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.

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.