MVL falls to top-seed RCW

By JEN SEAVEY

Journal Sports Writer

REDWOOD FALLS -- The Minnesota Valley Lutheran volleyball women ended their season Tuesday night and are trying hard to remember the first game of the night -- and forget the rest.

Fourth ranked MVL fell to first-seeded Renville County West in four games (18-16, 8-15, 4-15, 3-15) in their Section 3AA North Volleyball game Tuesday in Redwood Valley.

In the finals, RCV will face second-seed BOLD, who defeated Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 15-11, 6-15, 15-10, 16-14.

In 3A North playoffs, Wabasso fell to Minneota 15-3, 15-9, 15-3, while Westbrook-Walnut Grove beat Russel-Tyler-Ruthton in five games, 6-15, 12-15, 15-7, 15-6, 15-4.

The women started out the evening strong, concentrating on the holes they had found in RCW's game.

"We executed exactly what we wanted to do," said Coach Julie Detjen. "We took advantage of what they were struggling with."

Kelsey Black, who had eight points and three ace serves Tuesday, started out with two straight ace serves to set the tone for game one. MVL let one point go, hitting into the net, but advanced as far as 8-1 before they let RCW have two more. From there on out, it was close. MVL lost some momentum, and allowed RCW to tie it 11-11. The teams tied it up four more times before two mistakes by RCW allowed MVL to take it 18-16.

"After that first game, we had them against the wall," said Detjen. "They just came out firing."

Both teams were charged with energy after the close game. Kelsey Black made the first point with an ace hit. RCW tied it up twice before Angie Unke made a nice block to make it 3-2. RCW tied it up a third time, and didn't look back. Something seemed to put out the fire that had been lit under MVL players in game one.

First, was a RCW ace serve that the women thought was out, then a long spike, and MVL was called for being in the net. After that, Smith served an ace for RCW, followed by a hit that went wide, and another net call, to bring it to 5-10. Unke took it back with an ace hit, followed by an ace serve by Danielle Kramer to make it 6-10. Kramer had seven service points and 10 kills total. MVL's last two points were on mistakes by RCW, and the Jaguars ended the game 8-15 with an ace serve.

Play was more rushed in game three, not the solid play Detjen would've liked to have seen. Once again, MVL started the game with a point, and the Jaguars had to fight for their early points. But MVL lost the lead, not to recover. The Charger's next three points were ace blocks by Unke, with Kelsey Black and Emily Buck helping. From there, the Jaguars quickly ended it, 4-15. Unke totalled five blocks and seven kills on the night.

Game four closed the door on the night, the Jaguars putting an end to the Charger's hopes, only allowing them three points. Buck made the first point for the Chargers with an ace serve, followed shortly by an ace hit by Black, and later on by an RCW error.

"We shot ourselves in the foot," said Detjen. "We had some chances, but we gave them away. If we had played as well as we did in game one, it would've been a tight match."

While RCW coach, Dan Loe, thought that their number of good hitters overpowered MVL, Detjen disagrees. It wasn't Aimee Freiborg, RCW's 6'2" hitter that got them, nor was it Sarah Smith, a powerful 5'5" hitter -- it was Teri Knapper, their 5'11" middle hitter. But most of all, Detjen said, the Chargers didn't allow themselves to win.

RCW advances to play at SSU on Saturday, while Detjen is left thinking about next year, trying not to think about those last three games.

Minneota 3, Wabasso 0

MARSHALL -- Led by 12 kills from Renee Buysse, 10 from Jenna Boulton, and nine from Brittany Buysse, the Minneota disposed of Wabasso 15-3, 15-9, 15-3 in the Section 3A-North semifinals Tuesday night.

The Vikings (25-3) used their hitting to fight off the Rabbits (17-9), who lost to Minneota in the playoffs for the second year in a row.

Minneota got ahead 8-3, and stayed ahead in game one to win it 15-3. Wabasso got on track and stayed close early in game two, and closed to 9-6 later on, but Minneota had too much, ending the game 15-9.

"We moved better, and it seemed like we had more of a flow," Wabasso coach Val Oftedahl said. "We played a better game; we just couldn't get over the hump."

Wabasso lost the serve to open game three, and the Vikings built a 7-0 lead. Wabasso got to 9-2 on a kill from Brandi Wurscher, but the Vikings finished things off with a 15-3 win.

"We knew our hitters had to play well," said Oftedahl. "We had to do the things we had to do. In the end, our serve-receive killed us."

Serving leaders were Andrea Schueller and Melissa Plaetz for Wabasso, also serving 100 percent. Brandi Wurscher had five kills, and Plaetz had four. Wurscher also had two blocks, while Katie Schumacher had three. Schueller had 10 digs.

Minneota will face a rematch with Westbrook-Walnut Grove in Thursday's Section 3A North final.

WWG 3, RTR 2

MARSHALL -- Westbrook-Walnut Grove advance to the Section 3A North volleyball championship game against Minneota, besting Russell-Tyler-Ruthton 3-2 (6-15, 12-15, 15-7, 15-6, 15-4).

Serving for the WWG, Katie Hansen had four aces, Shanell Amundson claiming two. For RTR, Julie Wyatt was 100 percent with two aces, and Kayla Petersen had three.

Hitting leaders for WWG were Hansen with 21 kills, and Katie Swanson and Becky Schulz, both with eight. Schulz and Hanson both had three blocks on the night.

Crystal Keifer, for RTR also had eight kills, while Kayla and Kristi Thooft had seven and six.

Schulz and Jenny Heinrich of WWG each made eight digs, but Kayla Thooft had 16 for RTR, and Petersen had 15.