Mayer Lutheran steadies itself, defeats Mabel-Canton in Class 1A volleyball semifinals

Once Mayer Lutheran overcame the tension, it overcame its opponent.

The second-seeded Crusaders ran away from third-seeded Mabel-Canton on Friday, winning15-25, 25-14, 25-17, 25-13 in the semifinals of the Class 1A volleyball state tournament at Xcel Energy Center.

Mayer Lutheran will play top seed Minneota on Saturday afternoon for the championship.

The Crusaders (28-5) made unforced error after unforced error in dropping the first set, but things started to click in the second set. From there, the Crusaders took over.

"After that first set we all realized that we were all kind of like tense," Crusaders junior Danica Martin said. "When we got back in the huddle, we started trying to get back together, encouraging each other and picking each other up."

The Cougars (35-3), loaded with underclassmen, could not keep pace with the Crusaders. Eight of the 10 players on the Mabel-Canton roster are sophomores or freshmen.

"When you win a set, you can't go into the next set with all that confidence because the other team is good," Cougars senior Sophie Morken said. "I knew right away that they weren't playing to their full potential and we were. To be able to beat them, they needed to be down a little bit, and they were never down."

Gabrielle Wachholz led the Crusaders with 16 kills and 15 digs. Madeline Gruetzkow had 12 kills, 24 assists and 19 digs, Stella Maass had 19 digs, Clara Keaveny had 16 digs and her sister Izabelle Keaveny had 28 assists.

Sahara Morken, Sophie's sister, led the Cougars with 29 assists and 16 digs. Kinley Soiney had 14 kills, Saijal Slafter had 13 kills, MaKenzie Kelly had 27 digs and Kailey Ingvalson had 12 digs.

Minneota 3, Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa 0: The Vikings had to rally late to win the first and second sets and then rolled in the third set to defeat the fifth-seeded Jaguars 25-21, 25-20, 25-13.

Coach Hayley Fruin straightened things out with some advice during a timeout.

"Stop being little brats," sophomore Elivia Faris said the team was told.

Fruin said: "I felt like we were playing like six individuals. ... That's not the kind of volleyball that we play. We play as a team, we stay up. I think the atmosphere got to us a little bit again today. I think we were putting pressure on ourselves and we just weren't playing loose. We were letting little, little things get at us. So, I had to say a few things in that timeout."

The Jaguars (26-7) had leads of 19-18 in the first set and 20-16 in the second before the Vikings rallied.

"We made too many unforced errors, which we could have limited," Jaguars senior Harley Roering said. "We just had to keep our energy up. It's hard. They're a tough team."

The third set was different for the Vikings (33-3). They jumped to an 8-2 lead and never let the Jaguars within three points.

Ireland Stassen led the Vikings with 24 assists, 10 kills and 14 digs. Ella Johnson had 11 kills, and Lyzah Sussner had 19 digs.

Ava Mueller led the Jaguars with 11 kills, Kylie Weller had 30 assists and 13 digs and Roering had 14 digs.