MIAC Awards

#2 posting 11.6.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

COLLEGE REPORTS
BIG 10
#1 Penn State cooled off Indiana with a sweep. The Margin was 26 points. Christa Harmatto had 13.5 points for PSU. Erica Short had 10.5 points for the Hoosiers. One of the faces in the Big 10 belongs to Ashley Benson.

#18 Purdue travels to #17 Minnesota and Iowa this weekend.

MORE D1
ACC: Virginia hosts North Carolina and NC State.

BIG 12: Iowa State swept Texas Tech with a margin of 16 points. Diane Kieger (Mounds View) had 13.5 points for ISU.

BIG EAST: Cincinnati travels to West Virginia and Pittsburgh.

CUSA: Marshall hosts Central Florida and Southern Miss.

SOUTHERN: Furman swept Wofford with a margin of 24 points. Pamela Gehrke (Eastview) had 2 digs for the Paladins.

SUMMIT: South Dakota State hosts Oakland and IPFW.

WEST COAST: Portland travels to St. Mary's and #22 Santa Clara this weekend.

D2
Southwest MN State is looking to make a run for the national title. From the Marshall Independent.

D3
MIAC
The MIAC have released their All Conference team. St. Thomas' Katie McCaffrey (Fort Collins, CO) was named MVP.
Gustavus' Emily Klein (Red Wing) was named Defensive Player of the Year. From the Red Wing Republican Eagle.
Two other Gustavus players made the MIAC list.
Concordia Moorhead's Jenna Green (DGF) was rookie of the year.
St. Thomas' Thanh Pham was named coach of the year.

The MIAC semifinals will be today.
St. Mary's is at Gustavus
St. Olaf is at St. Thomas.

UMAC
Northwestern, MN's setter Hillary Slagter (Central Christian) is a part of the Eagles success. From the West Central Tribune.

COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Four Ridgewater players made the 12 team All Region team. From the West Central Tribune.

BEACH
Former Gopher Nicole Branagh will partner with Tyra Turner in a Beach tournament in Thailand.

PAT POWERS CLINIC
Here is a quick reminder about a clinic Olympic Gold Medalist, Pat Powers will be doing on November 22-23 at The Ralia Sports Center.

As always, coaches are more than welcome to attend free of charge.
Where: Ralia Sports Center
When: Saturday & Sunday, November 22-23. Saturday 9AM-4PM & Sunday 9AM-2PM
Ages: Girls & Boys ages 12-18 & Adults
Registration fee: $140
Experience: Novice through advanced.
Players are divided up on three courts one hour into the event. Generally speaking, we have one court of 12-13 year olds, one court of 14-16 year olds and one court of advanced girls, boys and adults.
Why is this clinic the best? The "over-correction" teaching method combined with "Survivor" has the advantage of skill development while you are playing. These advanced skills are downloaded into the motor memory through massive repetition while the player is competing in a non-intimidating environment.
******We have about 20 spots left for this event

Next up: Later today. Much Later. I will be at the State Tournament today.

Hosts Finish Second

#1 posting 10.19.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

HIGH SCHOOL RESULTS
The last weekend tournaments wrapped up with the hosts finishing second in each tournament.

Chatfield took the Rochester Century title with a 2-1 win over host Century with a margin of 14 points. Plus all the tournament results. From the Rochester Post Bulletin.

Osseo won the Pumpkin Classic with a rally in the decisive third set. The Orioles victory margin was 5 points for the match. In the semis Osseo handed #6A Ada-Borup their first loss of the season with a three set win with a margin of 1 point.

#4 St. Michael-Albertville beat #5 Chaska in three with a margin of 3 points. Five other ranked teams were in the 12 team tournament.

SEEDINGS
AAA
Section 2: Shakopee is the #1 seed. Chaska comes in at #2.

GOPHER STATE FALL LEAGUE
The entry deadline for the Gopher State Fall Volleyball Championships has been extended to Monday, October 20th. They are still accepting girls 5th-9th grade teams.

