The Red Lake Falls Eagles hosted the Badger-Greenbush-Middle River Gators in a Section 8A matchup in Red Lake Falls. All three sets were within 5 points, but Badger-Greenbush-Middle River would pick up the win 3-0 (25-21, 26-24, 25-20).
FIRST SET–
The Red Lake Falls Eagles got a torrid start by winning six of the first seven points, thanks to a pair of Shandi Nelson kills. BGMR responded with an ace from Ada Lee, which drew them within 8-5. RLF would return with several Elizabeth Lytle kills, but the Gators wouldn’t disappear. BGMR tied the first set at 13 with a Kenzie Dahl kill, and Dahl gave the Gators the lead at 15-14 with another kill. The set would be tied at 16, 19, then 21; however, the Gators would go on a 4-0 run to close out the first set, 25-21.
SECOND SET–
BGMR started the second set by taking the lead quickly and hanging on to the lead until Red Lake Falls tied it up at 15 a piece. Dahl would find her rhythm in the second set with multiple kills, and Kylie Snare would chip in with a few kills of her own. Red Lake Falls’s Shandi Nelson and Jordan Wieland had kills in the middle of the second set to help rally the Eagles to tie the set. The excitement would get turned up to another level as the teams would tie at 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19. After another Dahl kill to give the Gators a 21-19 lead, Elizabeth Lytle got a crucial kill, and the Eagles would win another point to tie the set again at 21. After another Wieland kill, the Eagles would take a 23-21 lead, but BGMR rallied back to tie the set at 23. Libero Mya Bennet got an ace to make it 24-23, but another kill from Wieland would tie the set at 24. Zairyn Wimpfheimer added a kill to make it 25-24, and the Gators would get the next point to end the riveting second set, 26-24.
THIRD SET–
The third set started with a bang as Wimpfheimer secured three consecutive aces to get the Gators a quick 3-0 lead. With the Eagles trailing 5-1, Coach Gullingsrud decided to call an early timeout, which helped spark the Eagles momentarily as they won the following three points to make it 5-4, but the Gators would pull away to have a lead of six at 15-9. Both teams would trade points, with the Eagles getting the set as close as 17-14 at one point, but kills from Dahl and Snare would help build the Gators lead up to 23-16. Lytle had back-to-back kills, which forced a BGMR timeout at 23-19. Out of the timeout, the Eagles’ Reese Paulen got an ace to make it 23-20, but BGMR would win the following two points to claim the set and match.
Red Lake Falls would drop to 3-12, while Badger-Greenbush-Middle River would improve to 14-7 and are now on a 5-match win streak.
J.V. – RLF won 2-0 (25-16, 25-23) C-squad – RLF Won 2-0 (25-16, 25-19)
To listen to coach Nikki Gullingsrud’s post-match comments, click below:
Audio Player
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Red Lake Falls | 21 | 24 | 20 |
| BGMR | 25 | 26 | 25 |
For RED LAKE FALLS
Kills – Shandi Nelson 12, Elizabeth Lytle 7
Blocks – Jordan Wieland, Elizabeth Lytle, Shandi Nelson, and Nadia Delorme .5
Digs – Quinnlyn Kenfield 16, Jordan Wieland 13
Assists – Shandi Nelson 9, Kylie Klipping 7
Aces – Reese Pahlen 1, MaKenna Hoefer 1
