6AAA Championship @ Cooper
HOPKINS 3, BENILDE-ST. MARGARET’S 1
(25-23, 26-24, 19-25, 25-21)
#1 seed Hopkins is headed back to state for the third straight year with a nail biting four set win over #2 seed Benilde-St. Margaret’s. In the first championship section of the day (the match started at noon), the #5AAA ranked Royals squeezed out narrow wins in the first two sets. Both these teams were fairly even. Both ended up with 68 earned points. BSM had more first swing kills 30-29. Two sets were decided by two points, one of which went to extra points. Leading the way for the Royals was Anna Erickson with 23 points, 21 on kills. Hopkins had four players in double digits as did BSM. BSM features two middles that are still in the single digits in school, but are 6 plus in height. Eighth grader Carter Booth is listed as 6-7. The other middle is 6-2 freshman Skya Favor. Both combined for nine kills in the Red Knights only set win (the third).
The nightmare for BSM came in the first two sets. A massive eight point run on Anna Shurson’s service gave the Red Knights a lead of 11-6. Hopkins sliced into that margin with a 6-1 run (13-12). BSM withstood a tie at 14 and came up with another run of three for a 17-14 cushion. It stayed that way with the Royals last time out at 22-20 after a missed serve. Chudear Tut got the first swing kill and then added a block on the next point for the tie at 22. Tara Lee continued the block party for the first Hopkins lead since 5-3. BSM called time with their backs against the wall after a hitting error at 24-22. Hopkins did them a favor with their own hitting error, but the set ended on a missed serve, the only one of the set.
Sometimes little things mean a lot. There was a disputed kill call made that went Hopkins way on a side out situation. After a return side out, BSM reverted back to the previous server. They initially got a point, but it was taken away once the error was corrected. Instead of a tie at 10, it was Hopkins up 11-9. For want of a nail…..
There were eight lead changes in the narrowly contested second set with the final switch coming at 23-22 with Hopkins. That point was an ace that was sailing high, but was touched after a Red Knight jumped for it. BSM got their only run of the set with five straight to take a 17-15 lead. Hopkins’ only run of the game came with three points at 19-18. After that jumping ace, BSM got a first swing kills from Favor. Erickson responded with her own first swing kill. A block by Sarah Luong tied it at 24. But the missed serve again reared its head at an inopportune time. Nicole Klass ended the drama with a kill to make it 26-24.
BSM rocketed out of the gates in the third set with a 9-3 lead. They were helped in part by faulty serving as the Royals missed on two straight serves. The lead ballooned to nine points (16-7) after two straight aces by Luong. That capped the fourth run of the set for the Red Knights. Hopkins didn’t get their first run until they added three straight to trail 17-11. They added another run of three to cut the deficit to 20-16. The nightmare scenario would not play out as Hopkins then missed the serve which opened the door for an additional three BSM points (24-16). The crisis wasn’t over as Hopkins added a final run of three, but they had to thread the needle for the win and Booth ended any suspense with a kill to send it to a fourth set.
The Red Knights almost kept the horror story of the week rolling coming back from a 12 point deficit in the fourth set to cause palpitations of the heart among the Royal faithful. Again it was missed serves that set the tempo of the fourth set. BSM missed on out of the gate in the net. On the second Hopkins service they ran off six straight with BSM trying to, and failing to stop the momentum at five. The second BSM came trailing 13-5. The Royals added another after that break and kept another run in the bank to 18-6. That 12 point advantage stayed until 21-9. Then (as you may have guessed) a missed serve opened the door for that dramatic 11 point surge. Caitlin Fox came in to give the Red Knights hope. She helped her cause with two straight aces too. Sophie Hathaway picked up after that with three straight kills. Erickson finally ended the potential nightmare with a first swing kill (22-20). Two hitting errors later the Royals were on the verge of match point. Favor held off with a first swing kill, but just like the first set the match ended on a missed serve.
Hopkins is now 23-7 on the year and will be battling it out for a seed in the state tournament. Depending on how the rest of the day unfolds the expectation is that Eagan will be the #1 seed, Lakeville North #2. Hopkins holds wins over Champlin Park (at STMA tournament), and has split with Prior Lake (& Eden Prairie). They haven’t faced Stillwater, the only team that is in at this point. BSM ends the year at 26-4.
There will be one more out & about later tonight.