Next up: Big 10 results

Mankato West Scares Belle Plaine

#1 posting 9.7.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

HIGH SCHOOL TOURNAMENTS
MANKATO WEST
Host Mankato West finished fourth in their tournament at MSU Mankato. MW took the first game from #4 AA Belle Plaine in the semis and was up 24-22 in game two before BP rallied for a win. Windom won the event over Belle Plaine. From the Mankato Free Press.

SW MN CHALLENGE
Bemidji finished 2-3 in the SW MN Challenge. St. Michael-Albertville beat host Marshall 2-1 for the championship. From the Bemidji Pioneer.

PEQUOT LAKES/PINE RIVER INVITATIONAL
Cass Lake-Bena finished 2-1 at the PL/PR Invitational. From the Bemidji Pioneer.

BROWERVILLE TOURNAMENT
Parkers Prairie won the Browerville tourament yesterday. PP beat Battle Lake 2-0, KMS 2-0, and Osakis 2-0 in poolplay and then beat Bertha Hewitt 2-1 for the championship. The team is now 7-0 for the season.

BUFFALO TOURNAMENT
St. Cloud Tech split at the Buffalo Tournament. Megan Loesch had 43 kills on the day for SCT. Plus three other tournament results in the St. Cloud Times (scroll down a bit).

Next up: Big 10 Results

Class A Tournament

#3 posting 9.4.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

TOURNAMENT HEADS UP
An early preview of the state tournament is in the offing next weekend. There will be a Class A volleyball tournament next Friday and Saturday, September 12 & 13 at Bethel University.
This is the first year of the tournament.

It's an all Class A affair with schools from all over the state - literally. All eight sections are represented. All of the teams are quality programs.

The first purpose for the tournament is that Class A schools don't really get a chance to go outside of their region very often.

Secondly, most small school volleyball players also play basketball and softball. Since they're playing school sports year-round, they don't get an opportunity to play JO volleyball, which is the key to getting seen by college coaches. There are so many players from small schools that could go on to play in college, but don't even think about it because nobody has seen them play. Right now there are nine (and possibly more) colleges committed to coming to our tournament from DI, DII, DIII, and NAIA schools all over the region.

Pool play starts on Friday. Here is the breakdown
POOL A
Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa
LeRoy-Ostrander
New Life
POOL B
Meadow Creek
Underwood
Carlton
POOL C
Southwest Christian (Chaska)
Nevis
Buffalo Lake-Hector
POOL D
Lake of the Woods
Murray County Central
Onamia

The matches start Friday at 5:30; 6:45 and 8:30 pm
The top two teams in each pool move on to a bracket play down.
Quarterfinals start at 9 am. The Semis are at 11:30 am and the finals are at 2 pm.

Next up: later today

Gophers Hawaii Bound

#3 posting 9.3.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

MORE TUESDAY RESULTS
AAA
Fergus Falls beat Brainerd in a sweep ruining Jared Diem's coaching debut with the Warriors. From the Fergus Falls Daily Journal (plus 3 more results) and Brainerd Dispatch.

Waseca beat Albert Lea 3-1. From the Albert Lea Tribune.

AA
Pierz swept Crosby-Ironton plus four other area results in the Brainerd Dispatch.

Crookston swept Red Lake Falls. From the Crookston Times.

In a rivalry game across state lines it was Breckenridge beating Wahpeton, ND 3-1. From the Wahpeton Daily News.

Perham beat Detroit Lakes 3-1. From the Detroit Lakes Tribune.

A
New York Mills trailed 2-0 to Staples-Motley before rallying for a 3-2 victory. From the Perham Enterprise.

PREVIEW
Perham and New York Mills are previewed in the Perham Enterprise.

LATE RESULTS
Stillwater split last week with a win over Kennedy and a loss to Apple Valley. From the Lake Elmo Leader

BIG 10 UPDATES
Minnesota is off to Hawaii for their tournament this weekend. Teams there include Hawaii, Wyoming and Cincinnati--with former Lakeville North player Kelsey Brandl.

