MVL edges Redwood Valley in 5

Will face Renville County West in 2AA North semis

BIRD ISLAND -- Minnesota Valley Lutheran and Redwood Valley battled down to the end in a five-game see-saw match in the Section 2AA North subsection quarterfinals.

MVL, down two games to one after three, rallied in the final two games for a 15-13, 14-16, 10-15, 15-8, 15-11 win and the right to meet top-seeded Renville County West Tuesday in the semifinals in Redwood Falls.

The match started as MVL coach Julie Detjen expected, with both teams scrambling for digs, looking for open holes and pounding the ball when they could. Neither team could build a big lead in the first game which MVL won.

MVL managed to get a comfortable lead in the second game, but the Cardinals would not go away, putting together a couple of big runs. "Before we knew it they had won the game," said Detjen.

The Cardinals took the 2-1 lead with a 15-10 win in game three.

With their backs against the wall the Chargers traded sideouts and one-point leads with the Cardinals until Holly Enter, who had 16 service points to lead the Charters, served up four straight points to take MVL from a 2-3 deficit to a 6-3 lead.

The Chargers were trying to keep the ball away from the Cardinal's big hitter, Danielle Kaardal, who needed only 14 kills to reach 1,000 going into the game. "Our goal was to hold her off as long as we could," said Detjen. The Chargers managed to make her wait until the fourth game.

MVL scored most of its points when Kaardal was in the back line. "We started to step it up a little when she was in the back row, setting up mismatches on the front line," said Detjen.

MVL held the lead the rest of the game. The Cardinals came close at 8-7, but Enter served two more points for a 10-7 lead. Redwood Valley picked up another point, but with Meredith Browne at the serving line, MVL reeled off four more points for a 14-8 lead. Emily Buck served the winning point when the Cardinals were called for a lift.

The final game saw MVL take an early lead. Redwood Valley got the first serve and the first point, but Enter took the line with a 2-1 lead and extended it to 5-1. The Chargers kept adding to the lead until they stood at 8-1, apparently in control.

But with Rachael Bloedow serving, the Cardinals reeled off three straight points. Kaardal served another point to make it 6-8 before MVL scored its next point, and then some. MVL made it 11-6 with Browne serving. The Cardinals would not quit, battling back to 11-9. When MVL took a 14-9 lead, the Cardinals picked up two more before MVL scored the final point.

Redwood Valley finishes the season 15-12-1 overall, while MVL moved to 17-6.

Emily Buck had 62 set assists for the Chargers, crushing the team record she set only a couple of weeks ago. She also had eight kills and 13 service points. Kelsey Black had 21 kills, 22 digs, 12 service points and five aces. Danielle Kramer had 16 kills, 10 digs and 11 service points. Jessie Merseth and Angie Unke both had 16 kills and four ace blocks.

Wabasso 3, Red Rock Central 0

MARSHALL -- Wabasso swept three games from Red Rock Central in the first round of the Section 3A North subsection volleyball playoffs Friday. The Rabbits had scores of 15-11, 15-8, 15-11.

Wabasso moves on to meet Minneota in the semifinals Tuesday at Southwest State University.

April Fennern had 21 out of 22 serves for 16 points. Brandi Wurscher had 11 kills, 11 digs adn three ace tips. Melissa Plaetz had 9 kills. Jessic VanLoy had 7 kills, 11 digs, and six ace tips. Andrea Schueller had 12 digs and Abbey Renniger had 22 set assists.

In other 3A North results, Westbrook-Walnut Grove defeated Lakeview 15-12, 15-6, 15-3, Minneota defeated Lincoln HI 15-3, 15-10, 15-7, and Russel-Tyler Ruthton beat Dawson-Boyd 15-1, 16-14, 15-4.

RTR will face WWG in the other half of the semifinals on Tuesday.

Pipestone-Jasper 3,

Springfield 0

WINDOM -- Pipestone-Jasper is seeded #1 in the Section 3AA South Subsection, and it showed why Friday with a 15-4, 15-4, 15-11 win over Springfield in the subsection quarterfinals.

Taryn Runck had seven kills and four ace blocks for the Tigers. Sara Hillesheim had 11 set assists. Kim Weedman had five kills, and Jamie Kaehler had eight service points.

Springfield ends its season with an 11-16 record overall, and a 4-5 record in the Tomahawk Conference.

TMB 3, GFW 1

Tracy-Milroy-Balaton defeated Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop 3-1 in the North Section 3AA subsection quarterfinals Friday. TMB won the first game 15-13. The Thunderbirds tied it with a 15-8 win in the second game, but TMB took the third and fourth games 15-7, 15-4.