GAME DAY again - in Ramsey County - Jaguars playing for GOLD!

Twenty-one years after the first trip to the big show, the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team is making more history as they have blazed their way into the state championship match. The Jaguars, led by first-year head coach Holly Breitbach, are preparing to face top-seeded and heavily favored Minneota with first place on the line. The Jaguars and Vikings face one another at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul.

This is B-B-E volleyball's ninth trip to the state tournament after punching through for the first time in 2005. Coach Breitbach, daughter of Les and Brenda Thompson, was a 2006 graduate of B-B-E and the senior setter on that 2005 squad. The Jaguars went 28-4 that year and won the Section 6AA title with a 3-0 sweep of Benson to go to state. I'll never, EVER forget that night at Melrose High School: November 5, 2005. It was exhilarating, especially after the Jaguars lost one match short of state in 2002 and 2004 (nights I also remember).

RADIO BROADCAST INFORMATION:
Jason Brandt at Lakeland Media of Willmar will have the Coop's Corner pre-match show starting 15 minutes before our match today. His coverage will be carried at 106.5 FM The Train of Norway Lake-Sunburg. They stream online: https://www.willmarradio.com/the_train.

Dave McClurg, affectionately known as "D-Mac" around here, sports broadcaster with Wild Country 107.1 FM of Glenwood also has the call today in St. Paul. Their website is: https://www.voiceofalexandria.com/kxgk. I hope to visit with Dave before the match and learn about how they stream online.

FIRST SERVE is at approximately 1 p.m. today! This is incredible! B-B-E has landed boys' basketball and girls' basketball teams in state championship games, and now Jaguar Country can add volleyball to that elite list. We could NOT BE PROUDER of our Jaguars!!!

***THE MATCH STARTS AT 1:25 P.M.!!!!

**UPDATE AT GRAND CASINO ARENA: the Dover-Eyota vs. Rush City match will take longer than planned. THIS MEANS that our Class 1A state title match will have a delayed start. Stay tuned for updates. As of 12:40 p.m., the Dover-Eyota vs. Rush City match was in the fourth set, and Rush City led 2-1 in sets plus a 19-10 lead in game four. It appears that match is nearing it conclusion.

To read post-match comments from the state semifinal press conference, click over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website: BBEJaguarsStateSemis2026.

Let's go back to Saturday night...when the Jaguars earned back-to-back state tournament trips.

Here's a video featuring the end of the medals ceremony at Kennedy High School in Fergus Falls:


And then return to 2 nights ago in St. Paul after the 3-0 sweep over Mayer Lutheran...

Here's the team returning to their beloved fans after they defeated Mayer Lutheran:


A little on Minneota...
In Friday's semifinal, the Vikings held Sacred Heart (30-4) to just 4.1 percent hitting, while the Vikings had 25.5 percent hitting and a balanced attack (five Minneota players had 5 or more kills). At the service line, Minneota had 7 ace serves with 4 missed serves on 73 attempts. Sacred Heart was able to serve the ball just 45 times, and they had just one ace serve. Minneota's roster features 4 seniors and 7 juniors, so their makeup by class is similar in that respect to the junior-heavy Jaguars.

Minneota's Jaylyn Coequyt, Leah Coequyt and Eden Meagher are three of their top hitters. That trio ran 78 of Minneota's 110 attacks against Sacred Heart.

MATCH UPDATES TO FOLLOW HERE!
The match started at 1:27 p.m. 

Early in game one, the Vikings are ahead 6-2.

The Jaguars trailed 12-4, but they cut it down to 5 points to trail 12-7 and 13-8. 

The Vikings then pulled ahead 17-9.

Game one: Minneota 25. B-B-E 14. The first set lasted 19 minutes. The Jaguars struggled to get touches on the Minneota attack. 

**Game two: the Vikings are ahead 15-7. The Jaguars started out in a 12-4 hole just like in the first set.

Game two: Minneota 25, B-B-E 11.

In game three, the Vikings are ahead 13-7.

Game 3 final score: Minneota 25, B-B-E 13. The match ended at 2:30 p.m. Season over, but an incredible addition to the schools' trophy cases!!!

