LAKE OF THE WOODS POWERS PAST SACRED HEART VOLLEYBALL IN SECTION 8A TOURNAMENT

The Sacred Heart Eagles volleyball team traveled to Baudette on Friday night to take on the Lake of the Woods Bears in the Section 8A Tournament. The Bears showed why they are one of the teams to beat in Section 8A, hitting and serving their way to a three set win (25-12, 25-9, 25-19).

First Set
Lake of the Woods established an early lead going up 6-2 in the opening set. Sacred Heart would score three straight points thanks to an Avery Horken kill, and two Bears mistakes, cutting the deficit to 6-5. Lake of the Woods would maintain the lead and respond with a 5-1 run to force an Eagles timeout with an 11-6 edge. Sacred Heart would get two points in a row off of the timeout, but Lake of the Woods would continue to pound home kills with their hitters and would pull all the way ahead at 18-10 forcing the Eagles to use their last timeout. The Eagles only two points during that stretch were an ace from Finley Horken, and a kill from Ava Knudson. Sacred Heart would score just two more points the entire set, and Lake of the Woods with their strong hitting and serving would take an early lead in the match with a 25-12 victory.

Second Set
The Eagles had a strong start to the second set going up 3-1 thanks to an ace from Ella Werner and a kill from Avery Horken. Lake of the Woods showed why they are one of the best teams in Section 8A, and didn’t get rattled. They would respond with a nice string of points to go in front 7-5. The Eagles would tie things back up at 7-7 after a kill from Audrey Zavoral, but the Bears would score four straight points to go up 11-7 and force an Eagles timeout. The run didn’t stop there, and Lake of the Woods would score a total of nine straight points before a miscommunication gave Sacred Heart a point and put an end to the big run, leaving the score 16-8 in favor of Lake of the Woods. The Bears were relentless and Sacred Heart didn’t have any answers for the rest of the second set. Lake of the Woods would score eight straight points, and after the Eagles fought off one set point, the Bears would end the set with another kill to take a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-9 second set victory. Lake of the Woods ended the set on an 18-2 run after it was tied 7-7.

Third Set
The Bears got off to another strong start in the third set, going in front early 3-2. After the Eagles got a point on an Emma Anvinson kill, Lake of the Woods would score five straight points to go in front 8-3 and force the Eagles to use a timeout. It looked as if Lake of the Woods was going to pull away again in the third set, but strong play from Emma Anvinson kept Sacred Heart afloat, and the Eagles found themselves down just 11-8. The Bears would score a few more points to pull ahead 14-9, but another Anvinson kill (her second of the set) got the Eagles back within four points trailing 14-10. Avery Horken would get a kill of her own to cut the deficit to 14-11, but the Bears would counter with a 5-3 run and put the Eagles in a 19-14 hole. Sacred Heart still wouldn’t go away, and would score three straight points capped off with an Avery Horken ace, after the teams traded points, Ava Knudson pounded home a kill putting the Eagles within one point trailing 20-19. Sacred Heart was right there with a chance to steal the third set, but the Eagles ran out of gas, and Lake of the Woods would score the next five points to win the set 25-19, and the match in three sets.

Sacred Heart ends its season with a final record of 14-9. They will say goodbye to the following seniors – Avery Horken, Ella Adolphson, Haley Vonasek, and Audrey Zavoral.
Lake of the Woods improves to 24-4 and will now play in the Section 8A semifinals against Badger/Greenbush-Middle River on Tuesday night.

FOR EAGLES COACH EMILY VONASEK’S COMMENTS, CLICK BELOW

 

	1	2	3
Sacred Heart	12	9	19
LOW	25	25	25