UPDATE: this blog post is getting a major makeover as of 23:00 (Army time) tonight. I have a mountain of match notes to comb through while being jacked on adrenaline! This high is gonna go well past midnight.
The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team won 25-17 in game four today to advance to the Class 1A state Final Four! That final set became lopsided at times, and the Jaguars racked up 16 kills with just 1 attack error on 33 attacks for a whopping 45.5 percent hitting. It was an INCREDIBLE match that played out at Grand Casino Arena, formerly the Xcel Energy Center. The program improves to 6-14 overall in all state tournament appearances. This dates back to 2005, in case anyone was wondering! What an incredible 20-year ride it has been!
In the first set, the Jaguars were out-hit by a razor-thin margin: 21.7 percent to 21.3 percent. In spite of that, they prevailed 25-22.
In game two, the Jaguars had to work to overcome a deficit as wide as 7 points. They pulled it to a 24-24 tie before the Clippers scored the last 2 points to even the match at one set apiece.
In game three, the Jaguars won 25-15 after they rocketed out to an initial lead of 6-0.
Here's the final points scored in game 3:
To overcome an inspired, determined Cleveland team that had won 15 straight coming into today (last losses were on September 20), the Jaguars had to figure out Melia Sathoff. Sathoff is a 5'11" outside hitter who did considerable damage from the left side. She was outstanding in the back row as well, using her length to pull out numerous digs. Cleveland's Taylor McCabe unleashed 70 attacks on the Jaguars, and she led the Clippers with 23 kills (12.9% hitting). She is a 5'9" junior outside/middle. McCabe and Sathoff are the REAL deal. I cannot fathom the work those two will put in during the offseason as they prepare for the fall of 2026. For now, Cleveland will do damage in the consolation bracket of state. I predict they will do well while improving on their 26-7 overall record.
NEXT: the Jaguars (25-6) play in the state semifinals at 1 p.m. They face defending state champion and top-seeded Mayer Lutheran for a shot at advancing to the state finals. Tonight, Mayer Lutheran won 25-18, 25-17, 25-19 against No. 8-seeded North Woods in the other quarterfinal on our side of the bracket.
How game one played out:
Things did not start well for the Jaguars in their first state appearance since 2022. A kill by Kacey Fischer tied it at 1-1, but the Clippers continued with the momentum they earned in a 3-2 win against state-ranked Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart to claim the Section 2A title. Cleveland had 3 straight kills that were followed by B-B-E's attack error and another Clippers kill to give the No. 5 seed a 6-1 lead. Kadynce Haider's kill followed by her assisted block with Kamie Fischer gave the Jaguars 2 valuable points to stop the bleeding. A Cleveland hitting error plus a kill into a block by Mya Worms got it down to one point, and Kamie Fischer's ace serve tied it at 6-all.
The outlook still felt uphill after the Clippers had back-to-back kills, but three straight Clippers errors lifted the Jaguars on top for the first time of the match at 9-8. After the Clippers went ahead 12-10, the Jaguars got back-to-back kills by Teagan Dingmann plus a Macey Roering ace serve to gain 14-13 lead. Cleveland was unable to get back in front, and the Jaguars moved the ball around while getting kills by Dingmann and Haider. Roering and Worms had big swings later in the set to gain a 22-17 lead. Cleveland showed their unending tenacity by cutting it to 24-22, but Kacey Fischer ended the 25-minute set with a kill for a 25-22 win.
How game two played out:
Dingmann's solo block gave B-B-E an early 2-1 lead, but the Clippers stormed ahead 4-2 and then 6-3. A kill by Kacey Fischer stopped a 5-1 run, but the Jaguars suffered multiple hitting errors, and Coach Borgerding called her first timeout trailing 10-5.
Out of that timeout, Worms and Dingmann each had kills, and an ace attack by Kamie Fischer cut it to an 11-9 score. Cleveland's head coach Dave Nixon called a timeout. I found that interesting, as his team was still in the lead, but the reporter next to me (who followed them closely this season) mentioned, "He's probably talking about block positioning...he did not like what he was seeing."
