Out & About: Eden Prairie/Alexandria

#2 posting 9.2.2006

Eden Prairie won the their own Eagle Invatitational today over Mayer Lutheran. I was able to attend the semifinals and will blog on all three games.

EDEN PRAIRIE INVITATIONAL
Semifinals
Eden Prairie 2, Alexandria 1 (25-19, 15-25, 15-4)

First off Eden Prairie faced Alexandria. Both were the #1 seeds in their respective pools.

Alexandria led 9-6 in game one when EP took a time out to think things through. Seven of the Alex points were the result of EP hitting errors & violations (6-1). The time out forced Alex server Greta Wood to serve out, and EP's Elise Bailey served up five points bookended with two kills by outside Hailey Cowles. It was Alex's turn to take a time out with the score EP 12-9. The closest Alex was to get the rest of the way was 14-12. In this game EP sided out at .643, while Alex came in at .615. In this game Cowles had 7 kills.

EP held a 5-3 lead and then Katie Brown's dump set off seven straight points by Alex with Samantha Dale serving six. Alise Carlson had two points in the run on a block and a tip kill. EP was forced to use a time out when a ball that was apparently going out hit Libero Natalia Hart's foot on the left side line. At that point it was 10-5 Alex. The closest EP was to get was 16-12. Samantha Dale had 3 kills on points 16, 18 and 19 for Alex. EP burned another timeout at 18-12, but never got on track. In the sideout battle Alex came in at .833, while EP was at .583.

In the deciding third game it was all EP. They were five for five in side out opportunities, while Alex did not get one in five chances. Cowles again had a big game with four kills and two aces.
She had three straight kills before Alex took a time at 5-1. After a side out Cowles served four points to make the score 10-3 when her service was over. She was the third EP server. Alex took a desperation time at 13-4 but Lindsay Simmons served out for EP.

NUMBER CRUNCHING
first ball Sideout %
Eden Prairie 21/31 .677
Alexandria 18/30 .600

BY THE NUMBERS
Kills-Blocks-Aces=TOTAL
EDEN PRAIRIE
Hailey Cowles 16--1.5--2==19.5
Katie Vohnoutka 5--0--3==8
Nicki Ainsworth 4--0--0==4
Courtney Giles 2--1--0==3
Elise Bailey 1--.5--0==1.5
Totals: 28--3--5==36 points, 19 points from Alexandria errors

ALEXANDRIA
Samantha Dale 7--.5--0==7.5
Anica Wensman 7--0--0==7
Alise Carlson 5--2--0==7
Jacque Brown 2--.5--0==2.5
Maggie Snyder 2--0--0==2
Katie Brown 1--0--0==1
totals: 24--1--0==25 points, 23 points from Eden Prairie errors

PLAYER OF THE GAME
Hailey Cowles

Next up: EP semifinal #2 Mayer Lutheran/Rosemount