3A Semifinals
After being in the Northeast corner of the state the night before, I did a 180 and was in the Southwest Corner for some 3A subsection final action at Southwest MN State in Marshall. Like most of the games I have charted this week the brooms were out. All the teams today had 20 or more wins. The favorites continued on. Three players racked up 18 or more kills in their matches, two moved on, one finished her career. But the trend of the week, the Halloween theme of leads disappearing in a nightmare finish rang true again; except tonight’s was the biggest yet—-14 points gone into extra points.
The main purpose of this trip was to chart then #19 in the QRF Tracy-Milroy-Balaton. Luckily for me there was no snow.
MINNEOTA 3, CANBY 0
(25-17, 25-15, 27-25)
#1 North seed Minneota beat familiar rival #2 seed Canby in a three with the ultra comeback in the final set. Minneota won despite Canby having more first swing kills on the night (16-14). The Vikings established their imprint on the game in the first set with a run of six to take the lead at 10-5. In set two, Minneota took a 6-2 lead with the last two points on that run coming from Lydia Sussner blocks. It was Sussner’s offense that keyed the Vikings. She had a day’s high 21 kills with 23.5 points. Canby inched back to 11-9 after their first run of the match. Minneota responded right back with six straight during which time the Lancers tried to stop the momentum. Prior to the start of the third set I mentioned how Minneota only had three points they gave away in each set. Apparently the Vikings were then cursed because they had three hitting errors in Canby’s first run of six right off the bat. Minneota didn’t waste time in taking a time out at 3-0. The second was gone at 9-1. The lead kept growing out to 19-5 at the high water mark. It sure looked like set four was coming soon. But the winds changed. For the first five Minneota services, Canby slammed the door shut with side outs. The first Viking run was five points. The Lancers burned their first time out at 19-9. Canby was sitting on a 22-12 lead when a missed serve took them off the rails. That opened the door for an eight point bump and the lead was down to 22-21. It was Canby’s turn to give away self inflicted wounds with three straight hitting errors. Still the Lancers scored the next two points to lead 24-21. They couldn’t close the deal. Sussner got the side out kill. Then eighth grader Natalee Rolbiecki replaced Sussner in the front row. Four points later, with two coming on Rolbiecki kills, it was Minneota’s turn for match point, their first lead of the set (25-24). A net violation tied it up. Rolbiecki got the first swing kill side out and then a hitting error sent the Minneota bench into delirium in the most improbable comeback of the week.
Minneota moves to the 3A title game Saturday with a 26-5 mark. Canby is finished at 24-8.
MINNEOTA
| SRV | # | Name | Ht | Pos | Year | A | B | K | Points |
| 1 | 1 | Abby Hennen | 5-6 | L | 2021 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Natalee Rolbiecki | 5-9 | MH | 2022 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | |
| 2 | 10 | Morgan Hennen | 5-9 | OH | 2020 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 12 | Sydney Larson | 5-8 | RH | 2019 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | |
| 3 | 3 | Ellie Pesch | 5-2 | DS | 2021 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 13 | Jennifer Krog | 5-7 | OH | 2018 | 0 | 0.5 | 5 | 5.5 | |
| 4 | 6 | Emily Pohlen | 5-5 | DS | 2019 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Lydia Sussner | 5-10 | MH | 2019 | 0 | 2.5 | 21 | 23.5 | |
| 5 | 9 | Morgan Kockelman | 5-8 | S | 2019 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 6 | 4 | Lizzy Gillingham | 5-8 | OH | 2019 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 7.5 |
| totals | 4 | 5 | 45 | 54 |
CANBY
| SRV | # | Name | Pos | Year | A | B | K | Points |
