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.
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