The Prior Lake volleyball team is again a win shy of state.
The top-seeded Lakers looked dominant in the Section 2AAA semifinals Nov. 5 with an easy three-set home win over fourth-seeded Hutchinson (25-17, 25-19, 25-17) to earn a spot in the title match for a second straight year.
The opponent is seventh-seeded Shakopee, somewhat of a surprise. Nevertheless, it's an all South Suburban Conference final.
The Lakers (26-4) will take on the Sabers (20-10) Nov. 7 at Waconia High School at 6 p.m. Prior Lake swept Shakopee in SSC play back on Sept. 29 (25-14, 25-18, 25-13).
The Lakers also earned a relative easy four-set home win over eighth-seeded Waconia in the quarterfinals Oct. 30 (25-17, 25-7, 25-27, 25-8).
Shakopee's road to the final has gone through second-seeded Eden Prairie in the quarterfinals and third-seeded Chaska in the semifinals, both five-set wins
The Class 3A state tournament is Nov. 12-14 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. State pairings will be released Nov. 6 and will be available at www.mshsl.org.
Last year, the Lakers were the No. 1 seed in the section, won their first two matches by sweep, before getting swept in the final by Chaska. The Hawks went on to win the Class 3A title.
Against Hutchinson, the Lakers were in control from start to finish. Sophomore CC McGraw looked like the most dominant player on the floor in the first two sets and she was playing on the back line.
McGraw had multiple diving digs and back-to-back ace serves. She needed 32 digs to break Brittany Luethmers' single-season school mark of 511 set last year. McGraw finished with 22, adding three ace serves.
"CC is doing really special things for us in the back row and continues to steal points from the other team," said Lakers coach Mike Dean. "Her ability to cover so much ground also helps to make our other defenders better in the back row. She is also serve receiving at an amazingly high level and that helps Ellie and all of our hitters run our offense more effectively."
Senior Ella Francis needed 16 kills against Hutchinson to break Lauren Viren's single-season mark of 422 set in 2003. She ended up with 11. Francis is already the Lakers' all-time kills leader.
Junior Anna Martin led in kills against the Tigers with 13, while sophomore Kayla Bair had six. Sophomore Maddy Bremer led in blocks with four, while Bair and junior Ellie Veldman each had two.
Sophomore Hannah Reis chipped in 11 digs, while Veldman had nine and Francis and senior Danielle Sorensen both have seven.
Veldman added 33 set assists to push her Lakers' single-season record to 845.
"We have seen a lot of growth in Ellie and how she runs our team," said Dean. "We have a lot good hitters and Ellie has kept improving on how she runs the team and distributes the sets."
If Prior Lake can beat Shakopee, it will match the Lakers' single-season record for wins in a season, which was set last year (27-3). Prior Lake would have a chance to break that mark at state.
Ella Francis rose to the top of the all-time kills list for the Prior Lake volleyball program Oct. 22, but in a loss.
The No. 1-ranked Lakers dropped a five-setter at home to No. 5 Rosemount in South Suburban Conference play (25-21, 23-25, 21-25, 25-15, 17-15), ending the regular season with a 24-4 mark.
The loss also snapped the Lakers' 17-match winning streak, but it didn't prevent them from earning the No. 1 seed in Section 2AAA. The brackets came out Oct. 23 with third-ranked Eden Prairie (22-6) getting the No. 2 seed and sixth-ranked Chaska (17-6) earned the No. 3 spot. Hutchinson (25-3) is seeded No. 4.
The top-four seeds get byes in the first round, which is Oct. 28.
The Lakers will get the winner of eighth-seeded Waconia (10-18) and ninth-seeded New Prague (11-16) in the quarterfinals at home Oct. 30 at 5 p.m.
Eden Prairie faces the winner of seventh-seeded Shakopee (17-10) and 10th-seeded Chanhassen (12-16) in the quarterfinals, while Chaska gets the winner of sixth-seeded Minnetonka (18-11) and 11th-seeded Mankato West (12-11) and Hutchinson takes on the winner of fifth-seeded fifth-seeded Marshall (22-6) and 12th-seeded Mankato East (14-12).
