6 GAMES 4 DAYS
Well, to be truthful it was eight games in six days. I already reported on Monday’s game between Maple Grove and Buffalo, therefore that contest isn’t included in this recap. That game bookended a Lake conference theme this week with the Eden Prairie tournament with Edina in the mix to finish the week. Right now, I have five of the seven Lake teams under the pen. The two that are missing are Hopkins and newcomer St. Michael-Albertville. I also continued my tour of section 4A with a heavy dose of Minneapolis. Of course, I coach at Henry (we won on Tuesday over St. Paul Washington). That started a three day City of Lakes viewing with South and Edison following. Cristo Rey Jesuit is in Minneapolis, but not in the city conference to continue with the city theme on Friday at West Lutheran. I closed the week at EP. This year the Pudas Invitational only had seven teams, three from the Lake (with the addition of Minnetonka who I charted last weekend). That meant there was no champion as the schedule had six teams had five contests. The exception was Holy Family which played four.
SOUTH 3, COOPER 2/WEDNESDAY
(25-19, 18-25, 24-26, 25-21, 15-13)
This was the match of the week—-only if it provided twists, turns and controversy. There was marathon rallies, overturned calls, double replays, and scoreboard errors. South rallied in the fifth set from a 13-9 deficit to walk out of Cooper with a five set win. South had their backs to the wall trailing 2-1 after the third set. The Tigers showcased their comeback ability earlier in sets three and four. In the third they trailed 24-17 and held off set point seven times forcing extra points before succumbing 26-24. Cooper was forced to use two times outs in that surge. The second did the trick with a deep serve. The late set magic continued in set four when tied at 19 South scored five straight points (24-19). Cooper had a big hand in those rallies giving up points via hitting errors. The Hawks out-earned South 61-50 for the night. In set five Cooper led 11-5 only to see South go on a 10-2 finish. Six hitting errors doomed Cooper down the stretch. A block by Camryn Benjamin capped the night.
| SOUTH | COOPER | |
| POINTS | 107 | 104 |
| ACES | 12 | 16 |
| BLOCKS | 2 | 1 |
| KILLS | 36 | 44 |
| EARNED PER SET | 10.87 | 13.26 |
| FIRST BALL KILLS | 6 | 9 |
| LEADING SCORER | Estelle Harsh 15 | Faith King 14 |
EDISON 3, HUMBOLDT 0/THURSDAY
(25-20, 25-22, 25-20)
For the second straight day it was a Minneapolis themed game. This was a Twin Town battle. Oddly enough Edison is on the east side of the Mississippi River and Humboldt is on the west side, the two schools that defy the normal pattern for the schools in their respective cities. This game took place in the afternoon at 4 pm with a football game and freshman orientation going on at Edison. Add in construction and it was chaotic. Edison had the jump in each set with a 12-4 advantage in set one. The Tommies provided more earned points than the Hawks (the second straight day for the feathered friends to go down). That eight point advantage melted to three (19-16). Edison rallied in set two. But first Humboldt rallied from an 8-3 deficit. Two rotations later Humboldt was on top 13-10. A series of four hitting errors sunk the Hawks and then two aces pushed Edison up 20-18. A time out by Humboldt stopped the bleeding. Edison scored the last three points all came on Humboldt errors initiated with a missed serve. Once Edison led 8-3 in the third set they would not trail again. The biggest Tommie lead in that set came at 19-13.
| EDISON | HUMBOLDT | |
| POINTS | 75 | 62 |
| ACES | 8 | 4 |
| BLOCKS | 3 | 0 |
| KILLS | 33 | 18 |
| EARNED PER SET | 14.67 | 7.33 |
| FIRST BALL KILLS | 11 | 5 |
| LEADING SCORER | Irma O’Meara 10.5 | #14 5 |
WEST LUTHERAN 3, CRISTO REY JESUIT 0/FRIDAY
(25-9, 25-12, 25-15)
Tough Warrior serving combined with Puma receiving errors made this a quick contest Friday night at West Lutheran. An opening five ace salvo from Abby Heinrich left little doubt to the final outcome. WL racked up 14 aces in the opening set on their way to 32. The scores didn’t reflect how far apart the two teams really are. CRJ only earned six points all night.
