The Ada-Borup-West Cougars had a tremendous comeback to beat the Badger/Greenbush-Middle River Gators in the Section 8A Semi-finals 3-2 (27-25, 18-25, 19-25, 25-10, 15-12) at the University of Minnesota Crookston Lysaker gymnasium.
FIRST SET
BGMR jumped out to a 4-1 lead with a Raegon Kuznia kill, a couple of ABW errors, and a Kuznia ace. ABW battled back to get within a 6-5 deficit. The back-and-forth battle continued as BGMR built a 12-7 lead with a pair of McKenzie Dahl kills, a pair of Quinn Vacura kills, and a couple of ABW errors. ABW slowly chipped away at the deficit and was able to tie the set at 20-20 on a BGMR attack error. The teams were tied at 21 before ABW’s Malayna Syverson had a kill (her second in a row) and the Gators had an attack error, and the Cougars led 23-21. BGMR’s Dahl followed with a kill before ABW’s Syverson had a kill for a 24-22 lead. The Cougar serve went into the net, and they followed with an attack error, and the set was tied at 24. The teams exchanged points, and it was tied at 25 before BGMR had two attack errors, and Ada-Borup-West won the set 27-25 to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
SECOND SET
The set was tied at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 before BGMR took the lead after a Cougar set error, a Dahl kill, and a service ace for an 8-5 lead. ABW stopped the run with an Audrina Eggen kill, and they battled back to get within a 14-13 deficit, forcing a BGMR timeout. After the timeout, the Gator’s Vacura had a kill, Teagan Landsrud followed with a kill, and the Cougars had an attack error, and BGMR led 17-13, forcing an ABW timeout. The ABW timeout worked as Roux had a kill, which was followed by a service ace to bring the Cougars within a 17-15 deficit. ABW served into the net and that was followed by kills by Dahl, Kuznia, and Vacura for a 21-15 lead, forcing an ABW timeout. The Cougars’ Roux and Syverson followed with kills to bring them within a 21-17 deficit. After an ABW attack error, BGMR’s Dahl followed with a kill for a 23-18 lead. ABW had an attack error before Kuznia blasted a kill to win the set 25-18 victory to tie the match at 1-1.
THIRD SET
The third set was tied at 1-1 before BGMR went on a 7-1 run behind kills from Kylie Jo Snare, Dahl, Landsrud, Zairyn Wimpfheimer, an ace from Dahl, and an ABW attack error for an 8-2 lead. ABW’s Syverson stopped the run with a kill before the Gators answered with a Snare kill, a Cougar attack error, a bad ABW set, another Cougar attack error before two Vacura kills for a 14-3 lead, forcing an ABW timeout. After the timeout, Dahl and Landsrude added kills for a 16-3 lead. ABW responded with a 9-3 run to get within a 19-12 deficit. BGMR’s Snare added another kill before ABW’s Syverson started another rally with a kill. BGMR had a service error and an attack error before Syverson added a kill before a Gator attack error, and BGMR’s lead was 22-15. After a Gator point, ABW responded with kills from Morgan Engel and Roux before two BGMR attack errors to get within a 23-19 deficit. ABW ended the set with two errors and BGMR won the set 25-19 to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
FOURTH SET –
Volleyball is a game of momentum, and that was evident in the fourth set as ABW jumped out to a 12-2 to start the set behind some kills from Syverson and Engel. BGMR got a point on a bad ABW set, only for the Cougars to respond with an Engel kill, an ace, and a BGMR passing error for a 15-3 lead. ABW continued to roll as they won the set 25-10 to tie the match at 2-2.
FIFTH SET –
BGMR took a 2-0 lead to start the final set on a pair of Dahl kills. ABW responded with a Syverson kill before Dahl added another kill for a 3-1 lead. ABW’s Syverson had a big kill to get her team within a 3-2 deficit. BGMR answered with a Snare kill before ABW’s Syverson blasted a kill, and BGMR hit out of bounds two times, and the Cougars led 5-4. The ABW serve sailed out of bounds to tie the set at 5-5 before Engel snuck in a kill for a 6-5 lead. BGMR had an attack go into the net, and ABW took a 7-5 lead, forcing a Gator timeout. The Gators had another attack go into the net before the next attack went out of bounds. ABW continued to roll as Eggen added a kill for a 10-5 lead, forcing another BGMR timeout. With ABW leading 11-6, they had a kill from Dahl, a Cougar attack error followed by a Dahl kill, and another Cougar attack error, and all of a sudden Ada-Borup-West’s lead was only one point (12-11). ABW had a huge kill from Syverson before the Gators’ Dahl had another kill to get BGMR within a 13-12 deficit. BGMR had an attack error, and fittingly, ABW’s Syverson ended the match with her 29th kill of the match to give her team the 15-12 set victory to win the match 3-2.
Ada-Borup-West improves to 22-7 on the year and will play the winner of Fertile-Beltrami and Kittson County Central on Friday at 7:00 p.m. at UMC’s Lysaker Gymnasium. BGMR ends their outstanding season with a record of 27-5 on the year and they say goodbye to the following seniors – Raegon Kuznia, Jaci Hanson, Julia Dostal, Quinn Vacura, Kieran Nelson, and Ella Gust.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| Ada-Borup-West | 27 | 18 | 19 | 25 | 15 |
| Badger/G-MR | 25 | 25 | 25 | 10 | 12 |
For BGMR-
Kills – McKenzie Dahl 23, Teagan Landsrud 11
Blocks – Kylie Jo Snare 2, Zairyn Wimpfheimer 2
Digs – Jaci Hanson 28, McKenzie Dahl 18
Assists- Zairyn Wimpfheimer 43
Aces –Raegon Kuznia 2, Jaci Hanson 2
For Ada-Borup-West
Kills – Malayna Syverson 29, Audrina Eggen 14, Morgan Engel 12
Blocks – Malayna Syverson 4, Morgan Engel 3
Digs – Avery Johnson 22, Malayna Syverson 15
Assists- Morgan Engel 34, Malayna Syverson 16
Aces – Morgan Engel 2, Avery Johnson 1, Malayna Syverson 1
