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TOM ELLIOTT: Here's a look at area volleyball sections

tom elliott, west central tribune, willmar, minn.
·5 min read

Oct. 7—This has been another really strong year for high school volleyball in the area.

And that's just going by the individual talent. The West Central Tribune area has five athletes who already have committed to NCAA Division I or II athletic scholarships, four of which are in volleyball.

And for an area our size, that's really not too shabby. In fact, it's impressive.

If you're keeping score, that's Willmar's Sydney Schnichels heading to the Minnesota Gophers, Montevideo's Avery Koenen going to North Dakota State for women's basketball, Paynesville's Kyleigh Tangen committed to the University of Sioux Falls and MACCRAY's Sydney Thein matriculating to Southwest Minnesota State.

Schnichels, Tangen and Thein all lead teams with good shots at state tournament berths.

The state tournament is Nov. 9-12 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Here's a look as the regular season begins winding down:

* Section 2AAA — Willmar is one of the best teams in the state, ranked second in the latest QRF power rankings by Minnesota-Scores.Net. Unfortunately for the Cardinals (15-2), they happen to be in the same section as the QRF No. 1, the Marshall Tigers. Marshall is 20-1 and already has beaten Willmar, though it was the first match of the season Aug. 25. Things change. The Cardinals were a young team experience-wise at that juncture. While Marshall was an experienced, tradition-laden state power.

It looks like Willmar and Marshall are headed to a showdown, with the section title match set for Nov. 5 at St. Peter.

Others in the section include: No. 20 St. Peter (11-3), No. 22 Worthington (12-7), No. 28 Hutchinson (10-11), No. 29 Mankato West (8-13), No. 31 New Ulm (10-7) and No. 45 Mankato East (5-15).

* Section 3AA — This 16-team section has one team in the the QRF top 10, No. 6 Pipestone (17-3). The Arrows are in South-3AA.

North-3AA is full of West Central Tribune area teams, in order: No. 18 Paynesville (16-4), No. 24 New London-Spicer (13-10), No. 26 Eden Valley-Watkins (15-8), No. 29 Litchfield (13-10), No. 33 West Central Area (13-7), No. 48 Morris/Chokio-Alberta (6-6), No. 55 Minnewaska (8-6) and No. 99 Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City (3-12).

Folks, North-3AA is going to make for some very entertaining playoff volleyball. Seven of the eight have .500 or better records. There will be no easy matches for anyone.

South-3AA includes No. 14 Jackson County Central (13-8), No. 30 Windom (12-8), No. 31 Redwood Valley (10-8), No. 35 Luverne (12-7), No. 95 Montevideo (3-13), No. 100 Fairmont (5-15) and No. 104 St. James Area (3-15).

* Section 2A — BOLD is the only area team in the section. And while the Warriors are 17-3 and have a No. 14 QRF ranking, that is only the third best rating in 2A-North. No. 2 Mayer Lutheran (16-4), the clear section favorite, and No. 13 Sleepy Eye St. Mary's (17-4) are ahead of BOLD.

Mayer Lutheran is defending state Class A champion and definitely a tough team, but BOLD's tough, too. The Warriors play a difficult schedule with Class AA teams to contend within its West Central Conference.

Other 2A-North teams are No. 28 New Ulm Cathedral 916-4), No. 38 Sleepy Eye (15-5-1), No. 79 Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop (7-10), No. 81 Lester Prairie (4-15), No. 85 Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart (8-15) and No. 118 Nicollet (5-15-1).

2A-South teams include: No. 23 Cleveland (17-9), No. 31 Cedar Mountain (16-5), No. 58 Martin County West (8-11), No. 64 Madelia (11-13), No. 75 Mountain Lake Area/Comfrey (7-11), No. 87 Springfield (4-14), No. 96 Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton (5-15), No. 112 United South Central (6-16), No. 117 Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman (4-19) and No. 144 Mankato Loyola (0-13).

* Section 3A — No. 3 Minneota (19-2) looks like the favorite in 3A-North, but No. 27 MACCRAY (13-7), No. 45 Wabasso (15-7), No. 46 Canby (11-11), No. 61 Renville County West (11-6) and No. 66 Lac qui Parle Valley (10-8) likely will have something to say about it.

The rest of 3A-North includes No. 77 Yellow Medicine East (5-14). No. 104 Central Minnesota Christian (3-11), No. 128 Dawson-Boyd (3-13) and No. 129 Lakeview (2-12).

The top team in 3A-South, and perhaps the state, is No. 1 Russell-Tyler-Ruthton (19-2). No. 16 Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda (17-9) and No. 19 Tracy-Milroy-Balaton (17-4) have had strong seasons.

No. 53 Westbrook-Walnut Grove (9-6), No. 62 Adrian/Ellsworth (5-5), No. 67 Southwest Minnesota Christian (7-9), No. 84 Edgerton (10-12), No. 94 Murray County Central (5-9), No. 120 Red Rock Central (3-13) and No. 152 Hills-Beaver Creek (0-11) make up the rest of 3A-South.

* Section 6A — Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa is another team to take seriously as a state tournament contender. The No. 6 Jaguars (16-5) are the top-rated QRF team in this section, play a tough schedule that includes Class AA teams in the Central Minnesota Conference and, of course, has been to state before.

BBE's main competition in 6A-South is No. 41 Brandon-Evansville (11-7), No. 52 Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley (13-5) and No. 59 Parkers Prairie (10-9).

No. 85 Benson (4-15), No. 91 Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg (6-10), No. 125 Wheaton/Herman-Norcross (5-13), No. 132 Ortonville (4-12), No. 138 Hancock (2-16) and No. 142 Ashby (1-13) are jockeying for position in the seedings.

In 6A-North, six teams have winning records: No. 17 Henning (15-4), No. 30 Hillcrest Lutheran Academy (15-1), No. 33 Breckenridge (15-4), No. 35 Park Christian (13-5), No. 43 New York Mills (15-4) and No. 59 Underwood (9-7).

No. 76 Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdahl (5-6), No. 126 Rothsay (7-12), No. 137 Lake Park-Audubon (1-13) and No. 140 Battle Lake (3-17) round out the section.