In case anyone was wondering... (VIDEOS**)

I had to cut out a big portion of my publisher's column this week...to make room for volleyball coverage. Yikes! I don't think I've ever jumped a volleyball story back to page 2. That happened this week.

In more volleyball news...
B-B-E senior outside hitter Kacey Fischer has earned All-State honors by the Minnesota Volleyball Coaches Association. The MVCA held their annual banquet last night at Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul. Kacey, her teammates and the coaches traveled there after an afternoon practice was held in the high school.

In case anyone was curious what's left in our family garden...
For our family garden, here’s what’s left: broccoli, brussels sprout, sweet potatoes, spinach, carrots, kale and lettuce. It all comes to an end this weekend when we enter a stretch of temperatures in the upper teens/low 20s overnight. Then the wait is on until next April for the 2026 edition of our garden.

Time to prepare for today's volleyball state tournament pep fest! The elementary school will honor the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team on the eve of their state tournament opener.

Here's a lengthy video from Fergus Falls on Saturday night...including the player introductions, the National Anthem and the start of the section finals:


The elementary pep fest was outstanding! Principal Johnson, his staff and all the students should be super, immensely proud! The blindfolded beach volleyball game was one of the more entertaining pep fest games I've seen in a long time.

Here's a video from early in game 2 against Parkers Prairie...


Later on Wednesday night, I'm finally getting a chance to finish uploading my videos from Saturday night at Fergus Falls.

Here's a thriller featuring the final points scored in game 2 against Parkers Prairie:


More to come after I get more scouting done on Cleveland!

State tournament coming our way! (VIDEOS** UPDATES)

A new was added this evening.

Here's Coach Brittany Borgerding talking today before their practice got underway at the high school:


The team was heading to the All-State banquet this evening.

In reference to Cleveland having no seniors, I mentioned that in the interview with Coach Borgerding. From my view, that can work as an advantage for the Clippers. With no seniors, they don't have that pressure of "now or never" - even though in the world of sports, nothing is ever promised to you. A team could do major damage with a young team at a state tournament, and it does not mean they're promised a state tournament trip one year later.

Here's a video from the practice held today:


PEP FEST updates:
The B-B-E elementary school will host a Pep Fest at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday, the B-B-E high school will host a pep fest at 10:45 a.m. before the team departs to St. Paul for the state opener.

An immense amount of hard work, dedication, focus and determination by the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team has paid off by punching a ticket to the program's 8th state tournament in school history. Our community will benefit from what the coaches and players (and their families) have devoted to the volleyball program. I hope each and every one of you out there is grateful for that!

Here's action from early in game 3 of the Section 6A semifinals:


The video started with the Jaguars holding a 5-0 lead over Hillcrest Lutheran Academy.

...and let's go back to Fargo!

Here's a third quarter video from the FargoDome last Friday:


More to come this afternoon.

Please send a special prayer for safety during their travels today as the volleyball team drives to the Twin Cities for the Minnesota All-State Volleyball banquet. They departed B-B-E high school at 2:30 p.m.

In college sports news...
Tonight, two college sports notes for B-B-E graduates...Class of 2023 graduate Tiyana Schwinghammer's Valley City State University team hosts the University of Minnesota-Morris. In junior college sports, B-B-E Class of 2024 graduate Brooklyn Fischer's St. Cloud Technical and Community College team learns about their National Tournament fate. More updates to follow.

UPDATE from Valley City, North Dakota...Schwinghammer is leading her team with 16 points, with 8 coming in the third quarter, as the Vikings are blowing the University of Minnesota-Morris off the court. With 2:40 left in the third quarter, the Vikings are ahead 53-27. Update: Schwinghammer has scored 12 points in the third quarter, and she leads the Vikings with 20 points. Her last bucket put the Vikings ahead 59-29 going into the last minute of the third.

Her shooting was incredible: 6-of-6 on field goals, which included 2 makes on 2 three-point attempts. At the free throw line, Schwinghammer was 6-for-8 to get her to 20 points in 20 minutes of the 40-minute game. The 6'0" junior forward also had 4 rebounds and 4 steals. With 2 minutes to go, VCSU leads UMM 73-38.

With her team-leading 20 points today, Schwinghammer is now just 23 points away from scoring 1,000 career points at the collegiate level!

UPDATE: at St. Cloud, Fischer's SCTCC Cyclones learned tonight that they've earned a trip to the Division III National Tournament! They head to Cedar Rapids, Iowa for the tournament opener on Thursday, November 13. At 3 p.m. that day, the Cyclones face Sandhills Community College.

