and lost a wild 3-2 match on September 14. That shows how strong our program is!