PREP VOLLEYBALL ROUNDUP: Trojans win St. James tourney

SAINT JAMES — Worthington took first place at a volleyball tournament in St. James on Saturday after beating Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial in a hard-fought championship match.

The Trojans notched a trio of sweeps and tied host St. James on the way to the final, which they won with game scores of 15-25, 25-17 and 15-12.

“Saturday we served aggressively and kept teams from running their offense,” WHS head coach Melissa Schutz said. “Our serve receive went better, which kind of allowed us to run our offense better and set up some more attacks.”

WHS opened with a 25-19, 25-9 win against Maple River, followed by a 25-9, 25-20 win over Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton.

The Trojans won the opening game against St. James by a 26-24 score, but the Saints took Game 2 by a 25-23 score. The match officially ended in a tie with each game finishing with a two-point difference.

Worthington stormed past Redwood Valley 25-7, 25-18 in the semifinals to reach the final against the Knights.

Taylor Heidebrink (61-for-64 serving with nine aces, six blocks) anchored the WHS attack with 96 set assists during the course of the tournament.

“Taylor did a good job of using a lot of different players and spreading the offense out, so it was nice to have different attackers,” Schutz said.

Mackenzie Gerber (24 kills, 14 blocks) and Tara Svalland (23 kills, 14 blocks) gave the Trojans a steady presence at the net.

“Mackenzie Gerber really worked hard to get herself open and she finished a lot of her plays,” Schutz said. “She had a really good weekend. Tara Svalland had a really nice tournament as well. She did a great job of attacking with different angles and reaching up high when she swung.”

Kristen Andersen had a great all-around performance for Worthington, earning team-highs in kills (27) and digs (61) while also going a perfect 42-for-42 from the service line with five aces.

Megan Juber was 55-for-59 serving with six aces and 61 digs for WHS, Mandi Vote was 47-for-50 serving with four aces and 25 digs, Morgan Johnson had 14 blocks and Abbie Landgaard contributed 30 digs.

The Trojans (13-5-1) will play at Murray County Central on Monday and will then travel to play Jackson County Central on Tuesday.

H-LP finishes third at Estherville tournament

ESTHERVILLE, Iowa — Sparked by a 14-kill performance from Noreen Morrow in the third-place contest, Harris-Lake Park placed third out of eight teams in a volleyball tournament in Estherville on Saturday.

The Wolves opened the tournament with a narrow 21-15, 15-21, 15-13 victory against Emmetsburg, but then suffered a 10-21, 21-14, 15-11 loss to Laurens-Marathon.

H-LP rebounded with a 21-13, 21-15 victory against Storm Lake to reach the semifinals, where the Wolves were defeated 25-13, 25-20 by Humboldt.

Harris-Lake Park was faced with a rematch against Laurens-Marathon in the third-place matchup, but this time the Wolves won 23-25, 26-24, 15-5.

Estherville Lincoln Central defeated Humboldt in the championship match.

Morrow led the H-LP attack in the tournament with 43 kills. Leah Duitsman had 25 kills and 36 digs, Miranda Brueggeman contributed 25 digs and Macy Gunderson notched 82 set assists and 10 service aces. Grace Winters was a perfect 24-for-24 serving in two matches.

The Wolves (11-12) will play a pair of key conference matches this week, starting on the road at Ventura on Tuesday. H-LP will host Corwith-Wesley-LuVerne on Thursday for its final home contest of the regular season, which will also be the team’s Parent’s Night.

The Wolves will then host a six-team tournament on Saturday.

SSC goes 2-2 at Blue Earth tournament

BLUE EARTH — Paced by a strong tournament by Courtney Place, the Southwest Star Concept volleyball team finished strong with a pair of consecutive victories to earn a 2-2 record at the Blue Earth tournament on Saturday.

The Quasars were defeated in their opener 25-14, 15-25, 15-9 by Martin County West before dropping a heartbreaker 27-26, 19-25, 17-16 against Blue Earth.

The Buccaneers benefitted in the contest from a rule that ended games after one team reached 27 points in the first two games or 17 points in Game 3.

SSC rallied with a 27-25, 25-17 victory against Albert Lea and a 27-25, 23-25, 15-12 win against United South Central.

Place had team-highs in service points (32) and kills (47) for the Quasars in the tournament. She also had 33 serve receives and 12 blocks.

Maddie Rasche had 16 service points, 27 digs and 45 serve receives for SSC, Alyssa Hendrickson notched 19 kills and 10 blocks and Mandy Henkels had 34 set assists over two matches.

The Quasars will continue Red Rock Conference play on Tuesday when they travel to play Red Rock Central.

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