MINNETONKA 3, SHAKOPEE RED 1
(25-17, 12-25, 25-23, 25-23)
Spring Fever has hit the volleyball world. Today I made my way over to Minnetonka East Middle School, the alternate site of today’s schedule for what I thought would be three brand new teams. It ended up being two brand new teams with Minnetonka and Shakopee. The third member of the trio, St. Francis, was unable to show up. Even the teams in attendance had skeleton staffs with seven the most. Since StF was absent, the remaining teams decided to play best of five, not the condensed best of three format instituted this year. What I noticed today was again improvements in understanding the game. Tonka’s middle Ben Homeister was able to softly tip the ball to the left front often for scores. That was the finesse side. But both sides had flashes of lightning attacks. The most impressive string came at the start of the fourth set when there were three straight first swing side outs. Generally this summer those first swing moments have been few and far between. One other thing that is different with the girls game—-with the size of the players they can take away much more space, tightening the noose and preventing the other side to find holes, but then again there are holes.
A mega run of seven points helped Minnetonka turn a 5-2 deficit into a 9-5 advantage. They continued to add three more runs in the set capped off with a four point race to the finish with an ace to top it off by Jake Schultz.
Shakopee Red was the owner of the mega run in the second set, and it came at about the same time as the Skippers did in the first set. Red’s seven point run forced one Tonka time out (9-3). The hosts responded with four straight to close the gap, but an even bigger mega run, this time nine points, put the game out of reach at 18-7.
The next two sets provided drama. In both sets Minnetonka trailed after 20—22-19 in set three, 23-21 in set four. The Reds had a six point mega run which forced the Skippers to burn a time out. (11-5). Tonka scrambled to get back in it tying it up at 13. Both teams again were tied at 17 and 19. A three point bump put Red up 22-19. Tonka responded with four straight to go back in front 23-22. This set ended with an ace by Dillon Digiacomo. Oddly enough his turn in the service order was bypassed in the first swing through the line up.
In what turned out to be the final frame there were five lead changes after the 15th point. A pair of aces by Ben Swanson capped a four point Tonka run (18-17). An ace by Reds Michael Dahl put them back in front (19-18). It looked like we were headed to the fifth set when Red scored twice and forced the final Minnetonka time out (23-21). A first swing kill by Willy Lutz, sixth of this set, stopped the momentum. Schultz then put a tear drop in front of the Red receivers. Lutz came up with a big block at 24 which prompted Reds time out. After a lengthy rally, Homeister put an exclamation point on the evening with a laser to the right back.
Leading the Skippers was Homeister with 21 points.
MINNETONKA
| SRV | # | Name | Pos | A | B | K | Points |
| 1 | 8 | Mark Schmitz | MH | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| 2 | 5 | Jake Schultz | S | 6 | 0 | 7 | 13 |
| 3 | 11 | Willy Lutz | OH | 1 | 2 | 6 | 9 |
| 4 | 23 | Ben Homeister | MH | 3 | 8 | 10 | 21 |
| 5 | 2 | Ben Swanson | RH | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 6 | 26 | Dillon Digiacomo | OH | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| totals | 15 | 10 | 32 | 57 |
| SRV | # | Name | Pos | A | B | K | Points |
| 1 | 4 | Josh Welna | S | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 2 | 42 | Troy Beebe | OH | 3 | 0 | 9 | 12 |
| 3 | 18 | Isaac Nesberg | MH | 3 | 1 | 6 | 10 |
| 3 | 66 | Marshall Knudson | L | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | 33 | Sinjin Snell | RH | 2 | 0 | 9 | 11 |
| 5 | 1 | Michael Dahl | OH | 2 | 0.5 | 8 | 11.5 |
| 6 | 2 | Alex Van Maanen | MH | 0 | 0.5 | 6 | 6.5 |
| totals | 12 | 2 | 40 | 54 |
SHAKOPEE RED
TRENCH PLAYER
Ben Homeister, of Minnetonka
| EARNED | ||||
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Minnetonka | 15 | 9 | 15 | 21 |
| Shakopee Red | 10 | 17 | 16 | 11 |
| ALLOWED | ||||
| Minnetonka | 7 | 8 | 7 | 12 |
| Shakopee Red | 10 | 3 | 10 | 4 |
BY THE NUMBERS
| Item | Minnetonka | Shakopee Red |
| Side out | 11/36-.305 | 13/38-.342 |
| Runs 3+ | 13 | 11 |
| Longest String | 7 | 9 |
| Serving % | 84/86-.977 | 78/89-.876 |
| Time outs | 1/5-.200 | 0/2-.000 |
| Set points | 3/3-1.000 | ½-.500 |
RACE TO …
| Set | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 |
| 1 | SR | M | M | M | M |
| 2 | SR | SR | SR | SR | SR |
| 3 | SR | SR | SR | SR | M |
| 4 | M | M | SR | M | M |
BIGGEST LEAD
| Set | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Minnetonka | 8 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Shakopee Red | 3 | 14 | 6 | 4 |
RECEIVE TO KILL
MINNETONKA
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| 23 Ben Homeister | 9 | 5 | .556 | 2 | .222 |
| 26 Dillon Digiacomo | 23 | 7 | .304 | 3 | .130 |
| 11 Willy Lutz | 34 | 9 | .265 | 5 | .147 |
| 8 Mark Schmitz | 12 | 2 | .167 | 0 | .000 |
| 2 Ben Swanson | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 79 | 23 | .291 | 10 | .127 |
SHAKOPEE RED
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| 42 Troy Beebe | 21 | 10 | .476 | 5 | .238 |
| 1 Troy Beebe | 24 | 8 | .333 | 4 | .167 |
| 66 Marshall Knudson | 19 | 7 | .368 | 3 | .158 |
| 33 Sinjin Snell | 8 | 4 | .500 | 2 | .250 |
| 2 Alex Van Maanen | 11 | 4 | .364 | 1 | .091 |
| 18 Isaac Nesberg | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 84 | 33 | .393 | 15 | .179 |