Illinois Setter Hillary Haen talks second half approach vs. Oregon in the Illini Blog.

Purdue travels to Ball State in Muncie, IN for their next tournament.

Bucky's Buddies Kids Clinic will be held next Tuesday in Madison, WI.

MORE D1
Colorado State is off to Oregon State this weekend.

BEACH IS NOT CLOSED
Labor Day has come and gone, but the action on the beach is still going on. You can register for the 2008 U.S. Open of Beach Volleyball on September 26-28 on East Beach in Santa Barbara, California.
The US 21u teams are competing in the FIVB Under-21 World Championships on Sept. 3-7 in Brighton, England.

Next up: later tonight with an out & about

Week 4 Minnesota HS Volleyball Poll, SE MN Previews

#2 posting 9.2.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

HIGH SCHOOL POLLS
Here is the 4th Minnesota High School Poll this year:
Shakopee dropped on spot to #3 in AAA. Marshall dropped one spot in AA to #3.
Lakeville North takes the biggest move up in AAA from #4 to #2. Burnsville dropped out of the top 10.
In AA East Grand Forks makes their debut at #10. Wadena-Deer Creek fell out of the top 10.
In A Minneota moved up two spots. There were no additions or subtractions.

Top 10 Poll—Sep 1, 2008; 4th poll
AAA
1. Chaska (11) 206
2. Lakeville North (2) 190
3. Shakopee 185
4. Eastview 178
5. Woodbury 155
6. Waconia 115
7. Andover 110
8. St. Michael/Albertville 88
9. Eden Prairie 86
Alexandria 86
Others: Blaine (37), Burnsville (24), Owatonna (17), Wayzata (13), Apple Valley (8)

AA
1. Jordan (8) 120
2. St. Cloud Cathedral 103
3. Marshall 102
4. Belle Plaine 95
5. Stewartville 88
6. Hibbing 85
7. Jackson County Central 69
8. Delano 63
9. Pipestone Area 49
10. East Grand Forks 25
Others receiving votes: Caledonia (13), Perham (12), Wadena-Deer Creek (7), Yellow Medicine East (6)

A
1. Bethlehem Academy (7) 134
2. Windom Area 124
3. Belgrade/Brooten/Elrosa (1) 112
4. Wabasha-Kellogg 105
5. Mabel-Canton 91
6. Minneota 77
7. Ada-Borup 75
8. SW Christian 72
9. Mayer Lutheran 65
10. Meadow Creek Christian 33
Others: Lake of the Woods (18), Win-E-Mac (13), Martin County West (13), Renville County West (9), SW Star Concept (8)

HIGH SCHOOL PREVIEWS
Kate Horihan of Mabel-Canton is featured in the Rochester Post Bulletin. She is on track to be MCs all time leader in kills, and blocks.
Plus the RPB previews the volleyball scene in Southeast Minnesota with a look at the Hiawatha Valley, Three Rivers, Southeast conferences and capsules of all the teams.

UPCOMING TOURNAMENT
North Dakota State is hosting the Doublewood Inn Tournament this weekend. UI Chicago, UTEP, and Northern Colorado will attend.

Next up: later today with results from Tuesday games. (no out & about however).

SW MN Challenge Brackets (really)

#4 posting 8.28.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

SW MN CHALLENGE BRACKETS
Apparently there is a problem with the link I set up. Here is the brackets for next weekend's SW MN Challenge in Marshall.