***Update: the welcome home ceremony will be after 6 p.m.!! More details to follow!!! It will be at the high school.

CONFIRMED!  6:15 P.M. welcome home at the high school in Belgrade. Please spread the word.


THANK YOU to Bonanza Valley State Bank of Brooten for sponsoring this exciting Jaguar Sports state tournament blog post:

Step VI: Jaguar volleyball takes down No. 2-ranked Falcons! (*UPDATES)

At face value, the sport of volleyball is relatively simple: serve well and put the ball into play, get touches at the net to slow the opponent's attack, have back row players ready to sacrifice themselves in the name of making the pass - and - last but not least, have just the right setter/hitter action that racks up offense.

If all those things describe your team, good things come your way on the volleyball court!

Tonight, in the Class 1A state semifinals, all those items on the list can be checked to the "affirmative" as the underdog B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team continued their improbable run in the winner's bracket of the state tournament with a 3-2 win against Fillmore Central. The win at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul lands the team in the program's first-ever state championship match since the pairing of Brooten and Belgrade-Elrosa's athletic programs in 1988.

Fillmore Central, a perennial power in Minnesota's small school volleyball scene, was ranked No. 2 in the final Class 1A Volleyball Coaches Association poll. They are also the No. 2 seed in the tournament. Their high school in Harmony is just 5 miles north of the Iowa border. Just east of them sits Mabel-Canton, another small-school state power who beat the Jaguars in the third-place match at state in 2022.

In tonight's wild affair in St. Paul...
After trailing 7-5 in game five, the Jaguars (22-8 overall) put the hammer down and won the whole thing with a 15-10 win that was fueled by a 5-0 run in the middle of the set. The Falcons (26-7) fall into the third-place match, and they will face No. 4-seeded Sacred Heart of East Grand Forks at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Against Fillmore Central, the Jaguars had a net negative hitting percentage of 4.2 percent in a rough game three, but they rebounded with 16.7 percent hitting in game four to force the tiebreaking set.

Strong 22.2 percent hitting in game five made the difference, and the Falcons faded down the stretch in a match that lasted approximately 1 hour, 49 minutes. The meat-grinder fifth set lasted about 20 seconds shy of 15 minutes.

Depth may have been a key factor in the five-set marathon, with B-B-E's rotation including 9 players to 8 by the Falcons. Fillmore Central's front line put up some big numbers: Madilyn Zwart 18 kills, Hannah Vaalemoen 15 kills, Lauren Dahly 13 kills, but they committed key errors that cost them at crucial junctures of the match which allowed the Jaguars to make comeback runs.

Here's a video recorded after the match tonight:


In the wild, topsy-turvy game five today:
Trailing 7-5, the Jaguars got a huge boost when the Falcons had a costly service error. Jaylee Jensen and Laken Anderson had an assisted block that tied it at 7-7. Jensen's kill put the Jaguars in front 8-7, and McKinley Haider got an ace serve to make it 9-7. Fillmore Central's attack error helped the momentum shift clearly towards the Jaguars with a 10-7 score.

Later, with B-B-E nursing a 10-9 lead in the race to 15, the Jaguars came alive with a kill by Jaylee Jensen and then back-to-back kills by Teagan Dingmann for a 13-10 lead.

Fillmore Central's 6'2" junior middle hitter, Madilyn Zwart, gave the Jaguars trouble all night. She finished with 18 kills, but the match ended on back-to-back hitting errors by Zwart, which resulted in B-B-E's final 2 points in the fifth set. I honestly feel for her, as that sequence will haunt her in the offseason. As good as she is, I think it's a safe bet she will use that as motivation going into her senior year.

In game four, facing the chance it would end as a four-set loss and trailing 17-15, the Jaguars pulled it together and rattled off 10 straight points to stun the Falcons and their loud, supportive fans.

A few stats numbers:
Overall, the Jaguars had 14.8 percent hitting across all five sets with 40 total kills on 142 attacks. There was nothing flashy about B-B-E's attack. It was blue-collar the whole night. B-B-E's front line stats speak volumes: Teagan Dingmann had 11 kills on 31.8 percent hitting, Macey Roering and Jaylee Jensen each had 10 kills, and Laken Anderson put down 8 kills.

