Step IV: Jaguar volleyball earns repeat state trip! (VIDEOS**)

It's been an exciting run! The fun's not over yet. Not even close!

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team has advanced to the Class 1A state tournament for the second year in a row. They defeated Border West tonight in a 3-0 sweep to win the Section 6A championship. The match, which started at 7:02 p.m. at Kennedy High School's Gold gymnasium in Fergus Falls, took just over 1 hour from start to finish. My unofficial times show the match lasted approximately 67 minutes.

Game scores: 25-19, 25-17, 25-17. The Jaguars utilized robust 27.7 percent hitting, and they got off to a terrific start with 30.8 percent hitting in game one. Five solo blocks also helped thwart a strong effort by Boarder West, who was the No. 1 seed in Section 6A.

Junior libero Makenna Roelike anchored an incredible back row while she racked up 17 digs. Lydia Primus, also a junior, was outstanding in the back row with 10 digs and perfect 7-for-7 serve receive. Senior setter Kamie Fischer tallied 3 solo ace blocks while maneuvering 42 set assist with 5 digs and 2 kills.

PROGRAMMING break for a reminder! Crow River Lutheran church is hosting a turkey dinner on Sunday, November 8 until 1 p.m. This is sponsored by the Big Grove-Crow River-Grace Lutheran Free Spirits youth group. Come out and support! It's a free-will offering Thrivent event.

Next: the Jaguars play next on Thursday, November 12 at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul. Their quarterfinal match will be at either 5 or 7 p.m. Please spread the word!

***UPDATE: The Jaguars are the No. 6 seed at state. They play at 7 p.m. against No. 3-seeded and No. 6-ranked Mayer Lutheran on Thursday, November 12.  The Jaguars will also play on Friday afternoon in one of the two brackets...hopefully the winner's bracket! The Crusaders are 19-12 overall and are Section 4A champions. They defeated our Jaguars 3-1 in last year's state semifinals in St. Paul.

Tuttle, a 6'1" middle hitter, is one of 8 seniors on the Mayer Lutheran roster. Their starting setter is 5'4" senior Ellie Shipler, who has been part of the varsity roster since 9th grade.

If the Jaguars defeat Mayer Lutheran, they play at 3 p.m. the next day, Friday, in the state semifinals. A loss also has them playing on Friday, and that is either 1 or 3 p.m. in the consolation semifinals. Saturday's matches include the 5th, 3rd and 1st place matches.

Some important state volleyball history...in 2025...One of Mayer Lutheran's current seniors, Courtney Tuttle, served 13 straight points for the Crusaders against B-B-E in last year's state semifinals. It was in game two, and the Jaguars had built an early 9-5 lead. Mayer Lutheran called a timeout, and they got a kill after that for a side out. Tuttle then served 13 straight points to turn a 9-5 deficit into a commanding 19-9 lead. The Jaguars, who won game one 25-17, effectively never recovered in a 3-1 loss.

Here's a video featuring the end of tonight's match:


The video begins with the Jaguars ahead 18-9 in game three. In the video, at about the 6-minute mark, Jaylee Jensen punched down a kill from her middle position that landed on the right side of Border West's court. That kill ended the match with the Jaguars winning 25-17.

UPDATES on Sunday: this blog post will get a makeover on Sunday afternoon after the church dinner at Crow River Lutheran. Later on Sunday, a new blog post will be added featuring information on Mayer Lutheran and the Class 1A state tournament field.

Here's a quick cross country interruption: B-B-E's Brooklyn Breitbach was one of four eighth graders who placed in the Top 30 at state cross country on Saturday (November 7). She finished 27th with a time of 19:31.7. The fastest 8th grader, Lia Stokman of Crosby-Ironton, was 20th with a time of 19:21.6. The Class 1A state field included 160 female runners.

Here's a video featuring an interview with senior (Right Side) Mya Worms tonight:


And, no surprise, I got Mya and Teagan's positions mixed up! Mya Worms is a right outside hitter. Teagan Dingmann is a senior middle blocker.

At state, the Jaguars will likely be seeded either No. 4, No. 5 or No. 6 out of 8 teams.