| 1 | 3 | Morgan Cleveland | S | 2019 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 2 | 19 | Mia Greenman | L | 2018 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | Charlotte Wright | MH | 2020 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | |
| 3 | 2 | Abbey Pederson | S | 2018 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 9 |
| 4 | 16 | Allysa Beckius | OH | 2018 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 7 |
| 5 | 11 | Ahlea Wright | MH | 2019 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| 6 | 1 | Brooke Nelson | OH | 2020 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 9 |
| totals | 6 | 4 | 35 | 45 |
TRENCH PLAYER
Lydia Sussner
| EARNED | |||
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Minneota | 21 | 16 | 17 |
| Canby | 14 | 12 | 19 |
| ALLOWED | |||
| Minneota | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Canby | 4 | 9 | 10 |
BY THE NUMBERS
| Item | Minneota | Canby |
| First Swing SO | 14 | 16 |
| Runs 3+ | 9 | 5 |
| Longest String | 9 | 6 |
| Serving % | 73/75-.973 | 56/59-.949 |
| Time outs | ½-.500 | 1/6-.167 |
| Set points | 3/5-.600 | 0/3-.000 |
| Time | 1:10 |
RACE TO …
| Set | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 |
| 1 | C | M | M | M | M |
| 2 | M | M | M | M | M |
| 3 | C | C | C | C | M |
BIGGEST LEAD
| Set | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Minneota | 9 | 10 | 2 |
| Canby | 1 | 1 | 14 |
RECEIVE TO KILL
MINNEOTA
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| Lydia Sussner | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 0 | .000 |
| Ellie Pesch | 13 | 11 | .846 | 6 | .462 |
| Abby Hennen | 5 | 4 | .800 | 2 | .400 |
| Lizzy Gillingham | 14 | 8 | .571 | 3 | .214 |
| Morgan Hennen | 23 | 8 | .347 | 3 | .130 |
| Totals | 56 | 32 | .571 | 14 | .250 |
CANBY
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| Mia Greenman | 27 | 14 | .519 | 7 | .259 |
| Brooke Nelson | 2 | 1 | .500 | 1 | .500 |
| Allysa Beckius | 29 | 13 | .448 | 5 | .172 |
| Abbey Pederson | 12 | 4 | .333 | 3 | .250 |
| Morgan Cleveland | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 73 | 32 | .438 | 16 | .219 |
TRACY-MILROY-BALATON 3, WINDOM 0
(25-20, 25-19, 25-16)
#1 South seed Tracy-Milroy-Balaton has won the Camden title for four straight years and is aiming to get back to state again. They broomed Windom with the Eagles hanging around in the first couple sets, but their inconsistent serving, plus the quicker arms of TMB out performed the one cannon from Windom. Porsha Porath smacked down 18 kills for the Eagles, but Sydney Lanoue of TMB out did her by one. It was the Panther teammates that helped create the separation. That and the better ball control. Lanoue wasn’t only working the swing. She was working on the first step of the chain with the pass. She delivered 12 first swing kills off her passes.
TMB blew open the firsts set with nine straight points to lead 16-8. Windom helped provide TMB with six of those points—-& it all began with a missed serve. TMB almost suffered the nightmare curse as Windom stormed back to tie it at 19 (& 20). Paige Pigman started it off with three straight aces as TMB, in effect, screened out their own receivers. Then Porath added four kills. The nightmare scenario was flipped with Windom missed a serve and never saw the ball again in that set. TMB got the early five point separation with a run of five. Windom again climbed back into the game knotting it up at 14. Two hitting errors started a four point TMB run. The set was still up for grabs at 21-18 when another missed serve keyed a 4-1 finish. In the final set both team’s first swing kill patterns were on with nine of the first eleven points decided on first swings. Porath had three for Windom. The Panthers got their separation with a 7-1 run to pull out 17-8. That forced the last Windom time out. The game reverted back to the first swing kill format with eight of the next twelve going down. But trading points wasn’t getting Windom any closer to the Panthers. Lanoue finished the night with a push kill, her tenth of the set.
TMB is now 29-3. Windom wraps up the year at 22-9.
