For the second time in school history, the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team has won four straight Central Minnesota Conference titles. Awesome!
Tonight at Paynesville in a CMC border battle, the Jaguars lost game one 25-22 before regrouping to win three straight sets and finish the loop in first place with a 6-1 record. No word yet on Maple Lake's match at Kimball Area. The Jaguars and Irish entered tonight tied for first place.
The Bulldogs take a 14-9 record into the Sub-Section 3AA-North playoffs, where they are ranked No. 2 by QRF behind New London-Spicer. They finished 4-3 in the CMC.
In game two, the Jaguars held small three-point leads early before utilizing a 6-1 run that game them a 19-11 lead. The Bulldogs cut it down to 21-19 before the Jaguars finished strong to claim a 25-20 win. In game three, the Bulldogs held an early 5-3 lead before the Jaguars went on a 7-3 run. Just as they did in game two, they finished strong in the third set while earning a 25-17 win. The Jaguars were in control for just about the entire fourth set, and Paynesville Area made multiple mistakes down the stretch while the visitors ended the match with a 25-15 win.
Here's a lengthy video recorded in the middle of game 2 tonight:
Overall, as a team, the Jaguars had a mild 17.1 hitting percentage, and for large stretches of the match, their offense was not clicking. Credit to Paynesville, however, as they picked up their level of play considerably after a very poor start to game one. The Jaguars had a balanced attack with four hitters earning 6 or more kills: Kacey Fischer (15 kills), Adley Hagen (13), Kadynce Haider (8) and Kamie Fischer (6). Libero Ava Deters led the defense with 21 digs. At the service line, the Jaguars had an excellent 94.7 percent mark tonight with 4 ace serves.
B-B-E finished the regular season 25-3 overall. This is their best record entering the playoffs since 2008. In 2018, the Jaguars were 22-4 at the end of the regular season. In both 2008 and 2018, they finished fourth at the state tournament. Right now, there are no thoughts of state whatsoever, as the Section 6A playoffs loom large with a strong array of competitors. The climb will be uphill, but if the Jaguars play their game, they are going to go far!
Here's a video recorded before game 4 started tonight:
And speaking of the CMC "Four Peat"...the Jaguars earned CMC titles in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 for a four-peat. They were also CMC champions in 2000, 2002 and 2003. While I'm at it, I'll just go and outline the full picture of volleyball conference titles. The Jaguars won West Central South Conference titles in 1994 and 1995. In addition to the CMC titles won in the early 2000s, the Jaguars went on a huge tear to claim the conference titles (all solo crowns) consecutively from 2006 through 2012. Their huge CMC winning streak was halted on October 3, 2013 in Maple Lake in a 3-1 loss. The Jaguars finished second in the CMC in 2013 and 2014 before going 7-0 to claim a solo CMC title in 2015. Next came CMC titles in 2018 and 2019. They took second in the COVID season of 2020, and now they can say they have won four straight CMC titles through 2024!
More to follow in the morning. I have a newspaper to prepare for the press.
Central MN Conference volleyball scores on October 15:
Holdingford 3, Eden Valley-Watkins 0
Royalton 3, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 1 (played on Monday this week)
Area volleyball scores on October 15:
West Central Area 3, BOLD 0
Delano 3, Annandale 1 (Delano is 28-0)
Willmar 3, New London-Spicer 0
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 3, Montevideo 0