B-B-E's volleyball team has now earned 9 state tournament berths! The list of state teams at B-B-E: 2005, 2007, 2008 (4th), 2010, 2018 (4th), 2019, 2022 (4th), 2025 (3rd) and now 2026. Their placing at state this year will be determined next Thursday through Saturday in St. Paul.

How the Section 6A finals match played out:
In game one, the Jaguars caught fire early beginning with the first serve, which Border West mishandled for an ace credited to Kamie Fischer. Teagan Dingmann's kill made it 2-0, and the Jaguars led 4-0 before Fischer served out of bounds. Two straight kills by Macey Roering made it a 7-2 lead. After Dingmann's kill made it 11-7, the Buccaneers fought back to an 11-0 deficit. Both teams traded hitting errors plus one net violation for a 15-13 score. Border West's setter, Claire Rinke, earned a kill to cut it to 15-14. Senior libero Macey Ebnet's ace serve tied it at 15-15. The Jaguars rallied with a 4-1 run that included an ace serve from McKinley Haider. The rally ultimately went 10-4 in favor of the Jaguars as they won 25-19 with Roering's kill finishing the set.

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


As for game two, Border West had a much better start than they did in game one. Senior outside hitter Faith Gahlon's kill tied it at 4-4, and senior middle hitter Brynn Vangsness's ace block gave the Buccaneers a 5-4 lead. An ace serve by Lydia Primus put the Jaguars ahead 6-5, and they went on a small but crucial rally that gave them a 12-6 lead. Taylin Schmidt, senior 5'11" middle hitter, earned a kill for a side out. Two straight kills by Anderson started a 7-0 run, with another Anderson kill giving the Jaguars a 19-7 lead. Border West then came alive and surged with a 6-0 run to close the score to 20-16. That ultimately was the only time of the match that Border West challenged the Jaguars.

After a timeout at that stage of game two, Dingmann crushed a kill for a side out. Kills by Roering and Dingmann helped bring the lead to 24-17. Dingmann's ace served finished it off in a 25-17 win for a 2-0 set lead.

The big set was coming, as the Jaguars knew they needed to take care of business in three games. In the third set, Border West had a rough start with three straight hitting errors. A kill by Mya Worms made it 5-1, but the Buccaneers came back to tie it at 6-6. Jaylee Jensen's kill made it 11-8 and started what was a 6-0 run. Kills from Anderson and Dingmann brought the lead to 19-10. Border West's last successful run of their offense was on Gahlon's seventh kill of the night for a 20-13 score. It was all B-B-E from there, and two late kills by Jensen finished off a 25-17 win to complete the sweep.

Other state tournament notes:
Pine River-Backus, the third-place team in the Northland Conference this year, is 19-9 overall after they beat Browerville 3-1 in the Section 5A championship. That section is where B-B-E competed in for the playoffs from 2007 to 2020.

This was crazy: in the Class 1A section championship matches, two featured Top 10 teams. Those sections are Section 1A and Section 7A. In Section 2A, No. 5-ranked Cleveland lost in an upset by a 3-0 sweep against unranked Sleepy Eye St. Mary's. In Section 7A, Chisholm edged Ely in a 3-2 match. They are the No. 9 and No. 10-ranked teams, respectively.

Class 1A section championship match results:
Section 1A: #2 Fillmore Central 3, #4 Kenyon-Wanamingo 2
Section 2A: Sleepy Eye St. Mary's 3, #5 Cleveland 0
Section 3A: #1 Minneota 3, Adrian/Ellsworth 0
Section 4A: #6 Mayer Lutheran 3, Liberty Classical Academy 0
Section 5A: Pine River-Backus 3, Browerville 1
Section 6A: #11 B-B-E 3, Border West 0
Section 7A: #9 Chisholm 3, #10 Ely 2
Section 8A: #8 Sacred Heart-East Grand Forks 3, Fertile-Beltrami 0

In other area section volleyball championships on November 7:
New London-Spicer 3, Jackson County Central 1 (Wildcats win Section 3AA title)
Alexandria 3, Moorhead 1