Jaguars earn the 4 seed at state!!! (VIDEO, UPDATES)

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team grabbed the No. 4 seed for the state tournament that begins next Thursday evening for Jaguar Country!

It's official: the Jaguars (24-6) open state at 5 p.m. on Thursday, November 6 at Xcel Energy Center. Spread the word! Their opponent will be the No. 5-seeded Cleveland Clippers, the Section 2A champions from southern Minnesota. In the other 5 p.m. match, Mayer Lutheran faces North Woods.

Cleveland's roster is heavy on sophomores and juniors with no seniors. Additional information on the Clippers will be posted after church.

Here's a video featuring the final points scored in game one last night:


NOTE: I have learned that where we are going is not called "Xcel Energy Center" but rather "Grand Casino Arena."

In B-B-E school history, this is the program's 8th state volleyball tournament trip. Before the pairing, the Belgrade Redmen volleyball team played in one state tournament back in 1984. That season, the Redmen placed 3rd in Class 1A in the former two-class format.

Cleveland's volleyball team is riding an incredible wave of recent success. They enter their first-ever state tournament on a 15-match winning streak. This state tournament berth marks an end to recent misery in section championships, where the Clippers have fallen short of state 3 out of the last 5 seasons.

Cleveland's roster is built around a tall, talented 5'10" sophomore setter, Jocelyn Kortuem. They've got two 5'9" hitters, a 5'10" sophomore middle blocker/right side plus a 5'11" junior outside hitter. I've been spending a fair amount of time today gathering more information on their volleyball team.

In the Section 2A championship, the Clippers played poorly and fell behind 2-0 in sets to Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart. The match turned in game three after falling behind 10-3 to start that set, and Cleveland earned a thrilling reverse sweep with a nailbiter 15-13 win in game five.

B-B-E and Cleveland have one common opponent this fall: the MACCRAY Wolverines, who beat the Jaguars 3-0 in August and also won in straight sets (2-0) over the Clippers at the Midwest Volleyball Warehouse in Burnsville on September 19 in the first pool play match that day.

In the latest QRF rankings for Class 1A, Cleveland was No. 7, while our Jaguars were No. 5. On paper, this is going to be a close battle! The Clippers are 26-6 overall, and they went 6-0 to claim the Tomahawk/Valley Conference - Valley division title. They swept BOLD in the Sub-Section 2A-North championship, and next was a 3-2 thriller over state-ranked Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart.

More to come by mid-afternoon. It's time to catch lunch at the ham and breakfast dinner at Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic church. They serve until 1 p.m.!

The Rambow, Inc. state volleyball shirt store is open until MIDNIGHT tonight! (Sunday) Http://www.rambow.com. The store code is BBEVB. Pick up for the shirts will be at the high school office at some point this week.

Class 1A state volleyball tournament seeding:
1. #1 Mayer Lutheran of Section 4A; ranked No. 1 by QRF.
2. #3 Russell-Tyler-Ruthton of Section 3A; ranked No. 4 by QRF.
3. #4 Fillmore Central of Section 1A; ranked No. 2 by QRF.
4. #10 B-B-E of Section 6A; ranked No. 5 by QRF.
5. Cleveland of Section 2A; ranked No. 7 by QRF.
6. #12 Ada-Borup West of Section 8A; ranked No. 13 by QRF.
7. Nevis of Section 5A; ranked No. 20 by QRF.
8. North Woods of Section 7A; ranked No. 15 by QRF.

A few other notes about the Class 1A state tournament field:
Mayer Lutheran (24-7) is the defending Class 1A state champion. This is Mayer Lutheran's 8th state volleyball trip in the past 10 seasons.

R-T-R is 28-5 overall. They are back at state for the first time since 2023, when they finished 30-6 overall and won the Class 1A title with a 3-1 win against Mayer Lutheran in the championship. To get to state, the Knights won 3-2 against Minneota in the Section 3A finals. This season, against their biggest playoff rival, the Minneota Vikings, the Knights lost 3-0 at Minneota on August 26 (light years ago)...at the Southwest Minnesota Challenge in Marshall in their second match of the day on Saturday, September 6, the Knights won 2-0. In the Section 3A championship last night, the Knights beat Minneota 3-1.

Fillmore Central is returning to state after they placed fourth last year with a 3-0 loss in the third-place match to West Central Area. The Falcons are 25-6 overall and were runners-up in the tough Three Rivers Conference (9-1) behind champion Caledonia. In 2023, Fillmore Central lost 3-1 to Mabel-Canton in the Section 1A championship match.

