Day One: Jordan Dethroned

#2 posting 11.8.2007
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

STATE TOURNAMENT OBSERVATIONS
Today I watched six games at the Xcel Center from 9 am to 9:45 pm. There were games that were over & out, and games on a roller coaster, white knuckle ride.

It started out with Lakeville North sweeping Owatonna. The first game was decided on Kayla Kirby's serve as she had a seven point run to take LN from 13 all to 20-13. Game two wasn't as close as the final score indicated. LN led 24-15 when Owatonna had one last gasp. LN led early 4-0 in game three and never trailed.

The Andover vs Blaine rematch was a roller coaster. Blaine raced out to a 10-1 lead in game one, led by as many as 13-3 and lost 25-18. Andover finished with a 22-5 run including the last 8 straight. Blaine bounced back and took game two 25-16. Again they led early, but didn't let go of the lead. Andover held the advantage in game three. Blaine closed out to 22-19 forcing an Andover time out. That refocused the Huskies and they closed out 25-19 on three Bengal errors. Blaine again jumped out to the lead in game four. The Bengals were on the verge at 24-21 when Lauren Cipperly had a side out kill. Blaine never got the ball back. Cipperly had the final point on a block. It was the second time Andover beat Blaine this year. Also in the game Ari Mewhorter played for the second time this year. She was out all year and came back from a knee injury last Saturday.

The third game was the most lopsided of the day. #1 in class A Windom never had a serious issue with Wheaton.

Game four was Mayer Lutheran's game with BBE. BBE closed out game one with a 12-3 run. BBE led 20-19 in game two. After a time out ML ran off five points to 24-20. BBE pushed the game to 24-23. A tip kill by Courtney Kelzer ended game two. In game four BBE was on the verge at 24-21. ML finished with a 6-1 run to avoid a fifth game.

Then it was the big #1 vs #2 battle in class AA---Jordan vs DGF. It also featured two uniformed #1s Brittany Chambers of Jordan and Jennifer Lopez of DGF. As fitting a heavyweight battle it went back and forth. The first three games were decided by two points, the fourth by three. The biggest margin came in game five with DGF scoring the last four points.

The final game featured long rallys by two former AAA powers that were moved down to AA this year Marshall and Hibbing. Marshall won a tight contest and kept Hibbing coach Gail Nucech stuck at win number 799.

NUMBER CRUNCHING
Team, fbso/att; fbso%; runs 3+; points scored; points allowed
Lakeville North 28/39; .718; 7, 60, 17
Owatonna 19/39, .487, 5, 39, 15

Blaine 22/44, .500, 11, 61, 28
Andover 22/42, .524, 10, 64, 25

Windom 17/26, .654, 11, 51, 20
Wheaton 8/26, .308, 1, 16, 24

Mayer Lutheran 25/47, .532, 10, 60, 28
BBE 21, 47, .447, 12, 64, 35

DGF 38/62, .613, 13, 76, 20
Jordan 35/63, .603, 11, 84, 35

Marshall 35/56, .625, 9, 60, 33
Hibbing 33/55, .600, 6, 54, 33

NOTES
Once upon a time I got my start coaching volleyball in Ellsworth, MN. I was an assistant. Now one of those players is a mom cheering on her daughter. Mom is Shelly Becker and the daughter is MaKenzie Lovell. I guess that proves I am getting old fast.

Food: Avoid the Pizza at the arena it is an ultra rip off, as opposed to the regular rip off of the hot dogs. The Pizza (at least the Pepperoni) is skimpy. I guess it is Pepperoni, and not Pepperonis.

DGF/Jordan: too bad everyone couldn't focus on that contest. this match was a poster child for seeding. Many people were saying it was the championship game. Yes it had great action, but it was only the quarterfinal. The other teams in the tournament believe the championship is on Saturday afternoon. I have seen many teams thinking the championship game was earlier in a tournament, let down and then get bit on the rear end because they believed the hype. Other teams don't.
But the fact is seeding will avoid these problems. It is only a matter of time.

next up: tomorrow morning.