The semifinals are Nov. 5 at the site of the higher seed. The title match is Nov. 7 at site to be determined at 6 p.m. For complete brackets, go to www.mshsl.org.
Last year, the Lakers lost to Chaska in three sets in the title match. The Hawks went on to win the Class 3A state crown.
Meanwhile, against Rosemount, Francis needed six kills to pass Lauren Viren (2000-2003) for No. 1 on the Lakers' all-time kills list and she got those after the first set, finishing with 21.
Viren finished her career with 894 kills. Francis went into the season No. 6 with 522 career kills, adding 388 in the regular season. Viren also holds the single-season record with 422 kills, so Francis is also closing in on that mark with 35 more to go.
In the loss to Rosemount, Prior Lake also had a streak of 15 straight wins by sweep snapped. The Lakers ended up 7-2 in the SSC, tied with Rosemount and fourth-ranked Lakeville South for second behind second-ranked Eagan (9-0).
Junior Ellie Veldman had 44 set assists in the loss. She needs 33 more to break the single-season record of 791 set by Kathryn Gaydos in 2009.
Sophomore CC McGraw had 26 digs, giving her 461 season. The single-season mark is 511 set by Brittany Leuthmers in 2014.
Junior Anna Martin had 11 kills against the Irish, while sophomore Maddy Bremer had eight. Sophomore Hannah Reis led at the service line with four ace serves, chipping in 11 digs. Senior Danielle Sorensen had nine digs, while Veldman had eight.
Bremer led in blocks with five, while junior Lauren Kiewiet had four and sophomore Kayla Bair had three.
To see more photos of the Lakers' match with Rosemount, go to Scoreboard's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1109748332383849.1073742542.197190936972931&type=3.
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| LAKER MASCOTS (AKA Michael and Buster) |
The Prior Lake volleyball team returned to winning form Sept. 17 on the South Suburban Conference road.
The No. 3-ranked Lakers avoided a three-match losing streak with a four-set win over Apple Valley (25-21, 25-23, 22-25, 25-16). Prior Lake hasn't lost three in row since the middle of the 2012 season.
The Lakers went into the match, falling in four sets at No. 6 Eagan Sept. 15 in SSC play and losing to No. 1 Lakeville South in the title match of the Southwest Minnesota Challenge Sept. 12 in Marshall.
Meanwhile, senior Ella Francis continues to dominate on offense for the Lakers. She finished with 20 kills against Apple Valley, adding seven digs.
Francis has a team-best 170 kills in the Lakers' 8-3 start (1-1 in the SSC).
Prior Lake faced Apple Valley without senior Lara Schultz (59 kills in 10 matches), so junior Ellie Veldman was in a dual role. Not only did she have 21 set assists, but added three kills and 11 digs.
Senior Mara Fossum rotated the setting duties with Veldman and led in assists with 22, adding 12 digs. Senior Danielle Sorensen picked up the slack for Schultz at the service line with five ace serves, while senior Olivia Spanton had three aces, along with 18 digs and five kills.
Sophomore Maddy Bremer finished with nine kills and two blocks, while junior Anna Martin had eight kills. Sophomore Kayla Bair had six kills and five blocks.
Sophomore CC McGraw led the defense with 27 digs, giving her a team-high 190 on the season.
Prior Lake is back on the SSC court Sept. 24 at home versus Lakeville North at 7 p.m.
The Lakers are playing in the prestigious Eagle Invitational Sept. 25-26 in Apple Valley. The field is loaded with top teams, including Lakeville South, Eagan, No. 2 Eden Prairie, No. 4 Roseville, No. 8 Chaska and No. 10 Marshall.
Other top Class 3A programs in the field are Hopkins, Waconia, Shakopee, Moorhead and Blaine, along with Bethlehem Academy, ranked No. 1 in Class 1A.
