This blog post is getting a makeover between 10 and 11:15 a.m. on Saturday morning. Hopefully you are on your way to Saint Paul!
The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team was on fire for 1 1/2 sets, but the defending state champion Mayer Lutheran Crusaders found a badly needed gear and rallied to take a 3-1 win in today's state semifinals.
In game one, the Jaguars stuck right with the vaunted Crusaders and had the top seed reeling in the early stages after Kacey Fischer dropped back-to-back ace serves for a 9-4 lead. While Mayer Lutheran kept pace with the Jaguars throughout that set, they never truly threatened the underdogs. B-B-E won 25-17 and finished the set with incredible 42.4 percent hitting, while Mayer Lutheran's figure was 18.9 percent.
Here's a video from later in game one today:
That video begins with the Jaguars holding an 18-14 lead.
In game two, with the Crusaders trailing 9-5, Mayer Lutheran head coach Joelle Grimsley called a timeout to rally her team. In the back of her mind, she felt they were in trouble. They had to adjust what was happening in the back row. Coach Grimsley told her players that they were getting out-hustled in a bad way. What followed was a night-and-day difference. The Crusaders rallied for a 14-0 run to take firm control of the game. After the Jaguars fell behind 19-9, they played even to the end in a 25-14 loss.
Mayer Lutheran (26-7) followed that with 25-11, 25-18 wins to advance to the state finals for the fifth straight year.
During the postmatch media interviews, Coach Grimsley pointed out that it took her three straight timeouts for her "getting out-hustled" message to sink in. Up to that point, the Jaguars were playing superior volleyball.
I'm still processing the loss, my notes and some short video clips. It was tough to see the Jaguars go down today. They fought like crazy, but it just wasn't breaking their way when we needed it to.
How game one played out vs. the Crusaders...
Both teams traded jabs early, and the Jaguars showed no signs of fear against a taller, more experienced Crusaders front line. They got a kill from Teagan Dingmann for a 1-1 tie, and the Crusaders got a kill shot on a tip by their setter while going up 3-2. Kamie Fischer caught the Crusaders back row flat footed with consecutive ace serves for a 5-3 lead. Kacey Fischer and Macey Roering each had kills, and Kacey Fischer then dropped two straight ace serves on the Crusaders to make it a 9-4 lead. Mayer Lutheran answered with two straight kills after taking that left hook from B-B-E, but after the Jaguars gave up 2 straight points, Roering's ace tip plus a Crusaders hitting error made it 11-7.
The Jaguars continued to maintain the lead, which did not shrink below 3 points the rest of that first set. Three more kills by Kacey Fischer plus another ace serve by Kacey and a kill by Kamie Fischer made it an 18-13 lead. This pushed Coach Grimsley into her first timeout.
Out of that timeout, the Crusaders got a kill from Courtney Tuttle, her 3rd of the set, but Kadynce Haider answered with a kill for a quick side out. Kills from Kamie Fischer and Dingmann made it 21-15, and Coach Grimsley called her last timeout after a Crusaders hittinge error trailing 22-15.
During that 2nd timeout of game one, Cleveland finished up a 25-9 first set win over North Woods in the other match being played at Grand Casino Arena. The Clippers went on to sweep North Woods to move into the consolation championship.
To close out their first set, B-B-E got a late kill by Dingmann for a 24-16 lead. After a B-B-E service error, Dingmann confidently and swiftly leaped for one last kill as Mayer Lutheran sat in stunned disbelief to what just happened. They were out-hit by a massive 42-to-19 percent hitting efficiency. That first set lasted just 19 minutes. The Jaguars had a balanced attack: Teagan Dingmann 5 kills, Kacey Fischer 4 kills, Macey Roering 3 kills and Kamie Fischer and Kadynce Haider with 2 kills each. They also racked up 4 ace serves to help counter their 3 service errors. Also huge: B-B-E's service receive was perfect on Mayer Lutheran's 17 serve attempts.
How game two played out against the Crusaders...
An assisted middle block by Ada Hahn and Hallie Hunter is how game 2 started, with the Crusaders quickly showing they were going to respect B-B-E's middle attack.
Hunter then got a taste of B-B-E's block, with Dingmann and Kacie Fischer's assisted block making a 1-all tie. Dingmann's solo block and two Crusaders errors made it a 3-1 lead for B-B-E. Three kills by Kacey Fischer helped the Jaguars hold a 6-4 lead. After Tuttle's kill to make it a one-point game, the Crusaders committed 3 straight hitting errors. Coach Grimsley called a timeout with the urgent "You're getting out-hustled" message for her squad.
A kill by Tuttle brought a side out and a 9-6 score. The Jaguars then malfunctioned numerous times while Mayer Lutheran picked up their speed. Five straight B-B-E hitting errors put the Crusaders ahead 11-9 with Tuttle on the service line. Her serves were tough and effective, and the Jaguars were unable to mount an effective attack. Mayer Lutheran went in system to precision, with 5 straight kills giving them a 16-9 lead.
