NORTHFIELD 3, ROCHESTER MAYO 0
(25-19, 25-19, 25-17)
#3 seed Northfield swept #6 Rochester Mayo in 1AAA quarterfinal
action on Friday night. The Raiders had a nightmare start falling behind 8-0 before digging out of that deficit. Northfield also trailed early in set two. Two Raiders scored in double digits, with another just a half point off. As a team the Raiders outscored the Spartans by 15 points.
Mayo, behind the baffling short serves of Hallie Olson, jumped out to an 8-0 lead and forced a exasperated time out by Northfield. The Raiders got the ball back thanks to a net violation. Besides suffering two aces in that stretch, Northfield had two hitting errors and a double contact. Once the game rhythm was established and Northfield settled down the boat was righted. Nora Lemkuhl came up with her own run of six and helped put the hosts in front to stay (17-13). It was during this time that Mayo was sending more free balls back to the Raiders as the quality of their attack deteriorated. Mayo had to use their second time out in a four point Northfield run to make it 22-17.
Mayo still had a good start to the second set leading 5-2, but both Northfield points came on Mayo service errors. It didn’t take the Raiders long to inch forward this time as they ran off five straight to lead 6-5. There would be five lead changes in this set, the last coming in favor of Northfield at 13-12. The game was in the balance with both teams knotted up at 17 when a three point run gave Northfield all the cushion they would need (20-17). It all started with a quick kill out of the middle by Linnea Larson. Larson in addition had three more kills down the stretch. Mayo’s last time out came trailing 23-19, but the momentum belonged to the hosts.
Mayo once again started in front, but this time their lead melted away at 1-0. The Spartans could not get any run going and their body language indicated that the road uphill was wearing on them. Northfield sided out ten straight times against the Spartans, while squeezing at least a point off their serve seven times in that same stretch. Things got frustrating for the Mayo bench as well as they voiced their concerns about a call on a hitting error by Mayo that hit the left outside pin. As a result a yellow card was award. All this happened with the score 24-17.
Last year Farmington upset Northfield on the very same night. For the Raiders to move on this year they will need to set their alarm clocks ahead because falling behind by eight or even six will prove fatal in the semis or beyond.
Northfield is now 27-2 on the year. This was the second sweep against Mayo this year for the Raiders.
Northfield was the #7 team in the QRF rankings. I now have one team left in the top 10, and six left in the top 20. The bad news is that one team will be left unseen….unless they reach the state tournament.
The weather was more akin to the winter basketball season with snow falling all day. Luckily it did not stick to the road surface, but it did give the roads a nice sheen. I only saw one car in the ditch.
NORTHFIELD
| SRV | # | Name | Pos | Year | A | B | K | Pts |
| 1 | 10 | Nora Lemkuhl | S | 2019 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | 8 | Hailey Mackenthun | OH | 2018 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 14 |
| 3 | 1 | Emma Torstenson | L | 2021 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 18 | Annalee Olson-Sola | MH | 2018 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 7 | |
| 4 | 4 | Presley Fink | DS | 2020 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Stephanie Franz | RH | 2019 | 0 | 0.5 | 9 | 9.5 | |
| 5 | 7 | Bronwyn Timperley | OH | 2020 | 0 | 0.5 | 5 | 5.5 |
| 6 | 17 | Mariah Feidt | Server | 2018 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | Linnea Larson | MH | 2019 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 11 | |
| totals | 7 | 4 | 41 | 53 |
ROCHESTER MAYO
| SRV | # | Name | Ht | Pos | Year | A | B | K | Pts |
| 1 | 3 | Hallie Olson | 5-5 | L | 2018 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 21 | Alexa Hruska | 5-10 | MH | 2019 | 0 | 0.5 | 0 | 0.5 | |
| 23 | Emma Goss | 5-11 | MH | 2020 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2 | 9 | Lexie Lang | 5-8 | S | 2018 | 0 | 0.5 | 5 | 5.5 |
| 3 | 2 | Jadyn Koestering | 5-6 | OH | 2020 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| 4 | 14 | Elizabeth Theisen | 5-6 | DS | 2021 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | Jade Boysen | 5-11 | MH | 2018 | 0 | 1.5 | 5 | 6.5 | |
| 5 | 13 | Erin O’Hara | 5-3 | Server | 2018 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 20 | Anna Kirkland | 6-0 | RH | 2018 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 | |
| 6 | 16 | Kelly Klees | 5-10 | S | 2020 | 1 | 0.5 | 8 | 9.5 |
| totals | 6 | 3 | 29 | 38 |
TRENCH PLAYER
Hailey Mackenthun
| EARNED | |||
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Northfield | 17 | 19 | 17 |
| Rochester Mayo | 12 | 15 | 11 |
| ALLOWED | |||
| Northfield | 7 | 4 | 6 |
| Rochester Mayo | 8 | 6 | 8 |
BY THE NUMBERS
| Item | Northfield | Rochester Mayo |
| First Swing SO | 14 | 8 |
| Runs 3+ | 10 | 3 |
| Longest String | 7 | 8 |
| Serving % | 69/73-.945 | 50/56-.893 |
| Time outs | 0/1-.000 | 2/6-.333 |
| Set points | 3/3-1.000 | |
| Time | 1:07 |
RACE TO …
| Set | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 |
| 1 | RM | RM | N | N | N |
| 2 | RM | RM | N | N | N |
| 3 | N | N | N | N | N |
BIGGEST LEAD
| Set | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Northfield | 6 | 6 | 8 |
| Rochester Mayo | 8 | 3 | 1 |
RECEIVE TO KILL
NORTHFIELD
S
| # | Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| 18 | Annalee Olson-Sola | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 0 | .000 |
| 1 | Emma Torstenson | 13 | 10 | .769 | 6 | .462 |
| 7 | Bronwyn Timperley | 12 | 7 | .583 | 3 | .250 |
| 8 | Hailey Mackenthun | 23 | 12 | .522 | 5 | .217 |
| 11 | Stephanie Franz | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | .000 |
| totals | 51 | 30 | .588 | 14 | .275 |
ROCHESTER MAYO
| # | Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| 16 | Kelly Klees | 7 | 5 | .714 | 1 | .143 |
| 9 | Lexie Lang | 5 | 3 | .600 | 1 | .200 |
| 2 | Jadyn Koestering | 8 | 4 | .500 | 1 | .125 |
| 14 | Elizabeth Theisen | 9 | 4 | .444 | 1 | .111 |
| 3 | Hallie Olson | 38 | 14 | .368 | 4 | .105 |
| 13 | Erin O’Hara | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | .000 |
| totals | 70 | 30 | .429 | 8 | .114 |