| WEST LUTHERAN | CRISTO REY | |
| POINTS | 75 | 36 |
| ACES | 32 | 2 |
| BLOCKS | 0 | 1 |
| KILLS | 27 | 3 |
| EARNED PER SET | 19.67 | 2.0 |
| FIRST BALL KILLS | 14 | 3 |
| LEADING SCORER | Grace Tesmer 14 | Maddie Nolen 2 |
EDEN PRAIRIE TOURNAMENT
Who won the EP tournament? There was no ‘champion’ but Minnetonka finished the day 5-0, the best of the seven teams in the field. They defeated Jefferson 2-0 who beat host EP 2-1 earlier in the day. EP & Minnetonka did not face each other.
EDEN PRAIRIE 2, BLAINE 0/SATURDAY
(25-15, 25-14)
Host EP put up a big block at the net and had a +13 advantage in kills to cage the Bengals. Two of the Eagles first four points in the first set came off blocks by Abby Horn and Kendall Minta. EP created more separation on their second run in rotation five with six straight points (14-6). In set two EP soared out to a 5-0 lead with a Blaine time out and then stretched it out to 9-1. Minta had three kills and a block in that start. EP closed hard too with five straight points including three straight aces. It was a 15-2 book end to set two (9-1 & 6-1). Blaine ‘won’ the middle 12-10.
| EDEN PRAIRIE | BLAINE | |
| POINTS | 50 | 29 |
| ACES | 6 | 4 |
| BLOCKS | 6 | 0 |
| KILLS | 28 | 15 |
| EARNED PER SET | 20.0 | 9.5 |
| FIRST BALL KILLS | 9 | 6 |
| LEADING SCORER | Kendall Minta 8.5 | Natalie Schmitz 6 |
EDEN PRAIRIE 2, EDINA 0/SATURDAY
(25-16, 25-19)
There were bound to be a familiar conference foe with three of the seven teams Lake based. Host EP halted the Hornets in two. Edina did hold slender leads out to 12-11. The second EP run of the set gave them a 14-12 lead which they would not relinquish. EP again closed strong with the last six points of the set. Emma Martinson had two kills out of the setter position in that run. EP hung on for the victory in the the second set when after holding a 22-11 lead they made a pair of subs. Edina took advantage of that change with an 8-2 rally holding off match point three times. Four Eagles ended up with six or seven kills for this match.
| EDEN PRAIRIE | EDINA | |
| POINTS | 50 | 35 |
| ACES | 5 | 3 |
| BLOCKS | 6 | 2 |
| KILLS | 31 | 15 |
| EARNED PER SET | 21.0 | 10.0 |
| FIRST BALL KILLS | 13 | 10 |
| LEADING SCORER | Izzy Thorne 9.5 | Grace Hamerski 6 |
EDINA 2, MANKATO EAST 0/SATURDAY
(25-21, 25-18)
Edina bounced right back to cage the Cougars in two to close the EP event. Edina broke free with a run of four after an 18 all tie. The last three Hornet points of the set came on Tessa Dubbe swings, two of which were first swing side outs. Edina only trailed 2-1 in the second set. A four point run beginning with three East hitting errors gave the Hornets an 8-5 advantage. Edina’s defense did not allow any ME runs in the final set.
| EDINA | MANKATO EAST | |
| POINTS | 50 | 39 |
| ACES | 7 | 5 |
| BLOCKS | 0 | 1 |
| KILLS | 30 | 18 |
| EARNED PER SET | 18.5 | 12.0 |
| FIRST BALL KILLS | 16 | 7 |
| LEADING SCORER | Grace Hamerski 9 | Mackenzie Schweim 8 |