3 STATE CHAMPS
The three team déjà vu championships played out in two of the three
classes to wrap up the 2017 season. It was AAA that broke the mold. #1 seeds won in three sets and did a repeat victory lap in A (Mayer Lutheran) and AA (Maple Lake). The Irish (Maple Lake) did it unblemished on the year. It was a bad day to be a Viking (Minneota & North Branch). The outlier was #2 Lakeville North stopping #1 Eagan for their three-peat. It was also the third time on a match this year and the Panthers got the revenge for the first two losses to the Wildcats in the Apple Valley tournament and during the regular South Suburban conference action. Here is a brief synopsis on all the action:
CLASS A: #1 MAYER LUTHERAN 3, #2 MINNEOTA 0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-13)
The Crusaders broke open the first set with a 7-1 run in the first set (11-6). Their next run came with three (17-12). ML didn’t waste time in getting their runs going in set two. They opened with eight straight and added another run of three to lead 11-2. The Vikings burned their second time out trailing 13-4. The first cushion in the third set came with a four point ML run (6-3). The Crusaders could smell the championship with a 8-1 run in which Minneota used both time outs (19-9). ML had the best first swing kill numbers of any class with 23 kills in 49 attempts at .469.
CLASS AA: #1 MAPLE LAKE 3, #3 NORTH BRANCH 0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-21)
The Irish claimed their second straight title, but NB hung around and inched closer each set without getting a tantalizing set win. There were four lead changes with ML getting their final lead at 13-12. This was in the midst of a 6-1 run. ML also got four straight side outs to lock in the win. There were another four lead changes in the second set. ML didn’t get the last lead until 15-14 in the middle seven straight points that began on a missed serve. Once again there were four lead changes in the final set, this time ML didn’t take the lead for good until 17-16 which occurred in a four point run. NB was able to tie it back up at 18, but ML responded with another burst of four capped by two aces.
CLASS AAA: #2 LAKEVILLE NORTH 3, #1 EAGAN 1 (25-20, 21-25, 25-20, 25-23)
Three on a match wasn’t good luck for Eagan. Lakeville North was close in the AV championship falling in extra points in the first set 31-29 and 19. 13 days later they fell on the road to the Wildcats 16 across the board. Today, in the all South Suburban final, LN picked up their third state title thanks to stronger defense. Eagan kept searching for the right combination. Specifically they made switches on the right side opposite Kennedi Orr. They flipped both the front and back row personnel. In the final frame Eagan put their Libero on the pine. McKenna Melville was the only Eagan hitter to go over .200. LN had only one two. But it was when Melville was in the back row that LN exploited the lack of a finisher. With Melville in the front row Eagan was 46-42. With Melville in the back row Eagan was 42-55. And it really wasn’t that close. In the fourth set, when Eagan made a late run with Melville in the back, Eagan actually won 11-7. So for the rest of the night LN “won” with Melville in the back 48-31 —–that is a significant .608 clip. The Wildcats tweaked their rotation in the fourth set trying to rectify the situation by putting Anne Wong in the first service spot (normally in the second slot). LN took the first set with the final lead at 9-8. Eagan bounced back in set two but didn’t finalize their lead until 16-15. At one point they were down four. LN established their lead right off the bat in the third set and got their first run out to 5-1. Eagan was down 10 at 18-8. LN did this without a lot of kills from Elizabeth Juhnke who didn’t get her first kill in that set until LN point 12. By that point in the match she already had 15 kills, many right down Eagan’s right side line. LN grabbed the lead at 2-1 in the fourth set and rode it out up to 21-20 when Eagan, in a last gasp effort went on a five point run. LN took their final time out down 22-20 and that broke the momentum. Juhnke got the side out kill and then an ace by Kennedy Brady tied it at 22. A double contact call gave them the slim 23-22 lead. Ally Murphy tied it up with a transition kill for Eagan. Two hitting errors later, LN was champ.
There was a touch of Minneapolis on both benches: LN coach Jackie Richter is the former coach at Southwest; Eagan coach Kathy Gillen is a Henry grad.
Here are the official stats from the MSHSL
Here are the tops in the charts today for each class (championship games only). After that comes the receive totals.
| Class | Player | School | ACES |
| AAA | 2 tied | 2 | |
| AA | Ella Kiebel | Maple Lake | 2 |
| A | 7 tied | 1 |
| Class | Player | School | BLOCKS |
| AAA | Ellie Huseman | Eagan | 3.5 |
| AA | Brynn Paumen | Maple Lake | 3.5 |
| A | Olivia Tjernagel | Mayer Lutheran | 4 |
| Class | Player | School | KILLS |
| AAA | Elizabeth Juhnke | Lakeville North | 24 |
| AA | Linsey Rachel | Maple Lake | 20 |
| A | Madi Beck | Mayer Lutheran | 17 |
| Class | Player | School | R2W |
| AAA | McKenna Melville | Eagan | .590 |
| AA | Mollie Scheiber | Maple Lake | .750 |
| A | Sophia Heuer | Mayer Lutheran | .846 |
| Class | Player | School | R2K |
| AAA | Halle Wolfe | Lakeville North | .400 |
| AA | Linsey Rachel | Maple Lake | .471 |
| A | Sophia Heuer | Mayer Lutheran | .615 |
MAYER LUTHERAN
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| Claudia Stahlke | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 0 | .000 |
| Sophia Heuer | 13 | 11 | .846 | 8 | .615 |
| Mya Chmielewski | 28 | 19 | .679 | 12 | .429 |
| Madi Beck | 7 | 4 | .571 | 3 | .429 |
| Totals | 49 | 35 | .714 | 23 | .469 |
MINNEOTA
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| Morgan Hennen | 13 | 6 | .462 | 4 | .308 |
| Lizzy Gillingham | 9 | 4 | .444 | 3 | .333 |
| Abby Hennen | 32 | 13 | .406 | 6 | .188 |
| Ellie Pesch | 11 | 4 | .364 | 2 | .182 |
| Natalee Rolbiecki | 4 | 1 | .250 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 69 | 28 | .406 | 15 | .217 |
MAPLE LAKE
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| Mollie Scheiber | 12 | 9 | .750 | 3 | .250 |
| Calli Maki | 21 | 12 | .571 | 9 | .429 |
| Linsey Rachel | 17 | 9 | .529 | 8 | .471 |
| Amber Klug | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 51 | 30 | .588 | 20 | .392 |
NORTH BRANCH
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| Katelyn Berg | 5 | 3 | .600 | 2 | .400 |
| Sophie Linder | 20 | 9 | .450 | 2 | .100 |
| Cianna Selbitschka | 39 | 15 | .384 | 4 | .103 |
| Jamie Siseman | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 65 | 27 | .415 | 8 | .296 |
LAKEVILLE NORTH
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| Macy Winter | 4 | 3 | .750 | 1 | .250 |
| Arianna Barrett | 27 | 15 | .556 | 9 | .333 |
| Elizabeth Juhnke | 38 | 20 | .526 | 9 | .237 |
| Halle Wolfe | 15 | 7 | .467 | 6 | .400 |
| Totals | 84 | 45 | .536 | 25 | .297 |
EAGAN
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| McKenna Melville | 39 | 23 | .590 | 12 | .308 |
| Olivia Masso | 33 | 19 | .576 | 10 | .303 |
| Emily Tran | 3 | 1 | .333 | 1 | .333 |
| Anne Wong | 18 | 5 | .278 | 2 | .111 |
| Totals | 93 | 48 | .516 | 25 | .269 |