Article Photos

Advertisement

NEW ULM - Lexi Platz checked one goal off her to-do list Thursday. Now she and her Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop teammates are ready to check off another goal.

Early in the opening set of the Section 2A, North Subsection Final against Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity, Platz set the school record for kills in a season.

After that was done, the Thunderbirds went on to quickly dispatch LP/HT 25-17, 25-8, 25-17 to advance to their second section final in three years.

"It's kind of fun but it's not my main goal," Platz said. "Our goal is to go to state but this is a nice cherry on top."

Now GFW (24-7) is one win away from accomplishing that goal as well. The Thunderbirds now play the South Subsection champ Nicollet in the final at 6 p.m. Saturday at Gustavus Adolphus College.

"This is so exciting to know that this is within reach," Platz said. "We have worked really hard and this just shows that the hard work has paid off."

GFW last made it to the section final in 2007 when the Thunderbirds advanced to the state tournament. Only junior Cheyenne Briese remains from that team.

"This is a whole new group of girls, only Cheyenne is back," GFW coach Chris Wortz said. "These girls have never experienced this type of playoff game. They did an excellent job, they stayed focused and they stuck with it all night."

LP/HT kept the opening set close and tied it at 11 on a GFW sideout. Then Briese stepped to the service line and served for four straight points and the Bulldogs were never close again as GFW won the set 25-17.

The Thunderbirds never trailed in the second set as they won 25-8.

The third set was a little closer and the Bulldogs held an 11-9 lead before Platz kills sandwiched around a Kayla Schuette kill gave the Thunderbirds a lead it never gave up. GFW won the set 25-17.

"That took the wind out of their sails," Wortz said about holding LP/HT to single digits in the second game. "We could have just backed off and sat on our heals and we did not do that. It was nice to see in Game 3 that we still came out strong."

Briese led the Thunderbirds with 13 kills, 10 digs and was 14-for-14 serving with three aces. Hannah Neuman and Mackenzie Trettin each had five kills. Stephanie Howe had 33 set assists and Mikell Melius was 13-for-14 serving with two aces. Schuette added 15 digs.

As a team GFW was 65-for-69 serving.

Platz finished the night with 11 kills and now has 413 for the season. Rebecca Kaukola set the previous record of 402 in 1999. There have been a lot of good players to come through GFW and for Platz to hold the record as a sophomore is quite an accomplishment.

"I am looking forward to a bright future," she said. "I have great teammates and they are fun to play with and it's just great to play with them."

"To have Lexi do that as a sophomore is tremendous," Wortz said. "To have an athlete like that on your team is incredible. It takes the whole team for her to get a kill. We have to be able to dig that ball and pass it and set it to her. She knows that and takes pride in the whole team."