Whatever Coach Nixon said worked to precision, as the Clippers scored 5 unanswered points to push it to 16-9. Coach Borgerding called her final timeout, and a kill by Roering followed that for a huge side out. Cleveland continued to maintain the lead, though, at 18-12. Each time went into a flurry of errors, and a kill by Roering cut the score to 19-16. After an ace attack into a block by Worms cut it to 20-18, Coach Nixon called his final timeout. Sathoff's kill and a B-B-E error made it 22-18. Roering's back-to-back kills were followed by a Sathoff kill to bring a 23-20 Cleveland lead. Dingmann stepped up with two straight kills, and an assisted block by Dingmann and Kamie Fischer tied the set at 24-24. Back-to-back B-B-E errors handed the Clippers a 26-24 win to even things at one set each.
Here's a video from late in game two...
How game three played out...
The Jaguars absolutely caught fire out of the gate in game three. Kacey Fischer had a different look in her eyes, and B-B-E quickly had a 6-0 lead to force Coach Nixon to burn a timeout early. Sathoff had a kill out of the timeout, but Fischer had 3 kills during a stretch that was followed by an assisted block from Haider and Roering plus a kill by Worms for an 11-5 lead. B-B-E's attack continued at a furious pace, and after Haider had another kill, Coach Nixon burned his final timeout trailing 12-5.
A five-point deficit was the closest Cleveland could get from there. Makenna Roelike's ace serve made it 16-8, and Josie Buckentine's ace serve plus Haider's kill pushed it to 20-11. Two more Haider kills plus a kill by Kamie Fischer pushed it to 23-14. McCabe's back row attack was good for a kill and a side out, but the Clippers had two straight hitting errors to hand the Jaguars a 25-15 win. It was rough going for Cleveland, who had 3 percent hitting to B-B-E's 23.7 percent mark.
How game four played out...
Cleveland had an early 2-1 lead to start game four, but three straight B-B-E kills from 3 different hitters put the Jaguars up 4-2. Each team delivered counterpunches before the Jaguars found their footing and exploded with an 8-0 run. The attack became relentless in that run: 3 kills by Kacey Fischer, one each by Kamie Fischer and Haider plus an ace serve by Kamie Fischer.
The 13-3 lead got a bit wider with 2 additional kills and a 15-4 lead. The Clippers had one last push in them, and they dug in and surged with a 9-3 run. Kills from Cleveland's Jocelyn Kortuem (setter) and Keira Schipper made it an 18-13 score, and Coach Borgerding called a timeout. Coming out of that, Dingmann's kill and a Cleveland error made it 20-13. The Clippers cut it to 20-15, but Dingmann's kill sparked a 3-0 run. Buckentine's ace serve made it 23-15. Kortuem's ace serve kept the match going for a 24-17 score, but Kacey Fischer's 19th kill of the night finished the match with an exclamation point.
Some match statistics:
B-B-E's night at Grand Casino Arena featured 165 attacks, while Cleveland had 155 attacks. Just one Cleveland hitter surpassed 15 percent hitting, and that was Sathoff with 17.4 percent efficiency with just 5 misses in 46 attacks. B-B-E had four hitters over 15 percent on those with more than 10 attacks: Macey Roering (26.9% with 8 kills), Kacey Fischer (15.5% with 19 kills), Teagan Dingmann (19.4% with 10 kills) and Kadynce Haider (34.8% with 11 kills).
Kamie Fischer had 41 set assists, 134 total sets, 4 kills, 9 digs plus a team-high 4 ace serves on 18-of-20 serving. Roering had a team-high 22 digs. Others who came up big in the back row were libero Kenna Lieser (12 digs) plus Kacey Fischer and Kamie Fischer with 9 digs each.