Defensively, the Jaguars racked up 8 solo blocks, 55 digs and were 73-of-77 on serve receive.

Fillmore Central's Achilles heel throughout the entire match was seen at the service line: 15 service errors on 94 attempts for 84 percent. They managed 5 ace serves, but their serving misses were daggers at times. Meanwhile, the Jaguars had 5 service errors on 98 serve attempts (94.9%) with 5 aces.

Fillmore Central, just like the Jaguars, has 3 seniors on the roster. It's a safe bet they'll be a state contender in 2027 and will remember this loss in the offseason.

NEXT: and this is a big one! Next is the state championship match at 1 p.m. on Saturday, November 14 in Saint Paul. The opponent will be No. 1-ranked and No. 1-seeded Minneota (31-4). The Vikings demolished Sacred Heart 25-16, 25-17, 25-10 to land a spot in the state championship for the second time in three seasons. They were runners-up in 2024 to Mayer Lutheran, missed out on state in 2023 but were state champions in 2022. In 2022, Minneota won 3-2 against Mayer Lutheran in the state finals.

Coming out of the COVID pandemic, the Vikings blazed their way to the 2021 state championship, but Mayer Lutheran won that match by a 3-0 sweep.

In the post-match press conference, first-year head coach Holly Breitbach admitted she was still short of breath with her heart going "a million miles an hour" after guiding her team through the barn-burner five-setter. She gave high praise to her team and how they "played their hearts out again" as they've taken the mantle of giant-slayers in the tournament.

"Kudos to Fillmore Central. They are a fabulous team. We put the pieces together today, and we had so much ammunition to counter what they did."

In the Class 2A volleyball tournament today:
For our neighbors to the northwest and south, Minnewaska Area and New London-Spicer both ran into trouble in the Class 2A semifinals today. Both of them lost in 3-0 sweeps, and they face eachother in the third-place match tomorrow.

You can read about the State Quarterfinals post-match press conference by clicking over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website: BBEStateQuarterfinals2026.

A NEW blog post will be up and running by 11 a.m. on Saturday. 

GAME DAY, again! In Ramsey County

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team is warming up for the Class 1A state semifinals at Grand Casino Arena. I traveled as lightly as I could, so i'm blogging courtside from my cell phone right now. We will see how this goes! Both schools have their pep bands in action too! 

I've got 6 minutes to get this shaped up for match updates. The match should begin on time at 3 p.m.

Remember! D-Mac at 107.1 FM has the call today. They stream online, but I haven't found their website unfortunately. 

MATCH UPDATES:

The Jaguars have had a somewhat slow start, and they trail 7-3 in game one. Time to generate some offense!

**Update: the Falcons are ahead 18-14.

Game one: Fillmore Central 25, B-B-E 18. The Jaguars are not getting the touches needed to slow the attack of the Falcons front line. That hopefully will look different in game two. Fillmore Central had 4 service errors in game one. Hopefully that continues! Game 2 is starting at 3:22 p.m.

Early in game 2, the Jaguars are ahead 7-6.

Game 2: B-B-E 25, Fillmore Central 16.

**In game 3, we are tied 12-all. It has been an incredible set so far.

**Update: the tide turned in a huge way, and the Falcons have a 17-12 game three lead. They have scored 9 straight points.

Game three: Fillmore Central 25, B-B-E 15. It was rough.

**In game four, the Falcons are ahead 15-13.

Game four: B-B-E 25, Fillmore Central 17.

**HIT REFRESH to see how this thing turned out in a NEW blog post!

You can read about the state quarterfinal post-match press conference by clicking over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website: BBEJaguarsStateQuarterfinals.

Step V: Jaguars knock of defending state champions! FINAL FOUR bound! (*UPDATED)

For the first time in school history, the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team has bounced a two-time defending state champion in the postseason - or one-time defending champ for that matter. They did so tonight behind an incredible performance in the Class 1A state quarterfinals in St. Paul. Facing vaunted No. 6-ranked and No. 3-seeded Mayer Lutheran, who trounced Russel-Tyler-Ruthton in last year's state title match, the Jaguars were completely unfazed against the taller and more experienced Crusaders team. A 3-0 sweep was the result, and the Jaguars now head to the state semifinals!