HOPKINS
| SRV | # | Name | Pos | Year | A | B | K | Points |
| 1 | 8 | Nicole Klass | OH | 2019 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| 2 | 1 | Katherine Newman | L | 2018 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | Chudear Tut | MH | 2020 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 10 | |
| 3 | 13 | Tara Lee | S | 2018 | 1 | 1.5 | 8 | 10.5 |
| 4 | 9 | Anna Erickson | OH | 2019 | 2 | 0 | 21 | 23 |
| 5 | 4 | Unknown | Serve | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| 6 | Nyakim Tut | MH | 2019 | 0 | 2.5 | 0 | 2.5 | |
| 6 | 3 | Jane Nelson | RH | 2018 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 11 |
| 11 | Cydonia Rue | DS | 2019 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| totals | 11 | 8 | 49 | 68 |
BENILDE-ST. MARGARET’S
| SRV | # | Name | Pos | Ht | Year | A | B | K | Pts |
| 1 | 9 | Anna Carr | L | 5-7 | 2018 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Skya Favor | MH | 6-2 | 2021 | 0 | 1.5 | 12 | 13.5 | |
| 2 | 10 | Sarah Luong | S | 5-7 | 2020 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 11 | Cara Volbrecht | S | 5-10 | 2018 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 3 | 3 | Maizy Jackson | OH | 6-0 | 2019 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 15 |
| 4 | 28 | Caitlin Fox | Serve | 5-9 | 2019 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 52 | Carter Booth | MH | 6-7 | 2022 | 0 | 2.5 | 11 | 13.5 | |
| 5 | 13 | Anna Shurson | DS | 5-6 | 2019 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 30 | Allie Brooks | RH | 5-8 | 2019 | 0 | 1.5 | 1 | 2.5 | |
| 6 | 22 | Sophie Dobos | DS | 5-5 | 2020 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | Sophie Hathaway | OH | 5-10 | 2018 | 0 | 0.5 | 11 | 11.5 | |
| totals | 9 | 8 | 51 | 68 |
TRENCH PLAYER
Anna Erickson
| EARNED | ||||
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Hopkins | 17 | 17 | 15 | 19 |
| Benilde-St. Margaret’s | 17 | 18 | 17 | 16 |
| ALLOWED | ||||
| Hopkins | 6 | 6 | 8 | 5 |
| Benilde-St. Margaret’s | 8 | 9 | 6 | 6 |
BY THE NUMBERS
| Item | Hopkins | Benilde-St. Margaret’s |
| First Swing SO | 29 | 30 |
| Runs 3+ | 12 | 9 |
| Longest String | 6 | 11 |
| Serving % | 83/96-.864 | 87/94-.926 |
| Time outs | 3/6-.500 | 3/6-.500 |
| Set points | 3/6-.500 | ¼-.250 |
| Time | 1:52 |
RACE TO …
| Set | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 |
| 1 | H | BSM | BSM | BSM | H |
| 2 | H | H | H | BSM | H |
| 3 | BSM | BSM | BSM | BSM | BSM |
| 4 | H | H | H | H | H |
BIGGEST LEAD
| Set | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Hopkins | 2 | 3 | 0 | 12 |
| Benilde-St. Margaret’s | 6 | 2 | 9 | 0 |
RECEIVE TO KILL
HOPKINS
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| Cydonia Rue | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 1 | 1.000 |
| Jane Nelson | 8 | 5 | .625 | 4 | .500 |
| Anna Erickson | 21 | 12 | .571 | 8 | .381 |
| Nicole Klass | 21 | 12 | .571 | 7 | .333 |
| Katherine Newman | 34 | 17 | .500 | 9 | .264 |
| Tara Lee | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | .000 |
| Chudear Tut | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | .000 |
| totals | 87 | 47 | .540 | 29 | .333 |
BENILDE-ST. MARGARET’S
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| Anna Carr | 31 | 16 | .516 | 10 | .326 |
| Sophie Dobos | 4 | 2 | .500 | 2 | .500 |
| Anna Shurson | 12 | 6 | .500 | 5 | .417 |
| Maizy Jackson | 35 | 17 | .486 | 13 | .371 |
| Sarah Luong | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 83 | 41 | .494 | 30 | .361 |
SWING TO KILL
HOPKINS
| Anna Erickson | 13 |
| Chudear Tut | 7 |
| Jane Nelson | 6 |
| Nicole Klass | 2 |
| Tara Lee | 1 |
| totals | 29 |
BENILDE-ST. MARGARET’S
| Maizy Jackson | 10 |
| Skya Favor | 9 |
| Carter Booth | 7 |
| Sophie Hathaway | 4 |
| Totals | 30 |