Minneota wins Class A third-place title for second straight year in sweep November 14, 2011
By Joe Brown ( jbrown@marshallindependent.com ) , Marshall Independent
ST. PAUL - In a tough five-set loss to Nevis in the Class A semifinals on Friday, Minneota was the victim of a strong block by the Tigers, who out-blocked the Vikings 16-6.
In Saturday's third-place match against Ada-Borup, Minneota held its own block party.
Off the bench, Hanna Prellwitz had seven block assists and the Vikings racked up 10 blocks, compared to one for the Cougars, as Minneota won third place in Class A for the second straight year with a 3-0 victory.
"It was great that we were able to play like this for our last game of the season," Prellwitz said. "(Friday) was very hard, but it was really nice to play that well against Ada-Borup."
"You're always worried about how they're going to come out after losing a big match, you hope they don't start out flat," said Minneota head coach Stephanie Hennen. "I think we came out fired up and ready to go. When we saw them (Saturday) morning, you could tell they were OK."
Seeing limited time in the Vikings' rotation, Prellwitz made an impact with her defense and her offense, finishing with seven kills and zero attacking errors.
As she racked up the blocks and the kills, Prellwitz's confidence continued to grow, aiding the Vikings throughout the match.
"Every block, you think, 'I'm going to get the next one,' and your confidence grows from there," Prellwitz said.
And right from the start of the third-place match, the Cougars could not slow down the attack of Minneota middle hitter Taylor Reiss and outside hitter Molly Hennen. With eight of her match-high 19 kills coming in the first set, Reiss helped the Vikings jump to a 14-10 lead. An illegal rotation helped give Minneota another point, and another kill by Reiss put the Vikings ahead 16-10. Up 23-18, Shelby Corbin ended the set with two kills for the 25-19 edge.
"We wanted to come out strong and we just wanted to win (Saturday)," Reiss said.
Opening the second set, Reiss had three of Minneota's first nine points to jump to a 9-3 advantage. Earning All-Tournament honors, Reiss had 68 kills in three matches, averaging over 22 kills per match.
Up 20-12 following a kill by Prellwitz, the Vikings scored the next four points. Ada-Borup capitalized on a kill by Taylor Kujava and two attacking errors by Minneota to close the score to 24-15 before a kill by Molly Hennen put the Vikings ahead 2-0.
"She put herself in the right spots defensively, and worked hard for us up front," Stephanie Hennen said of Molly Hennen. "I think she had a great tournament."
Joining Reiss on the All-Tournament team was senior libero Kelsey Hennen, who had 20 digs in the final match of her high school career as she moves on to play collegiately at Southwest Minnesota State.
Along with fellow senior Katelyn Kack (one kill, 10 digs), the younger Minneota players wanted to send their senior captains out on a positive note.
"They just take things as they come, they keep everybody together," Stephanie Hennen said of the seniors. "They calm them down when they need to calm down, they fire them up when they need to be fired up. They chew them out when they need to be chewed out. They've just done so much for us."
The Cougars' Tiffany Strand was able to find the holes in the Vikings' defense, finishing with 16 kills on the way to an All-Tournament nod.
"(Strand) was left-handed, and we didn't really deal with that this year," Prellwitz said. "You had to concentrate on where they set the ball because they set a lot in the middle to her."
But only four Ada-Borup players finished with kills, with Megan Kolness next in line with six kills and six hitting errors. Aiding Minneota in the final set were four team blocks, including two apiece by Prellwitz and Reiss.
"She's really hard to block," Reiss said of Strand, "so we had to work really hard to block her."
A kill by Molly Hennen sealed the match for Minneota, who ended the season with a 28-7 record, a Camden Conference title and a third straight berth in the state tournament.
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