Game scores: 25-19, 26-24, 25-23. Noteworthy: Mayer Lutheran has 8 seniors on their roster of 16 total players. How stacked and veteran is Mayer Lutheran's team? Five of the 6 starters are seniors, and four of those five senior starters are hitters. Those 4 senior hitters are all listed at 6'0" or 6'1" tall. Another senior, Ellie Shipler, is one of the team's two setters. One underclassmen is a starter: 5'11" sophomore middle hitter Preslie Hunter. Mayer Lutheran's libero is 5'5" sophomore Annika Radke.

Tonight's state tournament win also marks the volleyball team's first back-to-back Final Four appearance at state.

For those keeping track like I am...the Jaguars, who have 3 seniors, beat a team tonight with 8 seniors. The prior match, the Section 6A finals, saw us enjoy a win where the opponent had 11 seniors. The section semifinal opponent, Underwood, had 7 seniors on their roster. The section quarterfinal opponent, had 4 seniors - but it should be noted that the HLA Comets ran a top rotation that featured just one senior.

NEXT: the Jaguars (21-8) face No. 2-seeded and No. 2-ranked Fillmore Central at 3 p.m. on Friday. The Falcons are 26-6 overall. They were the Three Rivers Conference champions and Section 1A champions in southeast Minnesota. Just like the Jaguars, Fillmore Central had 3 seniors on the roster: Cameron Wingert (5'9" right side), Josiana Corson (5'5" libero) and Lauren Dahly (5'9" middle). Dahly is one of their big guns in the front row.

Shout out to senior Kamie Fischer! She earned All-State honors on Tuesday night.   

In game three, the Crusaders held an 18-11 lead before the Jaguars made the huge comeback. Later in the set, the Jaguars trailed 21-19. Mayer Lutheran's senior setter, Ellie Shipler, served into the net for a giant side out that made it a one-point game. What followed that service error may have been the dagger: the Crusaders had back-to-back hitting errors. Teagan Dingmann and Laken Anderson joined for an assisted block, giving the Jaguars a 23-21 lead. The Crusaders had one more punch to give, and they got back-to-back kills for a tie game. Mya Worms rocketed down a kill, and Anderson polished off the win with an ace serve.

Here's video from the epic game 3 comeback:


Teagan Dingmann led the attack with 10 kills on monstrous 43 percent hitting. To put it bluntly, Dingmann's attack was wicked. The senior middle had 21 attacks with just one miss, and 10 attacks went down for kills. In addition to her offense, she earned two solo blocks and 4 digs. Jaylee Jensen, another middle hitter, had 8 kills plus 2 solo blocks.

A huge, HUGE key to this win was found at the service line. On 77 attempts, the Jaguars had just 3 missed serves. Mayer Lutheran had 67 serve attempts tonight, and eight were misses. That's a stark difference at this level: 88 percent to 96 percent.

Other nuts and bolts from the stats sheet:
Mayer Lutheran's senior-heavy front line had twice the number of attack errors of the Jaguars: 22 to 11. B-B-E had 24.1 percent hitting on 112 attacks, and Mayer Lutheran's hitting mark was 19.7 percent on 127 attacks. The Crusaders racked up more kills than the Jaguars, 47 to 38. They also had 6 solo blocks to 3 by the Jaguars. Serving was a huge difference-maker tonight.

Mayer Lutheran (19-13) heads to the consolation semifinal, where they play Sleepy Eye St. Mary's at 3 p.m. on Friday. SESM, champions of Section 2A, lost 3-1 to Fillmore Central in the quarterfinals. Game scores were 25-17, 22-25, 25-23, 25-17.

In the post-match press conference, head coach Holly Breitbach was emotional at times while speaking about the experience of being a former student athlete who played in the state volleyball tournament and now being a coach of the same accomplishment. She also provided high accolades to former B-B-E coaches who continue to mentor her in her first year guiding the program.