The No. 12-ranked (coaches poll) and No. 14-ranked (QRF) Ada-Borup West Cougars are 23-8 overall. They went 10-0 in the Pine to Prairie Conference. Back in 2008, the Cougars faced our Jaguars in the third-place match at state. Ada-Borup won that match to finish 32-2 overall. B-B-E went 31-3 that season to set the school record for overall wins.

In the Class 2A state tournament, New London-Spicer earned the No. 8 seed. The Wildcats open state on Thursday, November 6 at 1 p.m. against No. 1-seeded Hawley. Albany is the No. 2 seed.

More will be added here later this evening.

And very, very sad news...
One of B-B-E's staunchest and most loyal supporters passed away on Saturday. Rick Gerhardson, age 69, died peacefully at home after suffering for months from a stroke he endured last summer. Rick was one of a kind! This is a devastating loss for his family. His obituary and funeral information can be found here at the Bonanza Valley Voice website: https://shorturl.at/EJxRi. He currently has two grandchildren who attend B-B-E schools (Decker and McCoy); his other grandchildren, all girls, are B-B-E graduates between 2019 and 2025 (McKenzie, Olivia, Presley and Bree).

Please include the Detloff/Thieschafer/Gerhardson/Lindahl families in your prayers.

My last item for this blog post...added Monday night.

Here's action from the 1st quarter at the FargoDome last week:


Early in that video, Lance Radermacher converted a 3rd-and-1 play.

I've got a mountain of video and notes from Fargo and Fergus Falls to continue going through.

Step IV! It's a SWEEP! STATE it is! How SWEET it is! (VIDEOS!!)

Yes, indeed! It was an incredible night in Fergus Falls.

Facing a loaded, experienced Parkers Prairie team for a state tournament berth, the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team won 25-17 in game one before grinding out two close wins over the Panthers for a Section 6A championship sweep. The Jaguars earned an incredible 25-23 comeback win in game two after they trailed 23-21. In game three, they built a 23-15 lead before fighting off the Panthers down the stretch. Game three final score: B-B-E 25, Parkers Prairie 20.

Overall, the 3-0 win lasted 70 minutes.

HERE it is! Match point is earned in this video!


NEXT! the Jaguars improve to 24-6 overall and open the Class 1A state tournament on Thursday, November 6. My prediction: we open state at 5 p.m. that night. We will know tomorrow morning once the seeding is made public. More information to come! SO MUCH EXCITEMENT! B-B-E is back in the state volleyball tournament for the first time since 2022. It is also our second trip to state since we went in back-to-back years in 2018 and 2019.

More to come. Video is uploading. I lost a great video when my camera popped off the tripod...it was a video featuring the medals/trophy presentation. I might be able to pull it off of my camera in low-quality fashion. We'll see. Fingers crossed!

In game one tonight...
The Jaguars pushed out to a 5-2 lead only to see the Panthers surge ahead with a 10-8 advantage after they went on a 5-0 run. Terrific serving by Makenna Roelike helped the Jaguars regain the lead, with her ace serve bringing a 10-all tie. They took a 15-11 lead and maintained control of the set the rest of the way. Back-to-back Kacey Fischer ace serves made it 23-14. Teagan Dingmann's kill finished off a 25-17 win.

Here's a video from the middle of game one tonight:


And then in game two...it was a BATTLE...
Both teams were scrapping from the get go in game two. Teagan Dingmann dropped a nice kill off a block attempt for a 1-0 lead. Parkers Prairie's sophomore middle blocker, Nevaeh Koep, had a kill to make it 1-all, and the Panthers soon had a 6-3 lead. A kill from Mya Worms put the Jaguars up 7-6, but Parkers Prairie then got in front 10-9. Ties at 10-all, 11-all and 12-all followed, and the Jaguars then took small 14-12 and 15-13 leads. Consecutive B-B-E hitting errors helped the Panthers earn a 4-1 scoring run and a 17-16 lead. Macey Roering's kill later put the Jaguars up 19-17.

Parkers Prairie caught fire and surged ahead 23-21 on Alyssa Revering's kill, and B-B-E's Coach Borgerding called a timeout. The Jaguars ran the table while scoring the last 4 points to earn a 25-23 win with a valuable 2-0 lead in sets.

Game notes from the third set will be reviewed and summarized after I get home tonight.

