State tournaments coming up

While it is painful that we will not be part of either of them, here's a brief overview of the state quarterfinals coming this week for football and volleyball. It pains me that this will be the first fall since 2017 (not including 2020, when there was no state tournament for any sports) that B-B-E will not have a fall state tournament team. That is a stretch of 7 years!

State volleyball...
In the Class 1A state volleyball pairings, West Central Area (27-4) earned the No. 4 seed and will open at 5 p.m. on Thursday, November 7 in the quarterfinals. Last night in the Section 6A championship, WCA swept Hillcrest Lutheran Academy to earn back-to-back state trips. The MSHSL website has not posted set scores from the match yet. At state in the opener, WCA will face No. 5-seeded Kittson County Central, who won the Section 8A championship in a four-set win over Ada-Borup West.

Incredibly, New Life Academy of Section 4A earned the No. 3 seed at state. They were ranked No. 19 in the QRF rankings and have an 18-12 record. In the Skyline Conference, NLA tied for fourth place with Maranatha Christian. From my view, WCA was robbed in the state seedings and should have been seeded No. 3.

New London-Spicer is back at the state volleyball tournament for the first time since 2009, when Mimi Knutson coached the Wildcats into the state tournament with a 29-1 record. At state this year, the Wildcats are the No. 8 seed and open up with No. 1-seeded Albany in the quarterfinals at 1 p.m. on Thursday, November 7.

State volleyball seedings:
1. Mayer Lutheran
2. Minneota
3. New Life Academy
4. West Central Area
5. Kittson County Central
6. Fillmore Central
7. Ely
8. Sebeka

State football...
In the Class 1A state football pairings, Upsala/Swanville Area earned the No. 1 seed in the North half of the state field. The state tournament was split into "south" and "north" divisions for the first time ever. (A good move.) For U/SA, they open with No. 4-seeded (North) Parkers Prairie on Thursday, November 7 with a 6 p.m. kickoff at Rock Ridge high school's football stadium, which is located between Eveleth and Virginia. The Rock Ridge high school opened up in 2021, and their football stadium is impressive. My stepson Jack (Class of 2025) played two years of varsity football there with the Class 4A Rock Ridge Warriors.

In Class 2A, Kimball Area will play in the state tournament as the No. 1 North seed. They open state on Friday, November 8 with kickoff at Brainerd high school at 7 p.m. against No. 4-seeded Moose Lake/Willow River. This is Kimball's first football state tournament of this century, and I am unaware of when they may have played at state in the 20th century.

Section volleyball championship match scores on November 2:
Section 5AA championship: Annandale 3, Maple Lake 1 (a tough loss marking the end of the season for 6 seniors on Coach Kiebel's Irish squad)
Section 7A championship: Ely 3, Bigfork 0
Section 1A championship: Fillmore Central 3, Mabel-Canton 1
Section 1AAA championship: Stewartville 3, Byron 2 (after missing state since 2019, Stewartville is back at state for the first time in Class 3A; they were the 2019 Class 2A state champions)
Section 3AA championship: New London-Spicer 3, Redwood Valley 0 (NL-S Wildcats are back at state for the first time since 2009; this was NL-S's first section championship berth since 2014)
Section 6A championship: West Central Area 3, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 0
Section 3A championship: Minneota 3, Westbrook-Walnut Grove 1

Section volleyball championship match scores on November 1:
Section 4A championship: New Life Academy 3, West Lutheran 1
Section 8A championship: Kittson County Central 3, Ada-Borup West 1

Section semifinal (sub-section finals) match scores on October 31:
Westbrook-Walnut Grove 3, Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 1
Mayer Lutheran 3, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 0
Annandale 3, Watertown-Mayer 2
Mabel-Canton 3, Kenyon-Wanamingo 2
Sebeka 3, Pine River-Backus 1
New London-Spicer 3, Paynesville Area 1
Alexandria 3, Rocori 1
Minneota 3, Canby 1
Albany 3, Sauk Centre 2
Maple Lake 3, Providence Academy 1