Eagan/Cretin-Derham Hall, Part 2

#5 posting 11.3.2006
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3AAA Finals
EAGAN 3, CRETIN-DERHAM HALL 2
23-25*, 25-16, 18-25, 25-13, 15-9

Eagan came back from a 2-1 deficit to make the state tournament for the first time since 2003. Eagan has now won 3AAA six times. This game also marked the end of Lauren Gibbemeyer’s stellar HS career. She took the loss hard, but she will now move on to the larger stage of the Gophers.

Cretin-Derham Hall started off the game with three straight scores off their serves and three straight first ball side outs. As a result CDH led 6-3. They built the lead to 14-10 but then Eagan went on a 7-1 run to take the lead 16-15. Kelsey Sparks had two kills and a block in the run. CDH then got their FBSO game back and led 22-19 when Eagan took a time out. That is when controversy erupted. My black and red pen and the scoreboard had 22-19, but the book apparently did not. After five minutes it was decided Eagan was to get a point that rightfully belonged to CDH. The Raiders were upset and lost the next two points as Eagan took a 22-21 lead. CDH then took time out and got the side out with an Eagan hitting error. Lauren Wagner provided two kills during Meghan McComas’ serve to give the lead back to CDH 24-22. Sparks got the side out with a push kill and Wagner returned the favor with a kill from the right side to give CDH a 25-23, or is it 26-22 win.

Eagan dominated game two as CDH could only manage to get two fbso in the game. Five straight Eagan servers racked up points the score was 14-8 after CDH got their first side out. The biggest run came on Sarah Schwanz’ serve with three points. CDH took their second time out at 17-9. Eagan closed to 24-13, but Wagner staved off the final point with a side out kill. Two more CDH points on Mara Clements serve was enough for Eagan to take a time out. After the break CDH had a double contact to finish the game.

CDH got their fbso game back after the 2/10 second game. They checked in at 8/13 in this game and that helped in picking up the win. Eagan, on the other hand, could not get the fbso for servers two through six. The result was CDH riding an 18-9 lead. Eagan took their first time out at 12-5 and they did get the ball back, but never really challenged for the game. Both teams traded the ball with sideouts coming nine straight times. The second Eagan time out came during this stretch with the score 21-13. The third game ended on a fbso by a Gibbemeyer smash.

Eagan controlled the ball, and CDH didn’t in game four. Kelsey Ammerman got things off for Eagan with four straight points including two aces. Eagan’s serving strategy was to work away from the middle and that limited the quantity and quality of the CDH attack game. It also limited Gibbemeyer’s impact on the game. She only was able to deliver four points in the CDH column this game after coming up with 10, 8, 8 points in the first three games. Runs, runs and more runs caused this game to be over quickly. Eagan had runs of six, five and four. CDH was caught twice in this game in rotation errors. They had three for the game. Laurel Sanford scored the last three points for Eagan with kills.

Eagan got the serve and again Sanford added to her consecutive point total with a block. Both teams traded side outs when the dam broke wide open for Eagan. On Bohannon’s serve they added four points to their margin to make it 7-2. She had an ace in the run and Sparks had a kill and a block. Every time Eagan did something right the energy picked up and surged through the whole team. On Katie Joyce’s serve she added another five points to make it 13-4. The inevitable was postponed by three pointw on Rachel Sievers serve. Eagan did take a time out at 13-7, but didn’t get the ball back for one more serve. The game ended on a net violation as CDH went up to block an Eagan attack.

rotation, player, position, ht, year, aces, blocks, kills-totals
EAGAN
1 Kelsey Ammerman, DS, 5-8, 2008 2-0-0---2
1fr Sarah Schwanz, RH, 5-10, 2007 1-0-9---10
2 Malia Paleafei, OH, 5-7, 2008 0-0-7----7
3 Taylor Bohannon, L, 5-6, 2008 2-0-1---3
3fr Laurel Sanford, MH, 6-0, 2008 0-3-13---16
4 Katie Joyce, S, 5-9, 2008 1-0-2----3
5 Leah Ehret, DS, 5-6, 2008 0-0-0---0
5fr Kathryn Kemp, OH, 5-11, 2007 0-1-2---3
5fr Katie Hofstad, OH, 5-10, 2008 0-1-8---9
6fr Kelsey Sparks, MH, 5-10, 2008 0-3-10---13
Totals: 6-8-52---66 points, 39 points on CDH errors

CRETIN-DERHAM HALL
1 Megan Barrett, DS, 5-4, 2007 0-0-0---0
1fr Holly Benedict, OH, 5-8, 2008 0-0-5---5
2 Molly Morrissey, S, 5-6, 2007 2-0-0----2
2fr Nikki Abel, RH, 5-9, 2007 0-0-0---0
2fr Rachel Schloesser, RH, 5-10, 2008 0-0-0----0
3 Lauren Gibbemeyer, MH, 6-2, 2007 0-5-27---32
4 Meghan McComas, OH, 5-10, 2007 0-0-4---4
5br Rachel Sievers, S, 5-6, 2007 0-0-0---0
5br g2 Mara Clements, S, 5-6, 2007 1-0-0----1
5fr Megan Stinchfield, RH, 6-1, 2008 0-0-3---3
6fr Lauren Wagner, MH, 6-1, 2007 0-1-14----15
6br Kayla Bird, L, 5-3, 2008 0-0-0----0
Totals: 3-6-53---62 points; 27 points on Eagan errors

PLAYER OF THE GAME
Lauren Gibbemeyer even if her team lost she was the best player on the floor. Eagan did a good job of preventing her from dominating in games four and five, but Eagan had a more solid unit.

NUMBER CRUNCHING
team, fbso/serves--fbso%; pts scored, % earned, % allowed
Eagan 25/51---.490; 105; .629; .303
Cretin-Derham Hall 24/52---.462; 89; .697; .371
Here is the telling stat of the game: For fbso CDH when winning was .655; when they lost it was .217. For Eagan they were more consistent. In wins it was .500; in the losses it was .483. But Eagan will have to sharpen that up in the state tournament if they want to advance.

ROTATION POINTS
EAGAN
1 Ammerman 23-17 .575
2 Paleafei 17-16 .515
3 Bohannon 19-16 .543
4 Joyce 18-18 .500
5 Ehret 18-12 .600
6 Sparks 10-10 .500

CRETIN-DERHAM HALL
1 Barrett 16-19 .457
2 Morrissey 18-17 .514
3 Gibbemeyer 15-19 .441
4 McComas 14-20 .412
5 Sievers/Clements 15-19 .441
6 Wagner 11-10 .524

No Eagan rotation was below .500, while only two rotations were north of .500 for CDH. The 3-5 rotations that ruled in the Woodbury game did not deliver the lofty .700 numbers in this contest.

Next up: later tonight with another Out & About, that is if blogger is working. It has been crazy trying to get this story posted.