Light match statistics:
B-B-E's offense ran strong all night, and they finished with a 21.7 hitting efficiency. If you can hit over 20 percent, your odds are good! In 126 total attacks, the Jaguars had just 13 misses. Kamie Fischer had 34 set assists, and libero Kenna Lieser had a team-high 11 digs. Key stat: B-B-E served at a 96 percent clip with just 3 misses in 74 serve attempts. That's huge! The Jaguars racked up 7 ace serves: 3 by Kacey Fischer, 2 by Macey Roering and one apiece from Kamie Fischer and Makenna Roelike.

Here's a short postmatch interview with Kacey Fischer:


It's worth noting that the sound system was blaring some loud tunes in the B-B-E locker room right by our interview location. The Jaguars had much to celebrate!

In other Class 1A section finals tonight:
In the Section 3A championship in Marshall, Russell-Tyler-Ruthton won the first set against Minnesota. Update: R-T-R won 25-23 in game two, but the Vikings kept their season alive by winning the third set. In game four, the Knights have a 15-8 lead over the Vikings. Update: R-T-R is going to state! Their high school principal is Mr. Rick Gossen, who devoted 16 years in education to B-B-E as our elementary principal (and also our A.D. from 2011-2022). The Knights defeated Minneota 25-15 in game four to leave no doubt. They are the likely No. 2 seed at the state tournament with a super young lineup. R-T-R has just 2 seniors: a setter and a middle blocker; the rest are 9th-11th graders. Minneota, meanwhile, also had just 2 seniors: a libero and a middle blocker.

In Section 7A, North Woods defeated Floodwood by a 3-1 margin. Both teams were the No. 2 seeds in their respective subsections.

In Class 2A section championships today...
Rush City, ranked No. 9 in the final coaches poll in Class 2A, lost a heartbreaker to fall short of state. Game five went to Esko by a 17-15 margin. That's harsh! Rush City high school is where Mrs. Brystin LaMont (BBE band director) played in her high school days as a three-sport athlete.

In Section 3AA, upstart New London-Spicer won 15-12 in game five to take down Jackson County Central and earn a repeat trip to state. They graduated a pile of seniors after a state run last year but reloaded this season.

**A new blog post on Sunday morning will feature the official state seeds.

GAME DAY! Back in Otter Tail County (VIDEOS *SPORTS SHOW!)

First serve from Kennedy High School in Fergus Falls is at 7 p.m. tonight, Saturday, November 1. The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team is geared up for a giant battle with Parkers Prairie! It will be a terrific battle between two state tournament contenders. The match will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood. They stream online at https://www.kmgk1071.com.

Here's my 10th fall sports show this season:


For the record: the first B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team to play in a playoff championship game was the 1994 squad, which went 22-0 in the regular season with a 14-0 West Central South Conference record. They fell 3-0 to Sauk Centre in the overall West Central Conference playoffs, and in the Sub-Section 5A-3 tournament, the Jaguars went 2-1 with a heartbreaking 3-2 loss in the championship at the College of St. Benedict. Final record: 24-2 in Carrie Halvorson's 5th season as head coach. She retired after the 1998 season.

Here's a video from the end of game one against Hillcrest Lutheran Academy:


A few notes on Parkers Prairie and the upcoming match tonight have been added to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's website sports section: https://shorturl.at/Juaoh. Their team has a 26-4 overall record. In the latest QRF rankings, they are No. 16 in Class 1A. Our Jaguars are power ranked No. 5.

The Panthers have a very tall lineup, beginning with 6'0" sophomore middle blocker Nevaeh Koep. Two of their 8 seniors are listed at 5'11" and another at 5'10". Of their roster of players, just one is a junior: 5'5" utility player Autumn Hartman.

In September, Parkers Prairie won two tournaments: on September 20 at home (5-0 record) and on September 27 at Bertha-Hewitt (4-0 record). They went 3-1 at Perham in a tournament on October 4.

And here's the exciting ending to B-B-E's game two win vs. HLA:


Time to get back to writing about football. I've finally finished combing through all of my first half notes from the FargoDome.

In other section volleyball championship matches being played today...
In Section 4A, heavily favored Mayer Lutheran hammered Liberty Classical in their state qualifier by scores of 25-9, 25-6, 25-14. The Crusaders will likely gain a top four seed in the state tournament. This is their 8th state berth in the past 10 seasons. Also qualified for the Class 1A state tournament: No. 4-ranked Fillmore Central (Section 1), unranked Cleveland (Section 2), unranked Nevis (Section 5) and No. 12-ranked Ada-Borup-West (Section 8).

**Game one: 25-17 Jaguars win!

Game 2: the Panthers led 23-21, but the Jaguars won 25-23!!!