FRIDAY GAMES
At SW MN State Rec Facility
5 pm: St. Michael-Albertville vs Sioux Falls Washington
5 pm: Hopkins vs Willmar
5 pm Waconia vs Minneota
5 pm Tartan vs Pipestone
STMA/SFW vs H/W at 7:30 at SW State
W/M vs T/P at 7:30 at SW State

6:15 pm Wayzata vs West Fargo
6:15 pm Burnsville vs Fergus Falls
6:15 pm Eastview vs Bemidji
6:15 pm Litchfield vs Bismarck Century
W/WF vs B/FF at 8:45 at SW State
E/B vs L/BC at 8:45 at SW State

At Marshall High School
5 pm Marshall vs Lincoln HI
5 pm BOLD vs Hutchinson
5 pm RTR vs Woodbury
5 pm Owatonna vs SW Star
M/LHI vs BOLD/H at 7:30 at MHS
RTR/W vs O/SWS at 7:30 at MHS

6:15 pm Lakeville North vs Montevideo
6:15 pm Holy Angels vs Fargo South
6:15 pm Stillwater vs Andover
6:15 pm Rogers vs Hibbing
LN/MTV vs HA/FS at 8:45 at MHS
S/A vs R/H at 8:45 at MHS

Quarterfinals take place on Saturday at MHS at 10:45 am
Semifinals take place at MHS at 1:15 pm
The Championship is at 3:45 pm at MHS

Next up: tomorrow morning

SW MN Challenge Brackets, 48 Away from 1000

#1 posting 8.28.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

SW MN CHALLENGE
A number of the teams that were in the state tournament last year are in the SW MN Challenge tournament this fall (Marshall, Andover, Lakeville North, STMA, Hopkins, Woodbury, & Owatonna). Six of the eight teams in the Class AAA state tournament field are entrants in the tournament.

The 2008 SWMN Challenge is the largest high school volleyball tournament in the history of Minnesota volleyball. Each team will play two matches on Friday and three matches on Saturday.

The 32-team field also includes three teams from North Dakota (Bismarck Century, West Fargo, Fargo South) and one team from South Dakota (Sioux Falls Washington). The 32 teams have over 150 state tournament appearances between them.

The 3rd Annual Southwest Minnesota Challenge will be played at the new Marshall High School and at Southwest Minnesota State University in the Recreational/Athletic Facility.

Here are the brackets for the SW MN Challenge.

BIG 10 NEWS
The Gophers will be in Omaha this weekend at the Bluejay Invitational hosted by Creighton.

Michigan State will be at the Nike Legend Tournament at Oklahoma.

The Wisconsin Badger continues their video countdown series with Faye McCormack interviewing fans. Brittney Dolgner is 48 kills away from 1000 kills.

OTHER D1 NEWS
Charlotte will travel to North Carolina Central for their first tournament.

Colorado State hosts the Hilton Classic.

Portland is at the Holiday Inn Classic at Montana State.

LATE WEDNESDAY RESULTS
Rochester JM beat Northfield 3-1. Alyssa Rushton had a hand in 17 of the JM points. From the Rochester Post Bulletin.

LATE TUESDAY RESULTS
HIGH SCHOOL
I already linked the Marshall story on the Tigers win at Alexandria. Here is the focus on the Cardinals. Underwood swept West Central. Parkers Prairie swept Verndale. Sari Noga had 12 kills for PP. All from the Echo Press.

COMMUNITY COLLEGE
NDSCS beat Ridgewater in five. From the Wahpeton Daily News.

PREVIEWS
D2
Mary has a demanding schedule and is picked for 11th in the Northern Sun. Plus thumbnails on all the Northern Sun teams. From the Bismarck Tribune.

Next up: later tonight with an out & about

Bluejay Invitational Preview, Late Tuesday Results

#2 posting 8.27.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

COLLEGE NEWS
TOURNAMENTS
Ohio State hosts the Sports Imports Classic this weekend.

#16 Minnesota travels to Omaha for the Bluejay Invitational hosted by Creighton. Here are some recent blog entries by the Gophers.

Northern Iowa travels to Boca Raton Florida for the Florida Atlantic Invitational.

South Dakota State is in the Blue Raider Bash at Middle Tennessee State.

Virginia is at the James Madison Days Inn Invitational.

SCRIMMAGE
Marshall holds a Green & White scrimmage today at 6 pm.