The wheels were falling off. Tuttle took advantage and fired an ace serve. Their setter, Izabelle Keaveny, got in the action with a kill. Another Tuttle ace serve pushed it to a 19-9 score with a 14-0 run.
Finally, a Crusaders missed pass brought a side out. A kill from Roering made it 20-11, but the Crusaders had too much going their way as they evened the match with a 25-14 win. Game two statistics... the hitting disparity was wide in the second set as it was in the first set, but now it was the Crusaders with superior efficiency: 24.4 percent hitting on 41 attacks compared to B-B-E's 2.6 percent hitting on 39 attacks. Five Crusaders had 2 or more kills, while the Jaguars just 3 players earning kills (6 of the 9 B-B-E kills from Kacey Fischer). The second set lasted 22 minutes.
How the third set played out against the Crusaders...
If it felt like the wheels were beginning to come off in the second set, the third set began as if a wheel had spun off into the ditch. The Jaguars were flat footed and fell behind 8-2. After Coach Borgerding's timeout, the gap extended to 11-2 before the Crusaders hit long. Kacey Fischer had two kills to make it 11-4 and then 12-5.
After Mayer Lutheran got the lead back to double digits at 15-5, Coach Borgerding called her last timeout. Roering had a kill out of the break, but two Crusaders kills plus a net violation made it 18-6. All the Jaguars had left were kills by Kacey Fischer and Haider, while the Crusaders cut a wide gash through B-B-E's state championship hopes with a 25-11 win. Game three statistics...the Crusaders enjoyed 38.6 percent hitting in the third set, almost as good as B-B-E's 42 percent hitting in the opening set. Their quick offense generated 20 kills on 44 attacks with just 3 misses. B-B-E had 5.7 percent hitting with just 5 kills on 35 attacks.
How the fourth set played out against the Crusaders...
With nothing to lose, the Jaguars came out swinging and fought like hell to push the match to a fifth set. Roering's kill off a block and a Crusaders hitting error made it 2-0. Kacey Fischer's kill gave the Jaguars a 3-2 lead, but Mayer Lutheran's Ada Hahn got an ace serve to give them a 5-3 lead.
Hallie Hunter's ace serve gave the Crusaders an 8-4 lead. The Jaguars were not backing down, and Kacey Fischer had 2 kills to bring it to a 12-10 and later a 14-12 deficit. A roofing penalty against the Crusaders brought it to 14-13.
Three straight B-B-E hitting errors gave the Crusaders an 18-13 lead. Roering got a kill off a block, but the Crusaders responded by pushing ahead 20-14 and bring Coach Borgerding to call a timeout.
Out of that break, the Jaguars were unable to piece it back together. Mayer Lutheran got 3 late kills to go with a B-B-E hitting error and win 25-18. In that 4th set, the Jaguars had another rough hitting figure: 2.9 percent. The Crusaders were not quite as prolific as they were in the 3rd set, but they were still strong with a 21.6 percent mark.
Some light overall match statistics:
Just as what happened to North Woods in the quarterfinals, Mayer Lutheran had a big advantage in hitting efficiency: 26.4 percent to B-B-E's 12.7 percent. Across games 2 and 3, B-B-E had a total of 14 kills, while the Crusaders had 34 kills.
The Jaguars are now 25-7 overall, and they play at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow, Saturday, for third place back at Grand Casino Arena. The opponent will be Ada-Borup West. The Cougars fell 3-1 to Russell-Tyler-Ruthton in the other state semifinal this afternoon. Game scores were 25-12, 25-17, 21-25, 25-13.
Let's go back to game 1 yesterday in the quarterfinals...
In their match today, Cleveland made quick work of ending North Woods' season in a 3-0 sweep.
How about a throwback to 15 years ago! Yes, that is right...here's action from the state tournament in 2010!
This is the start of the consolation semifinals against Cherry...
The Jaguars pulled off an incredible 27-25 win in game two against Cherry after they trailed 24-21. A sweep over Cherry advanced them to the consolation championship, where they lost to Win-E-Mac to finish in 6th place.
FUN FACT! the setter on that 2010 state tournament team was Julie Hieserich (now Schoenberg)...Julie's daughter joined with current junior middle hitter Teagan Dingmann to win the marshmellow challenge during Wednesday's elementary pep fest. HOW COOL IS THAT!!!!!
Tomorrow, Step VII of the postseason, now becomes all about finishing the season with a win and going out of the state tournament in style. The Jaguars will gun for the third place trophy while facing a familiar opponent they've seen regularly in recent years at the Alexandria Invitational.
Here's a link to view a KEYC TV video highlighting the state quarterfinal match between Fillmore Central and Ada-Borup West: https://www.kttc.com/2025/11/07/fillmore-central-falls-class-quarterfinal-against-ada-borup-west.
At the state football tournament today, Upsala/Swanville Area lost 17-8 to Mahnomen/Waubun in the quarterfinals in a game played at Becker high school. They finish the season 9-2 overall.
