Out & About: Lakeville North/Blaine

#3 posting 11.10.2006
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

AAA SEMIFINALS
LAKEVILLE NORTH 3, BLAINE 2
18-25, 24-26, 25-23, 25-22, 15-12

Lakeville North came back with one foot in the grave to advance to the finals in AAA. LN was down 2-0 and on the verge in game three trailing 23-22 before Kelsey Brandl took control. They then took the last two from a Blaine team that may have opened a few eyes today.

The story of this game, as in all games, is one of first ball side out (fbso). In the first 25 LN servers Blaine had the door barred to any scoring with a .760 fbso %. But toward the end of game two a shift started. Blaine couldn't get the fbso on the last two serves. LN outscored Blaine 7-3 in that game. Blaine's fbso in the last three games was .417. It was a reverse mirror image for LN. LN was .480 in the first two games, .606 for the last three. The breakdown started with Blaine errors, with passing and hitting errors piling up and LN hung around. They started to get their mojo back and felt good about themselves. They were more aggressive on the serve, and played air tight defense. Jessica Granquist of Blaine had 11 kills in the first two games, but only five the next two, zero in game five. The left side attack that was piling up points in the first frames was shut down late. In game five only two of the 8 points came off left side attacks. Blaine had better success from the right side.

In game one Blaine controlled the action and looked confident. They sided out 8 of the first 9 LN servers. They led 20-12 when they didn't get the fbso on the last two LN servers. That pushed the game to 23-18 and Blaine took their first time out. A hitting error, and then a block from Jackie Kelly ended the first frame.

Both teams werre in fbso mode with 10 of the first 11 over and out in one serve. But runs were few and far between for Blaine. They did have two runs of three twice early with points 11-13, and hen 14-16. Their final 3 run occured with 19-21. Ari Mewhorter had a kill and a block to but Blaine up 23-17. LN came back with three straight, but missed the serve to keep it alive. Blaine only needed one more, but Dani Roers had a kill for the fbso on Cook's serve. Kayla Kirby then tied the game at 24 with three more points. Brandl had a hand in two of the points. Granquist got the side out, and then Brandl missed on a slide attack that drifted to close to the scorer's table. Blaine had a hard fought game two win.

Game three was the pivot point. LN had the early advantage after Brandl's serve up 8-5. Lindsey Baumgartner got Blaine back into the mix with four service points all the result of Cook kills. Blaine led 14-11. Blaine maintained the advantage up to 21-19. Taylor Fieldsted was able to squeeze two points. The first point came on a hitting error. Blaine took a time out, and Brandl then blocked a Cook attack. LN's own hitting error gave the ball back to Blaine tied up at 22. Cook had a block to give Blaine a 23-22 lead. Brandl got the side out and then on Torey Broback's serve Dani Roers put down a kill and then Brandl finished it with her own.

LN led 8-6, but Blaine did have a spurt of four straight points to take a 12-10 lead off of Baumgartner's serve. But the fbso game was shifting to LN. Blaine was 3/7 with the last seven servers; LN 5/7. LN regained the lead and momentum at 15-13. Blaine burned a time out and did get the ball back with a Mewhorter tip kill. Blaine closed to 21-19, but LN deliverd three points to hold a commanding 24-19 lead. Granquist had a kill from the back row and then two points to make it 24-22. Brandl again finished with a kill after a LN time out.

LN won the serve and Brandl delivered the first point via the block. Blaine did not get fbso on the last five LN servers. LN built the lead to 13-7 when Jackie Kelly took over. She had a dump for the side out and then served up four points. Cook had two kills, while Mewhorter twice blocked Brandl. LN got the ball back on a Cook hit the sailed behind the service line. This time it was Dani Roers putting the ball on the floor for point 15.

rotation, player, position, ht, year, aces, blocks, kills-totals
LAKEVILLE NORTH
1br Taylor Fieldsted, L, 5-6, 2008, 0-0-0---0
1fr Amanda Anderson, MH, 5-11, 2007 0-1-6---7
2 Torey Broback, DS, 5-9, 2007 1-0-0----1
2fr Kristen Zeise, RH, 5-11, 2008, 0-0-0---0
3 Kayla Kirby, DS 5-5, 2008 0-0-0---0
3fr Dani Roers, OH, 5-9, 2007 0-0-15---15
4 Kelsey Brandl, MH, 6-2, 2008, 1-4.5-16---21.5
4 Lindsey Weaver, Server, 5-3, 2008, 1-0-0---1
5 Cori Revsbeck, S, 5-7, 2007, 0-0.5-0----0.5
5fr Kirsten Ostergaard, S, 5-9, 2008, 0-0-0---0
6 Amy Braun, OH, 5-10, 2009, 2-0-18---20
Totals: 5-6-55---66 points, 41 points on Blaine errors

BLAINE
1 Lindsey Baumgartner, MH, 5-11, 2007, 0-0.5-10---10.5
2 Jackie Kelly, S, 5-8, 2007, 0-1.5-4---5.5
3 Kristin Cook, OH, 5-9, 2007, 0-0-18---18
3br Jane Ollila, L, 5-5, 2007, 0-0-1---1
3br Alex Suda, DS, 0-0-0---0
4 Ari Mewhorter, MH, 6-0, 2009, 1-8.5-13---22.5
4br Ashley Kuduk, DS, 5-4, 2007, 0-0-0---0
5 Molly Kreklow, S, 6-0, 2010, 1-1.5-1---3.5
6 Jessica Granquist, OH, 5-7, 2008, 1-0-16---17
Totals: 3-12-63---78 points, 30 points on Lakeville North errors

PLAYER OF THE GAME
Kelsey Brandl

NUMBER CRUNCHING
team, fbso/serves--fbso%; pts scored, % earned, % allowed
Lakeville North 32/61---.524; 107; .617; .278
Blaine 34/61---.557; 108; .722; .383
Looking at the State HS web site they give more detailed stats than I give. However they are more generous on kills, aces, and blocks LN had 8 more points earned according to them with Blaine earning six more.
Ironic fact: Blaine outscored LN by one in total points.

ROTATION POINTS
LAKEVILLE NORTH
1 Fieldsted 24-30 .444
2 Broback 20-15 .571
3 Kirby 17-17 .500
4 Brandl/Weaver 20-13 .606
5 Revsbeck 11-14 .440
6 Braun 15-19 .441
totals 107-108 .498
Weaver, Apple Valley coach Walt Weaver's daughter, came in game four and served up five points in two rotations. She added two more in game five.

BLAINE
1 Baumgartner 26-20 .565
2 Kelly 25-21 .543
3 Cook 16-20 .444
4 Mewhorter 16-16 .500
5 Kreklow 14-16 .467
6 Granquist 11-14 .440
Totals: 108-107 .502


Next up: A Seminfals: Minneota/Central Christian