Also in the press conference, Teagan Dingmann gave high praise to B-B-E's student section for all they do in displaying outstanding, die-hard support for the team.

Here's a video from the first set tonight:


The Jaguars got an early 12-6 lead, and after Mayer Lutheran cut that to 15-12 and 16-13, the Jaguars led 23-15 on Jaylee Jensen's kill.

Some of what I've dug up about Fillmore Central:
Two seasons ago, West Central Area faced Fillmore Central in the third-place match and earned 3-0 win while finishing 29-5 overall.

Tonight, in the quarterfinals, the Falcons won with a hitting percentage of 16.6. Their leading hitter was Hannah Vaalemoen, who had terrific numbers: 30 attacks, 3 attack errors and 14 kills for a hitting mark of 36.7. Vaalemoen and Braelynn Dierkes each had 20 set assists while quarterbacking the offense.

The Falcons had 16.6 percent hitting, and their defense held SESM to just 0.8 percent hitting. That figure was from 131 total SEMS attacks with 30 errors and just 31 kills.

They are the real deal. Their regular season included multiple meat grinder-style tournaments. The Section 1A playoffs included a loaded field for Fillmore, including Bethlehem Academy, Mabel-Canton and Kenyon-Wanamingo. They won 3-2 against No. 4-ranked Kenyon-Wanamingo in the Section 1A championship on Saturday.

Last season, Fillmore Central lost 3-1 to Ada Borup-West in the state opener. They beat Nevis 3-0 in the consolation bracket and then won 3-0 over Cleveland to finish in fifth place.

On the other side of the bracket, top-seeded and heavily-favored Minneota won 3-0 over Pine River-Backus. Sacred Heart of East Grand Forks won 3-0 against Chisholm

REMEMBER! You can watch the final point scored in the section finals against Border West by clicking over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website: BBEvolleyball-BorderWest.

Congratulations to neighboring New London-Spicer and Minnewaska Area, as both teams won Class 2AA quarterfinal matches today with 3-0 sweeps.

This blog post is "basically" a wrap - now it's Friday morning and time to pack up for a return trip to Saint Paul!


THANK YOU to Nancy Mathiason and the North American Insurance Agency of Belgrade and Willmar for sponsoring this state tournament blog post!

GAME DAY! In Ramsey County, Grand Casino Arena! (VIDEOS! Updates)

This is the BIG DAY! This is the day prep volleyball players work towards throughout the year. It's the state tournament opener today for the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team. They are facing Mayer Lutheran tonight at 7 p.m. at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul.

Lakeland Broadcasting out of Willmar will have the Jaguars on the radio tonight. I have to confirm which station. INDEED! the match will be on 106.5 FM The Train. Spread the word! The Coop's Corner pre-match show with Lakeland's sports manager Jason Brandt starts at 6:45 p.m.

They stream online too.

UPDATE:

**The send off in Belgrade is at 12:30 p.m. today!!  

This is the ninth overall state tournament trip for B-B-E's volleyball team. The first team played as Jaguars in 1988. The first team to play in a sub-section championship was the 1994 squad. The 1997 squad was the first team to win a sub-section or district title. Finally, in 2005, the Jaguars that season won the Section 6AA championship for the program's first state berth. That was B-B-E's only state tournament in Class 2A. The reclassifications for 2007 put them in Class 1A, and they played at state that year in the program's second-ever state tournament.

Let's go back 5 days and return to Fergus Falls! An exciting medals ceremony that night:


The Jaguars have played at Kennedy High School every fall since 2021. In 2021, 2022, 2025 and this year, they played two matches in the Section 6A tournament. They fell one match short of the section finals in 2023 and 2024 to West Central Area.

An enjoyable and memorable moment:
Click over to the newspaper's website to see the match point and post-match dogpile with the excitement of advancing to state once again: BBEVolleyball-SectionChamps2026.

Here's a video of the beginning of the State Send-Off at the high school:


Here's the team leaving town!


In the Class 2A state quarterfinals today, New London-Spicer faces Dover-Eyota at 1 p.m., while Minnewaska Area plays at 3 p.m. against Rush City.

