Mustangs rewarded by trip to state

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

ST. PETER -- Buffalo Lake-Hector seniors Dayna Rippentrop and Kristen Raitz finally got the reward for all the hard work they've done since they were in seventh grade.

The two have set their sights on reaching the state tournament their whole career and now they can get a first-hand look of the tournament atmosphere as BLH defeated Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin 25-8, 25-13, 25-9 Saturday night to win the Section 2A championship at Lund Arena.

"I'm really excited," Raitz said. She finished with seven kills, four ace serves and an ace tip. "We've dreamed of this since seventh grade and we finally got what we always wanted."

"It's awesome," Rippentrop said. "We've been waiting for this moment all our lives and we've talked about it and finally its come true."

Rippentrop said the team chemistry of the Mustangs has been the difference maker.

"We get along very well," Rippentrop said. "We do everything together and that helps a lot with our team chemistry. We've been playing together for a long time and know what each other does and we just do it."

BLH made quick work of MLBO, finishing off the Wolverines in 51 minutes.

Raitz' serving in Game 1 broke the game open. With her team up 4-3, she rattled off seven consecutive service points, including two aces to put her team up 11-3.

"I just knew I had to keep serving tough to keep us ahead, and I just did what I needed to do," Raitz said.

Later, Rippentrop found a gap in the defense and exploited it with an ace to put BLH up 18-6. Monica Ashburn's quick set to Leah Burgstahler gave BLH a 22-8 lead and the Mustangs hung on for the 25-8 win. Monica Ashburn finished with 29 set assists.

"We ran a lot of quicks, and that kept our offense quick and we had good passes that helped us to get a quick offense," Raitz said.

Rippentrop's second ace serve of the night put BLH up 3-0 in Game 2. Burgstahler's tip made it 9-3 and her ace serve made it 12-3. Leah Ashburn had consecutive kills to put BLH up 18-6 and the Mustangs cruised to a 25-13 win.

"We just kept hitting it at them and we had the coverage behind if they did get blocks," Rippentrop said. "We picked it up behind them and did our job."

The MLBO defense helped BLH with several free balls early in Game 3 and the Mustangs were able to deliver the kill off them. Leah Ashburn put away a free ball with a tip, giving BLH a 9-3 lead.

"That helped a lot too," Rippentrop said. "They were giving us free shots."

"We had to find the spot to tip in," Leah Ashburn said. "They were pretty scrappy so they picked up a lot, so we had to be smart." Leah Ashburn finished with 10 kills.

Again, BLH had no problems as Kayla Ilgen's kill put the Mustangs up 16-5. BLH won and celebrated its first trip to state since 2000 and third in school history.

Burgstahler finished with 10 kills, six tips and three blocks.

BLH (30-1) plays the Section 6 champion at 3 p.m. Thursday at Xcel Energy Center.