PREVIEWS
D1
Marquette is set for the season.

Marshall's Thundering Herd is previewed.

COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Rochester's season outlook is previewed in the Rochester Post Bulletin.

LATE HIGH SCHOOL RESULTS
TUESDAY
AAA
Here is the New Ulm Journal story on the Hutchinson sweep of New Ulm.

Little Falls swept Pierz. Katie Hochsprung had 11 kills for the Flyers. Plus two other area summaries. From the Brainerd Dispatch.

AA
Breckenridge beat Rothsay 3-1. From the Wahpeton Daily News.

A
Alden-Conger beat Medford 3-1. Haley Johnson had 14 kills for AC. From the Albert Lea Tribune.

Cleveland edged New Ulm Cathedral 3-1. Two of the games were decided by two points. Plus three other recaps. From the New Ulm Journal.

EVEN LATER
Perham beat Bemidji in their season opener 3-0 on Friday. From the Perham Enterprise.

Next up: later tonight with another out & about

Going Home, Opening Tournament Previews

#3 posting 8.26.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

GOING HOME
Gopher Kyla Roehrig is going home with the rest of the Minnesota volleyball team this weekend to Omaha to take part in the Creighton Bluejay Invitational. Roehrig is from Papillion-La Vista, Nebraska. From the Omaha World Herald.

MORE BIG 10 NEWS
Defending D1 champ Penn State is headed to Honolulu for the Hawaiian Airlines Classic.

Illinois is hosting the State Farm Classic with North Carolina, New Mexico State and Oregon the opponents.

Michigan is headed to the Rice Invitational this weekend.

Northwestern will be at the Chicago Challenge this weekend with UI Chicago, Chicago Loyola, and DePaul.

Wisconsin Coach Pete Waite holds a press conference.

MORE D1 NEWS
Colorado State will hold a sneak peak of their season on Wednesday, but it is only for CSU students.

Iowa State will travel to UW Milwaukee for their tournament this weekend.

Denver is picked to win the Sun Belt West.

Furman is picked to finish second in the South Division of the Southern Conference. Davidson is tapped for third.

The North Carolina women's volleyball Media Guide is now up.

North Dakota is headed to Cal State Monterrey for a tournament this weekend.

North Dakota State is off to the Montana Tournament.

South Carolina is picked for fifth in the SEC East division. SC has an overall preview, and the Gamecocks also look at the setting position with Bridget Denson-Dorman transferring from UConn.

Ohio is in Hawaii preparing for the weekend tournament.

Washington State is headed to the Boise State tournament.

PREVIEWS
D3
Carleton is hoping to build on last year's successes.

COMMUNITY COLLEGE
The defending D3 NJCAA national champs Central Lakes will need to rebuild. From the Brainerd Dispatch.

HIGH SCHOOL RESULTS
AAA
#5 Woodbury swept Blaine with nine points separating the two squads. From the Woodbury Bulletin.

A
Here is the Albert Lea Tribune version of the Southland five game win over Albert Lea.
The ALT also has the #4 Mabel-Canton sweep of Glenville-Emmons.

Next up: later today with an out & about.

South Dakota Hires

#1 posting 6.12.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

SOUTH DAKOTA HIRES
Matt Houk has been named the new volleyball coach at South Dakota. Houk has been an assistant at UW Green Bay and UW Milwaukee.

MORE COACHING NEWS
Lisa Bicknese has been hired at Kingsland. From the Spring Valley Tribune.

Rob Wolter has been hired as interim volleyball coach at UW Parkside. He had been an assistant there and also at South Dakota State, MSU Mankato, and Winona State.

AWARDS
Vicky Braegelman will receive the NCAA D2 female athlete of the year award on June 23 in New York. Braegleman played her high school ball at Albany and her college ball at UM Duluth. From the St. Cloud Times.

TOURNAMENTS
Minnesota North is off to the nationals JO tournaments in Dallas. The 18s and 14s qualified. From the Pine Journal.