At the state tournament on Wednesday:
Stewartville won 3-2 with a 15-12 game five win over Cretin-Derham Hall in the Class 3A state quarterfinals. Also, in that class, Marshall Area won 3-0 over Totino-Grace, and Alexandria lost 3-0 to Lakeville South.

MATCH UPDATES against Mayer Lutheran...to follow here:
**The match will start on time at 7 p.m. Remember! It is on The Train, and they stream online too!

GAME ONE: B-B-E 25, Mayer Lutheran 19.

GAME TWO: B-B-E 26, Mayer Lutheran 24.

Game 3 is starting at 7:55 p.m. 

GAME 3 updates: the Crusaders have an early 9-5 lead. It's their biggest lead they have had all night. Currently, it's 8:03 p.m.

In game 3, Mayer Lutheran now has a 15-8 lead.

Mayer Lutheran called their first timeout, and they have an 18-14 lead.

**HIT REFRESH for a new blog post, Step V, to see the outcome of tonight's match.

THANK YOU to Bonanza Valley State Bank for sponsoring this blog post and sponsoring color ink in this week's newspaper!

A couple days off

In order to be ready for the meat grinder that involves the blending of the fall musical and state volleyball in Jaguar Country, I've got the lightest possible workload coming on Tuesday and Wednesday. A heads up: I may not get much posted here until Thursday.

The Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper still goes to press as usual on Wednesday morning. It won't hit the mail routes until Thursday due to the Veterans Day holiday. Also, Veterans Day information was published in last week's newspaper issue.

I'm pleased to report that my state volleyball credentials were approved within the past hour. Let's go!

Tonight, at the school board meeting, I learned that the volleyball team will play on Friday at 3 p.m. in St. Paul. They'll either be in the winner's bracket or the consolation bracket. That'll be decided in the Thursday night match against Mayer Lutheran. Now you know that!

Always fun to share this list: after the volleyball team beat Underwood last week, they punched their ticket to a section championship match for the 18th time in program history. Those 18 section championship appearances have taken place between 2002 and this year. That's remarkable. Here's the list of section championship appearances by B-B-E's volleyball team: 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2025 and now 2026.

Since I've got volleyball as the present topic, it's worth pointing this out again: B-B-E has 3 seniors on the team. Last week, they beat Underwood, a team that had 7 seniors. They followed that with a 3-0 win over Border West, a team that had 11 seniors on its roster.

**Speaking of state volleyball, I learned that Lakeland Media of Willmar will carry B-B-E in the state opener. They broadcast on KWLM, Q102 and The Train, among other local stations.  I will share more information as I confirm it. This is very good news!  

Breitbach makes Top 30 at state cross country; volleyball prepares for state! (VIDEOS)

We have an exciting week ahead of us in Jaguar Country!

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team is preparing for the Class 1A state tournament for the second straight year. They gear up with three practices on the home floor before the trip to state competition in St. Paul on Thursday. On Tuesday, they also travel to St. Paul for the State Volleyball banquet.

In state cross country news:
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.

Margaret Duffy, the Section 5A champion from St. John's Prep, won the Class 1A title with a time of 17:25.2.

Breitbach was one of four B-B-E students who competed this fall on the B-B-E/Paynesville cross country team. They were featured in the October 29 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

Here's a video featuring action in game 3 against Border West:


In the final Class 1A Minnesota Volleyball Coaches Association poll, the Mayer Lutheran Crusaders were ranked No. 6, while the Jaguars were ranked No. 11.

Here's a video featuring the players and fans soaking up last night's win:


The video also includes the postmatch ceremony when Border West's team received their medals.

Some notes on Mayer Lutheran:
Mayer Lutheran has 8 seniors on this year's team. Many of those seniors played on last year's state tournament team that won the Class 1A state title. They defeated B-B-E 3-1 in the state semifinals. One senior this year of this year's team, Ada Hahn, was the leading hitter in last year's meeting with B-B-E; the 6'0" middle hitter had 17 kills in that match. The setter on Mayer Lutheran's 2025 team graduated.

