Sleepy Eye advances in 2A
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SLEEPY EYE -- The Sleepy Eye volleyball team will live to play another match as the Indians swept Lester Prairie 25-14, 25-16, 25-12 on Monday in the first round of the Section 2A, North Subsection tournament.
Sleepy Eye, the No. 8 seed, took advantage of Bulldog unforced errors and service errors. Lester Prairie's woes weren't so much in the number as it was in the timing of them. Just when the Bulldogs appeared to have some momentum, they hurt themselves with either a mistake or a series of them.
"It was a good win for us," Sleepy Eye head coach Sydney Geiger said. "It was good to get a win in our final home match of the season."
The road doesn't get any easier for the Indians (11-13-2) because they will face No. 1 seed Mayer Lutheran on Thursday.
During the first set, both squads stayed within a few points of each other. The set featured four ties and three lead changes. Kadence Hesse's soft tip seemed to motivate Sleepy Eye late in the set. Despite the Bulldogs getting 2 points, Breaunna Mertz's kill followed by two errors by Lester Prairie and Allison Knoll's two errors gave the set to Sleepy Eye.
Lester Prairie wouldn't give up, as it kept fighting throughout the second set. The Indians would start heading in the right direction, but the Bulldogs fought back. Mertz's kill late helped give the Indians some breathing room. A service error a and two unforced errors ended Lester Prairie's comeback hopes as the Indians won the set.
In the third set, the Indians jumped out to an early advantage, only to see Lester Prairie battle back and tie it. This time, the Indians got an ace serve by Hesse and a soft tip by Mertz. A few volleys later, Morgan Hoffmann and Mertz got back-to-back kills for a 14-7 Indian advantage. Hesse's kill and block on the next volley brought the Indians to within 1 point of taking the set. Chloe Engelke of the Bulldogs knocked the ball into the net for the final set point.
Hesse finished with 17 kills and 13 digs. Mertz added seven kills with 14 digs, Emma Schieffert had six kills and 10 digs and Priscilla Martinez had 12 set assists.
Wabasso 3, Lakeview 1
WABASSO -- Wabasso advanced in the Section 3A volleyball playoffs with a 20-25, 25-12, 25-13, 25-9 victory on Monday.
Audrey Johnson had 19 digs and four ace serves and Natasha Doubler finished with 16 digs and five ace serves for the Rabbits. Kelsey Frank had 31 set assists and eight kills and Kelsey Fischer had 12 kills.
Wabasso plays Canby on Friday.