TRACY-MILROY-BALATON
| SRV | # | Name | Ht | Pos | Year | A | B | K | Points |
| 1 | 10 | Evelyn Dolan | 5-8 | MH | 2018 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| 2 | 7 | Cassidy Smith | 5-8 | S | 2019 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | 6 | Kaylee Kirk | 5-5 | L | 2018 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Catherine Wendland | 5-8 | OH | 2020 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| 4 | 11 | Sydney Lanoue | 5-9 | MH | 2018 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 19 |
| 5 | 9 | Sidney Karbo | 6-0 | RH | 2018 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 9 |
| 5 | Brooklyn Ludeman | 5-7 | OH | 2019 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 6 | 8 | Samantha Edwards | 5-10 | OH | 2019 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| totals | 7 | 2 | 41 | 50 |
WINDOM
| SRV | # | Name | Ht | Pos | Year | A | B | K | Points |
| 1 | 10 | Paige Pigman | 5-6 | OH | 2019 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 13 | Victoria Christoffer | 5-8 | OH | 2019 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | |
| 2 | 8 | Becca Hacker | 6-0 | RH | 2019 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | 3 | Shelby Erickson | 5-3 | DS | 2020 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | Katelyn Nichols | 5-10 | MH | 2020 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | |
| 6 | Mareah Carlson | 5-1 | DS | 2019 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 7 | Shawna Bergendahl | 5-5 | OH | 2018 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | 5 | Porsha Porath | 6-1 | OH | 2018 | 0 | 1 | 18 | 19 |
| 21 | Emily Steen | 5-6 | L | 2018 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 5 | 11 | Halle Jackson | 5-6 | S | 2020 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | Ella Brockman | 5-8 | RH | 2019 | 0 | 2.5 | 0 | 2.5 | |
| 16 | Autumn Hauge | 6-0 | RH | 2020 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 6 | 4 | Maurissa Isaacs | 5-8 | MH | 2019 | 0 | 1.5 | 5 | 6.5 |
| totals | 4 | 5 | 33 | 42 |
TRENCH PLAYER
Sydney Lanoue
| EARNED | |||
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Tracy-Milroy-Balaton | 14 | 16 | 20 |
| Windom | 13 | 15 | 14 |
| ALLOWED | |||
| Tracy-Milroy-Balaton | 7 | 4 | 2 |
| Windom | 11 | 9 | 5 |
BY THE NUMBERS
| Item | Tracy-Milroy-Balaton | Windom |
| First Swing SO | 20 | 18 |
| Runs 3+ | 8 | 4 |
| Longest String | 9 | 6 |
| Serving % | 70/74-.946 | 46/56-.821 |
| Time outs | 0/1-.000 | 4/6-.667 |
| Set points | 3/6-.500 | |
| Time | 1:04 |
RACE TO …
| Set | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 |
| 1 | W | TMB | TMB | TMB | TMB |
| 2 | TMB | TMB | TMB | TMB | TMB |
| 3 | TMB | TMB | TMB | TMB | TMB |
BIGGEST LEAD
| Set | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Tracy-Milroy-Balaton | 8 | 6 | 10 |
| Windom | 3 | 0 | 1 |
RECEIVE TO KILL
TRACY-MILROY-BALATON
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| Evelyn Dolan | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 1 | 1.000 |
| Sidney Karbo | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 1 | 1.000 |
| Sydney Lanoue | 23 | 15 | .652 | 12 | .522 |
| Kaylee Kirk | 16 | 10 | .625 | 5 | .313 |
| Brooklyn Ludeman | 5 | 1 | .200 | 1 | .200 |
| totals | 46 | 28 | .609 | 20 | .435 |
WINDOM
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| Victoria Christoffer | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 1 | 1.000 |
| Shawna Bergendahl | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 0 | .000 |
| Maurissa Isaacs | 11 | 7 | .636 | 5 | .455 |
| Halle Jackson | 2 | 1 | .500 | 0 | .000 |
| Emily Steen | 28 | 13 | .464 | 6 | .214 |
| Mareah Carlson | 16 | 7 | .438 | 5 | .313 |
| Porsha Porath | 4 | 1 | .250 | 1 | .250 |
| Shelby Erickson | 5 | 0 | .000 | 0 | .000 |
| Ella Brockman | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | .000 |
| totals | 69 | 31 | .449 | 18 | .261 |