SCHEDULE
Denver has released their schedule. Kresson Vreeman of Central Christian is on the Denver roster.

Next up: tomorrow

The Future of Beach Volleyball

#1 posting 5.30.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

NCAA BEACH VOLLEYBALL?
The NCAA is considering adding Beach Volleyball to their sports offered at colleges and universities. Colleges are looking for women's sports to add with title IX. Think indoor/outdoor track. From the Fort Myers News Press.

AVCA SHOWCASE
The AVCA Showcase between The Big 12 and Pac 10 will take place at Omaha on August 29-31. Teams include Nebraska, Texas, Stanford, and USC. From KMEG.

next up: tomorrow

SMV Spring Tournament, Award Nominees

#1 posting 5.20.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

TOURNAMENT WINNER
Here is a pic of the Minnesota Northern Lights 16-3 team from Sunday. They won the SMV Spring Tournament in Rochester (beat the SMV 16-2 team in the championship match).


AWARDS
Danielle Meyer of Ohio State is up for the Big 10 Medal of Honor.

Megan Groen of Renville County West is a Hengstler-Ranweiler Nominee. She had 849 kills in her career. From the West Central Tribune.

HALL OF FAME
Jan Nasers Aggen from the Worthington class of 1979 has been named to their school's hall of fame. She played volleyball there and at Worthington CC. From the Worthington Daily Globe.

PURDUE IN VENICE
Purdue's volleyball time is now in Venice, Italy.

DEATH
Veronica Schrader, former Eastview volleyball player, died of heart disease last week at St. Olaf. From the StarTribune.

Next up: tomorrow

Six Gone, More Champs

#1 posting 2.26.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

SIX GONE
The Minnesota Daily looks at the six Gophers leaving the volleyball program and the reasons they left.

CHAMPS
Granite City 17s won the President's day tournament in Eden Prairie last week. One of the members of that squad is St. Cloud Cathedral's Anna Zyvoloski. From the St. Cloud Times.

Next up: Tomorrow

Gopher State Volleyball

#1 posting 2.2.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

GOPHER STATE VOLLEYBALL
MYAS runs the Gopher State Volleyball events. There are five more events coming up with the first being the Block Party on Feb. 9 at St. Olaf College in Northfield.

Thanks to the readers for the help. If you have news, go to my profile and email me.

next up: tomorrow

CC All Division Teams

#2 posting 11.13.2007
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

D2 TOURNAMENT
The Marshall Independent looks at the road ahead for the SW MN State Mustangs.

AWARDS
The Community College division has passed out their post season awards. Riverland's Brooke Monson and outside hitter Elissa Preuss were named to the MN CC South Division team. From the Rochester Post Bulletin.

Here are both North and South Division All Division teams.

Here are the stats for the year in the MNCC Conference.

Thanks to the readers for the help. If you have news, go to my profile and email me.

next up: tomorrow, unless news breaks.

UMD to Host, Dieter's 3rd Honor, NCC Awards

#3 posting 11.12.2007
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

UMD TO HOST
UM Duluth will host the North Central Region November 15-17. UMD is the #1 seed and sees South Dakota. The top half has three Northern Sun teams with MSU Mankato crashing the party, the bottom is all North Central. An interesting quarterfinal is the Northern Sun regular season champ Concordia St. Paul vs tournament champ Wayne State. Here are the brackets.

DIETER PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Brook Dieter of Minnesota has been named Big 10 offensive player of the week for the third time this season.
Juli Pierce of Indiana was named defensive player.