In last year's Class 1A state championship, Mayer Lutheran won 25-17, 25-15, 25-23 against No. 2-seeded Russel-Tyler-Ruthton.

Sydney Panek is another setter on the team, and she's a 5'6" eighth grader. I don't know enough about them to determine if they run a 6-2 or 5-1 offense. My guess is a 6-2. Hallie Hunter, 6'1" senior outside hitter, is one of their main offensive weapons.

Here's the start of game two against Border West:


The early stages of game two had a back-and-forth flavor, and Border West held early leads of 1-0 and 5-4. Kills by Macey Roering and Laken Anderson sparked a 6-0 run that gave the Jaguars momentum to take control.

Some Monday morning news...
Due to family commitments, the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper office will be closed all day on Tuesday, November 10. Items submitted on Tuesday will be included in the November 19 issue of the newspaper.

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 Border 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

GAME DAY! In Otter Tail County - again! (VIDEO!*)

I hope you're packing your caravans and make tracks tonight to Kennedy High School in Fergus Falls. The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team is back in the section championship for the second year in a row. They are slight underdogs as the No. 3 seed in Section 6A, and they take on top-seeded Border West with first serve at 7 p.m. at Kennedy's Gold Gymnasium.

I've got a light web article posted at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website: BBEVolleyball-SectionFinals.

AND! Click on the following link: BBE-Sports-Tribute-Brady. At that web article, you can watch a very special video from last Friday's volleyball match in Brooten.

And here's another video from that night last Friday:


The video begins with the Jaguars trailing 14-13 against Hillcrest Lutheran Academy. It was during game three.

I am unaware of radio coverage with Leighton Media. Dave McClurg had the call for Minnewaska Area on 107.1 FM on Thursday night at St. Cloud State University. Once I'm at Fergus Falls tonight, I'll know and will share whether or not we have radio coverage. Stay tuned!

MATCH UPDATES IN FERGUS:
**You can listen to Morris radio online:

https://ingstadmedia.com/live/.

They also broadcast at 95.7 FM. On the website, scroll down to 95.7 KKOK. Their broadcast goes LIVE at 6:51 p.m. Currently, both pep bands are rocking out during the pre-match drills. 

**In game one, the Buccaneers have fought back somewhat, and the Jaguars currently have an 11-10 lead. They led 4-0 out of the gate. 

Game one: BBE 25, Border West 19. The Buccaneers were kept on their heels for much of the set due to excellent Jaguar serving. Multiple serves dropped sharply in the back row, and passing was tough for Border West. The 2nd set will start at 7:26 p.m.

**In game 2, Border West has an early 5-4 lead.

The Jaguars led 20-10, then 20-16, and the final score was 25-17! Jaguars up 2-0 in sets.

***In game 3, the Jaguars have a 16-8 lead, and the Buccaneers are out of time outs.

**HIT refresh to this blog to see the outcome of the match.

Looking at Border West (VIDEO)

Border West's setter is Claire Rinke, a 5'11" senior. One of their top hitters is 5'9" senior outside Faith Gahlon. Two other top hitters include 5'11" senior middle Taylin Schmidt and 5'7" sophomore outside Oaklee Martinek.

Altogether, the roster of Border West has 11 seniors. The Buccaneers hold a 23-2 overall record. They are a first-year co-op between Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley and Wheaton/Herman-Norcross. In the postseason they played two matches at C-G-B high school in Graceville. Last season, both schools had strong volleyball seasons. C-G-B went 18-6, and W/H-N went 14-10. In the 2025 Section 6A standings, they were the No. 7 and No. 8-ranked teams, respectively.

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team (19-8) faces Border West in the Section 6A championship on Saturday, November 7. First serve is at 7 p.m. at Kennedy High School's Gold Gymnasium in Fergus Falls.

Here's a video featuring action late in game two against Underwood:


The Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's SmugMug fall sports albums have been updated: https://bonanzavalley.smugmug.com/BBE-Fall-Sports-2026.

Area football section championship results on November 6:
Upsala/Swanville Area 36, Benson 14
Breckenridge 21, Parkers Prairie 14
Minneota 21, Dawson-Boyd 7