The Lakers follow the tourney at home versus Shakopee Sept. 29 in league play at 7 p.m.
The Prior Lake volleyball team is not about to let its preseason No. 1 ranking in Class 3A go to its head.
Championships are not won in August and that's what the Lakers are seeking this fall — the Section 2AAA title and the program's first-ever trip to state.
The Lakers will also be defending their South Suburban Conference title. They went 9-0 in the highly competitive league last year en route to a program-best 27 wins (27-3). Prior Lake fell to Chaska in three sets in the Section 2AAA title game last year.
"It's obviously nice to be recognized as a team that plays at a high level," said Lakers coach Mike Dean. "But we have a lot of work to do. I know the girls appreciate the No. 1 ranking, but we haven't served a ball yet in game.
"We are going to worry about what we control and just play the best volleyball we can," added Dean.
The Lakers return a ton of talent from last year, starting with the front line. Seniors Lara Schultz and Ella Francis are back to power the offense, along with junior Anna Martin and sophomore Kayla Bair.
Senior Olivia Spanton was also a strong offense player last year, along with sophomore CC McGraw. But one those two looks to be playing libero this fall.
Junior Ellie Veldman is back at setter and will be joined by senior Mara Fossum. Sophomore Maddie Bremer will also one to watch on the Lakers' front line.
"We have some competition in some spots," said Dean. "But we have a lot of experience back and a lot of talent."
Last March, the Minnesota State High School League reclassified all the sections for all the sports. And Section 2AAA for volleyball went from strong to downright, insanely powerful.
Not only was Eden Prairie and Minnetonka added to the field, but so was perennial power Marshall, last year's Class 2A state runner-up. Marshall has won four Class 2A titles the last six years, but the dominant program from the southwest corner of the state is now in Class 3A.
Ninth-ranked Shakopee is also in the 2AAA field with defending state champion Chaska. Chanhassen and Waconia are two more strong programs. The rest of the field includes Hutchinson, New Prague, Mankato West and Mankato East.
"The section went from really, really hard to really, really, really hard," said Dean. "If you make it out of this section, you will have earned it. The girls are excited for the challenge."
The Lakers will play in the Southwest Minnesota Challenge in Marshall Sept. 11-12. Prior Lake is also in the prestigious Eagle Invitational in Apple Valley Sept. 25-26 and the Bachman Invitational at Lakeville North Oct. 9-10.
Marshall is also in those three invites, so the Lakers could see the Tigers a few times before section play.
The Lakers play a very strong strong schedule. They're in the Side Out Classic in Hopkins Aug. 29 versus No. 8 Champlin Park at 7 p.m. Prior Lake is home to Chaska Sept. 2 at 7 p.m.
Prior Lake opens the SSC season Sept. 9 at No. 2 Eagan at 7 p.m.
The Lakers begin the season Aug. 27 at home versus Owatonna at 7 p.m.
"If we want to get to a higher level, we have to play against the best competition," said Dean. "We do that in our conference season and in our section."
The SSC has five ranked teams in the preseason Class 3A poll including No. 4 Lakeville North and No. 6 Rosemount.
Last fall, the Lakers' SSC title was their first. It was also the first time the program made it to the section final.
Schultz set the program's single-season record for ace serves, finishing with 73, which was 12 more than the previous mark. She also led the Lakers in kills with 339 and in blocks (31).
Francis was second in kills, finishing with 321, followed by Spanton (171), McGraw (141) and Martin (112). In blocks, Francis had 28, followed by Martin (25) and Bair (21).
Veldman was second on the team in set assists last year (432).
The Lakers will have to replace Brittany Leuthmers at libero, who was a five-year letterwinner. She left as not only the team's all-time digs leader but the MSHSL all-time leader. She finished with 2,016 career digs, which is more than 200 better than the previous record holder, Brittany Chambers of Jordan (1,802).
"Losing Brittany is a big; she was a great player for us," said Dean. "We could count on her every night. Either Spanton or McGraw will play there. Both are very talented and can play that spot at a high level."