NORTH CENTRAL AWARDS
The North Central awarded their final players of the week with Vicky Braegelmann of UMD capturing the offensive honors, Jenna Lago of Augustana taking the defensive award. Katie Gangelhoff of UMD notched her 8th weekly setter award.
On top of that the NCC released their final All Conference list. Vicky Braegelmann continued to pile on the awards with the MVP. Amber Kobus of South Dakota was defensive player of the year. MSU Mankato's Amanda Beekman was Freshman of the year and UMD coach Jim Boos took home the coach of the year honors.
The breakdown on the awards:
The graduating class breakdown is: 09s 5, 08s 4, 10s 2, and 11s 1
colleges: UM Duluth 4, Augustana 3, MSU Mankato 3,
by position: OH 4, MH 3, S 3, RS 2
average height: OH 5-10.5, MH 6-0, RS 6-0.5, S 5-7.3
by high school: Albany 2, Marshall 2
by HS classification: AA 6, AAA 2
by HS conference: Hiawatha Valley 2, Southwest 2, West Central North 2

MORE STATE TOURNAMENT LEFTOVERS
AA: Stewartville finished 4th for the first time in 18 visits to the State Tournament. From the Rochester Post Bulletin.

Thanks to the readers for your help. If you have news, go to my profile and email me.

next up: tomorrow morning

LeRoy-Ostrander Tops Mabel-Canton at Southland

#1 posting 9.16.2007
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information
High School Results

WEEKEND VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENTS
LeRoy-Ostrander took the Southland title sweeping Mabel-Canton 2-0 in the championship. From the Rochester Post Bulletin.

Zimmerman finished 0-3 at the Big Lake Tournament. Rogers ended up 12th in the Sauk Rapids tournament. From the Elk River Star News.

St. Cloud Cathedral won the Sauk Rapids title, plus the Big Lake, North Branch and Minnewaska tournaments. From the St. Cloud Times deep in the area roundup.

Roseville edged Bemidji in the North Branch Tournament. From the Bemidji Pioneer.

TOURNAMENT BREAKDOWN
BIG LAKE: Faribault
CROSBY-IRONTON: Pine River-Backus
DELANO: Delano
FARMINGTON: Jordan
HAWLEY: Ada-Borup
HENRY SIBLEY: Spring Lake Park
INTERNATIONAL FALLS: Nashwauk-Keewatin
JACKSON COUNTY CENTRAL: Windom
MOUND WESTONKA: Mounds View
MINNEWASKA: New London-Spicer
MONTEVIDEO: Montevideo
NORTH BRANCH: Roseville
PELICAN RAPIDS:
ST. PAUL ACADEMY: Minnehaha
SAUK RAPIDS-RICE: St. Cloud Cathedral
SOUTHLAND: LeRoy-Ostrander
WARREN-ALVARADO-OSLO: Thief River Falls
WATERVILLE-ELYSIAN-MORRISTOWN: Renville County West
WAUKON, IA:

Thanks to the readers for the help in making this the premier site for volleyball news & information. If you have news and information, go to my profile & email me.

next up: college reports

Out & About: TCA Third Degree/Northern Lights

#3 posting 7.6.2007
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

This game took place yesterday
Junior Olympic Championships
18 Open, Pool Play
TCA-THIRD DEGREE 3, NORTHERN LIGHTS 2
25-20, 25-23, 13-25, 26-28, 15-13

The defending champs Northern Lights, a team made up Minnesota players, including three future Gophers, lost a thriller to TCA Third Degree, a team from Southern California.

In game one NL had a tough two serve receive rotation stretch where TCA out scored the home town 7-1. In high level play, side outs rule. NL was only able to score on three of their serves, TCA only five. But that two serve rotation was enough to give TCA a lead that NL couldn't overcome.

In game two NL led 9-6 after one full cycle through each service order. TCA added three points to their total on Geena Urango's serve and the game was knotted at 10. On Juliane Piggott' serve TCA added two points to get a slight advantage 22-20. Kresson Vreeman was able to tie it at 22 on her serve for NL, but on the side out TCA went back in front. Both teams traded side outs for two serves. Piggott ended game two with a back row kill 25-23.

In the do or die third game NL got the job done. They established themselves early and never surrendered the lead. Vreeman served four points to put the game within striking distance at 20-13. Brook Dieter finished with four service points.