A key statistic: the Jaguars had a solid 19.4 hitting percentage, while the Clippers were held to 12.3 percent hitting. Cleveland entered the state tournament with a strong block, but they had just 2 block assists compared to 8 for B-B-E. The Clippers had 3 solo blocks, and the Jaguars had two.
A few other Cleveland notes...
Cleveland's libero, Delaney Thompson, led her team with 21 digs while also having perfect 18-for-18 serving plus 4 set assists. The setter for the Clippers, Jocelyn Kortuem, had 36 set assists guiding their 5-1 offense.
And a short postmatch video!
After the match, during the postgame interview, Coach Brittany Borgerding spoke about how the Jaguars practiced this week for Cleveland's style of attack. They knew what was coming.
"We're feeling very good about our match tonight," said Coach Borgerding in the postmatch interview with local and statewide media.
"I thought we executed really well in sets 1, 2 and 4. I feel like we have a curse on set 2 among us. We dug ourselves a hole in that one, but we came back, just not quite enough."
"We came out after that and stuck to our game plan and played our game to finish the match out."
Each team can have up to 3 players in the postmatch press briefing room. B-B-E's players were Kacey Fischer, Kamie Fischer and Kenna Lieser.
Kacey Fischer said about how the team remained focused after the comeback fell short in game two, "I think we just leaned on our teammates and one another. If we make a mistake, we just shake it off and go for the next ball."
Coach Borgerding said about their game plan on defending Cleveland's tough swings on their outsides, "We worked on our blocking quite a bit this past week, focusing on that outside block. Getting out on that line and pushing McCabe (Taylor) back in. We knew that was her favorite shot, I feel like we did a good job executing that."
Asked about her stronger attacks beginning in the third set, Kacey Fischer said, "I feel like my teammates picked me up more. I got more comfortable out there."
Speaking about the outlook from the back row, Kenna Lieser said, "It was tough back there, but like Kacey said, we just leaned on each other. We communicated through it."
Asked about the work she put into spreading the ball around the front line, Kamie Fischer said, "I started switching up my sets. I felt like that set up our success. We had more shots available."
UPSET alert: on the other side of the Class 1A state bracket, No. 6-seeded Ada-Borup West (24-8) earned a 3-1 win over No. 3-seeded Fillmore Central by scores of 27-25, 25-23, 13-25, 26-24. This occurred during one of the 7 p.m. matches, and I had already arrived at my Uncle Kim's place in Andover by the time that match concluded. I am anxious to see how Ada-Borup West does in the semifinals, when they take on No. 2-seeded Russell-Tyler-Ruthton (29-5) tomorrow afternoon. The Ada-Borup West Cougars faced our Jaguars in the Alexandria Invitational on October 4 during the opening match that day. Against the Cougars, the Jaguars won 22-22, 19-25, 15-9.
On the QRF rankings, Ada-Borup West is No. 14 in Class 1A; Fillmore Central is No. 2 on that same power rankings scale.
Coming on Friday in the Class 1A tournament...
In Friday's consolation bracket semifinal matches, Cleveland faces North Woods at 1 p.m., and Nevis faces Fillmore Central at 3 p.m.
In the semifinals, B-B-E takes on the underdog role against Mayer Lutheran at 1 p.m. In the other semifinal, R-T-R takes on Ada-Borup West at 3 p.m.
About Mayer Lutheran...
In their quarterfinal match against North Woods, the Crusaders had an outstanding hitting percentage of 28.6 compared to 10.9 percent for the Section 7A champions. Courtney Tuttle was the leading hitter with 17 kills on 48.4 percent hitting. She also had 9 digs and 2 block assists. North Woods had just 3 players earn kills broken out with 15, 13 and 3 kills. The Crusaders had a huge block, earning 2 solo blocks and 12 block assists. North Woods had one solo and 2 assisted. The lone category North Woods had an advantage was in ace serves: 5 to Mayer Lutheran's four.
More to come in the morning after I get a few hours of much-needed sleep!
THANK YOU to the Bonanza Valley State Bank and Belgrade Co-op for sponsoring this state tournament blog post!
