STATE SEMIS
It was semifinal Friday and all six semis were held on court 1. The
winners used a broom in every match today. The favorites won in all cases but the last match. #3 North Branch swept #2 Marshall in the AAA…wait a second, the AA semi. Last year both were on the AAA side of the ledger. The Vikings, behind a day’s high 27 kills from Cianna Selbitschka moved on to the title game to face the Irish.
The Vikings weren’t the only Vikings to win on Friday. Minneota’s version knocked off Bethlehem Academy in the A semi. Set two was a case of leads lost and found. With Minneota up 23-19 the Cardinals ran off five straight to take a 24-23 lead. Lydia Sussner, the A leader in kills today, staved off set point. A side out gave BA one more chance. They never got another point as a hitting error and two Sussner kills wrapped up the win. BA didn’t recover in the third set with Minneota racing off to a 7-0 and 15-3 lead.
The biggest comeback of the day also came in a second set. Holy Angels had a 16-10 lead in the second set only to fall in extra points 26-24. An avalanche of nine straight Irish points helped the undefeated team out to a 23-19 lead and forced the Stars to burn through both time outs. With the set tied at 24 HA missed a serve. Brynn Paumen capitalized on the next ball with a block. Much like BA, HA didn’t recover in the third as ML had another massive 10 point run initiated by a missed serve (14-4).
Two privates went down (HA, BA), but one moved on (ML). Mayer Lutheran swept Wadena-Deer Creek (last year dwelling in AA) but had to rally in three of the sets. WDC led as late as 12-8 in set one, trailed 10-11 in set two, and was up 18-13 in the last set before mega runs tipped the scales.
The most drama in the AAA semis came in the third set of the Lakeville North win over unseeded Moorhead. The Spuds led 20-19 when a missed serve kicked off a Panther run to 25. Moorhead had four hitting errors in that last five points.
Tomorrow it will be an All South Suburban Final and Eagan will be looking for a three peat. Mayer Lutheran will be looking for a repeat in A, and undefeated Maple Lake will be doing the same in AA. All could be repeaters are #1 seeds.
Below are the receiving stats. You can find the regular box score stats on the MSHSL site.
| Class | Aces | School | # |
| AAA | Lexi Gilbertson | Moorhead | 3 |
| AA | Mollie Scheiber | Maple Lake | 4 |
| A | 4 tied | 2 |
| Class | Blocks | # | |
| AAA | 2 tied | 2.5 | |
| AA | Brynn Paumen | Maple Lake | 5 |
| A | Martina Saulsbury | Mayer Lutheran | 3.5 |
| Class | Kills | School | # |
| AAA | McKenna Melville | Eagan | 16 |
| AA | Cianna Selbitschka | North Branch | 27 |
| A | Lydia Sussner | Minneota | 18 |
EAGAN
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| Anne Wong | 7 | 5 | .714 | 2 | .286 |
| McKenna Melville | 20 | 14 | .700 | 12 | .600 |
| Olivia Masso | 15 | 8 | .533 | 5 | .333 |
| Totals | 42 | 27 | .643 | 19 | .453 |
PRIOR LAKE
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| CC McGraw | 17 | 7 | .412 | 4 | .236 |
| Haley Stolt | 28 | 11 | .393 | 3 | .143 |
| Hannah Reis | 23 | 9 | .391 | 6 | .261 |
| Amber Theis | 3 | 1 | .333 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 71 | 28 | .394 | 14 | .197 |
LAKEVILLE NORTH
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| Macy Winter | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 0 | .000 |
| Halle Wolfe | 22 | 14 | .636 | 9 | .409 |
| Arianna Barrett | 23 | 14 | .609 | 12 | .522 |
| Amanda Burger | 2 | 1 | .500 | 1 | .500 |
| Izzy Fuerst | 4 | 1 | .250 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 52 | 31 | .596 | 21 | .404 |
MOORHEAD
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| Brook Carney | 3 | 3 | 1.000 | 2 | .667 |
| Brooke Walthall | 24 | 11 | .458 | 4 | .167 |
| Jalen Ennen | 15 | 6 | .400 | 4 | .267 |
| Callie Ahlgren | 10 | 4 | .400 | 4 | .4000 |
| Lexi Gilbertson | 8 | 6 | .333 | 3 | .167 |
| Totals | 70 | 30 | .429 | 17 | .242 |
MAYER LUTHERAN
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| Madison Hucky | 2 | 2 | 1.000 | 1 | .500 |
| Mya Chmielewski | 14 | 11 | .786 | 4 | .286 |
| Sophia Heuer | 21 | 11 | .524 | 6 | .286 |
| Madi Beck | 18 | 7 | .389 | 4 | .222 |
| Totals | 55 | 31 | .563 | 15 | .273 |
WADENA-DEER CREEK
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| Courtney Warren | 12 | 6 | .500 | 5 | .417 |
| Casey Volkmann | 28 | 13 | .464 | 7 | .250 |
| Lila Lohmiller | 17 | 7 | .412 | 3 | .176 |
| Katlyn Heaton | 15 | 5 | .333 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 72 | 30 | .417 | 15 | .208 |
MINNEOTA
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| Lizzy Gillingham | 5 | 4 | .800 | 0 | .000 |
| Natalee Rolbiecki | 4 | 3 | .750 | 1 | .250 |
| Ellie Pesch | 8 | 5 | .625 | 2 | .250 |
| Abby Hennen | 18 | 10 | .556 | 4 | .222 |
| Morgan Hennen | 18 | 10 | .556 | 3 | .167 |
| Morgan Kockelman | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 54 | 32 | .593 | 10 | .186 |
BETHLEHEM ACADEMY
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| Jacie Jasinski | 3 | 2 | .667 | 2 | .667 |
| Mary Campbell | 10 | 5 | .500 | 1 | .100 |
| Olivia Nass | 30 | 14 | .467 | 8 | .267 |
| Laney Donahue | 6 | 2 | .333 | 0 | .000 |
| Haley Lang | 25 | 8 | .320 | 6 | .240 |
| Ellie Cohen | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 75 | 31 | .413 | 17 | .227 |
MAPLE LAKE
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| Linsey Rachel | 9 | 5 | .556 | 3 | .333 |
| Calli Maki | 19 | 10 | .526 | 6 | .316 |
| Mollie Scheiber | 12 | 5 | .417 | 5 | .417 |
| Kora Fuller | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | .000 |
| Brynn Paumen | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 42 | 20 | .476 | 14 | .333 |
HOLY ANGELS
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| Kate Arentz | 5 | 3 | .600 | 0 | .000 |
| Marie LaFrance | 7 | 3 | .429 | 3 | .429 |
| Lauren Link | 12 | 4 | .333 | 2 | .167 |
| Megan Meyer | 29 | 9 | .310 | 3 | .103 |
| Ellie Koontz | 14 | 2 | .143 | 0 | .000 |
| Emma Benz | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 67 | 21 | .313 | 8 | .119 |
NORTH BRANCH
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| Katelyn Berg | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 1 | 1.000 |
| Sophie Linder | 35 | 23 | .657 | 13 | .371 |
| Cianna Selbitschka | 10 | 6 | .600 | 2 | .200 |
| Lydia Langevin | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 47 | 30 | .638 | 16 | .340 |
MARSHALL
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| Maddie Marks | 19 | 7 | .368 | 3 | .158 |
| Erica Jones | 25 | 8 | .320 | 2 | .080 |
| Mia Schnaible | 16 | 5 | .313 | 1 | .0673 |
| Rachel Schwarz | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | .000 |
| Jordyn Hilgemann | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 62 | 20 | .323 | 6 | .226 |