Northern Lights needed their rally caps in game four. NL failed to side out three straight times and TCA took advantage of that for a 10-5 run to go up 17-13. Hailey Cowles was able to serve up four points including an ace to tie the score at 20 before a side out gave the ball back to TCA. NL had an advantage at 22-21 after a Piggott hitting error but neither team was able to shake the other. NL got a side out on a Lauren Gibbemeyer kill to make it 27-26 and for point 28 Allie Oelke had a block to finish the game. It was all tied up at two apiece.

NL opened game five with the serve. NL took the first lead at 2-1 on an Oelke block. However, after the sideout, Urango served up three points, all of which were either passing or hitting errors on NL's part. TCA led 5-3 after Urnago's serve. Piggott broke NL's back with four more points. It was 11-6 when NL got the ball back. After Cowles serve TCA's lead was cut to 12-8. TCA was on the cusp at 14-9 but Dieter staved off the final point with a side out kill. Vreeman served up three points before Urango finished the contest with a kill.

The coaches and teams around the tournament said this was the best contest of the tournament by far. It certainly had drama and pull. The crowds were packed around the venue.

Photos: #1 Lauren Gibbemeyer, NL swings on a slide; #2 Geena Urango, TCA goes up high, but Brook Dieter blocks for NL; #3 Julianne Piggott, TCA attacks with her team in coverage; #4 Lilla Frederick goes up on a jump serve and makes contact; #5 Urango, TCA is blocked by Allie Oelke with Naomi Johnson also setting up a block. click on the photos to get a bigger picture.

NORTHERN LIGHTS
They used basically three serving orders. In games 1, 4, and 5 they used the line up I provide down below. In games 2, and 3 Oelke led off the rotations.
1. Kresson Vreeman S 2-0-0----2
2. Brook Dieter, OH 0-2.5-15----17.5
3. Naomi Johnson, MH 0-5.5-6----11.5
4. Allie Oelke, RH 1-3-5----9
5. Hailey Cowles, OH 1-1-7---9
6. Tawny Dahmes, DS 0-0-0----0
6fr Lauren Gibbemeyer, MH 0-3-20----23
L Susan Halverson
totals: 4-15-43----62

TCA THIRD DEGREE
In games 1 and 2 started off with Urango; In games 3 and 5 started off with Kendall Bateman; In game four started with Christine Douglas. I am showing game 1 order
1. Geena Urango OH 0-2.5-23---25.5
2. Lauren Bledsoe, MH 0-0.5-1----1.5
2br Kelly Holford, DS 1-0-1----2
2fr Janea Rossell, MH 0-1-0----1
3. Julianne Piggott, RH 1-1-21----23
4. Lilla Frederick, OH 2-0-6----8
5. Christine Douglas, MH 0-2-5----7
6. Kendall Bateman, S 0-0.5-1---1.5
unknown 0-2-2----4 (I missed some action trying to write everything down and take pictures at the same time)
Stevi Robinson, L
totals: 4-9-60----73

Urango is going to USC; Piggott to UCLA. The three future Gophers are Gibbemeyer, Cowles, and Dieter.

Both teams lost in the 18 open semifinals today. They will both finish third. SPVB out of Chicago and Long Beach will play for the championship tonight.

Next up tomorrow

National Junior Classic Schedules, SMV Results

#1 posting 5.24.2007
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

WEEKEND TOURNAMENT
Teams from Northern Lights and M1 will be in Chicago this weekend to compete in the National Junior Classic hosted by Sports Performance. Schedules are here along with one page of notes to start. Championship games are on Monday.

ROCHESTER TOURNAMENT
The Southern Minnesota Volleyball Spring Tournament was held last weekend. Here are some of the champs:
18: Northern Lights 17-3
16: SMV 15-1
14: SMV 14-1
Also from the Rochester Post Bulletin.

Thanks to the readers for their wonderful help in making this your first stop for volleyball news.
If you have news go to my profile and e-mail me.

Next up: tomorrow.