Lady Jays downed in second match at national volleyball tourney

The second-seeded Minnesota West Lady Jays volleyball team won their initial match Thursday at the NJCAA Division 3 National Tournament but were then upset in their second match by No. 10 seed Dallas College Brookhaven, 3-2. Game scores in the Brookhaven match were 17-25, 25-27, 25-19, 25-16, 15-5.

Minnesota West grabbed a quick 7-2 lead to begin game one and later forced a Dallas College Brookhaven timeout after a Sadie Krahling ace made it 10-4. The Bears called a second timeout after a Krahling kill made it 17-7, which marked the Lady Jays’ largest advantage of the game. Brookhaven got as close as seven on three different occasions before Minnesota West closed things out.

The second game was back-and-forth throughout, as no team ever had a lead by more than three points. The Bears took their first edge of the night at 11-10, but neither team could gain prolonged momentum until the Lady Jays tallied five points in a row to move ahead 21-18. Brookhaven, though, then ran off four straight points to go up 22-21, but Krahling hammered a kill to tie it. The Lady Jays couldn’t finish the game off at 24-23 or 25-24 but didn’t miss their third opportunity.

Minnesota West was up 13-11 in game three, but that’s when the tide turned, with the Bears outscoring the Lady Jays 14-6 the rest of the way to stay alive in the match. Then, after Minnesota West got game four’s first point, the Bears ran off 12 in a row and led by as many as 14 before the Jays trimmed the deficit somewhat. Brookhaven then never trailed in game five as it completed the reverse sweep.

Krahling ended up pacing Minnesota West with 15 kills, while Kylie Larsen had 10 kills and Aleah Wagner and Raya Van Beek seven each. Wagner had 21 digs and Kadyn Paulson 18. Krahling also contributed six ace serves, and Kate Slettum totaled 40 set assists.

In their first match of the day against 15th-seeded Monroe University-Bronx, the Lady Jays earned a 3-0 sweep by game scores of 25-22, 25-9, 25-19. Krahling accumulated team highs of 16 kills and 10 digs. Lydia Moore had six ace serves and Slettum passed for 28 set assists.  

Minnesota West plays a consolation match at 2:30 p.m. today against Butler County Community College.

**

In high school football Thursday, Hills-Beaver Creek advanced to the state 9-man championship game by defeating Fertile-Beltrami 30-14 at U.S. Bank Stadium. The No. 1 ranked Patriots will play fifth-ranked Hillcrest Lutheran Academy at 10 a.m. Nov. 22 for the title.

**

In high school girls hockey Thursday, visiting Austin beat Worthington 6-1. Breeta Johnson had the lone goal for the Trojans, who are now 0-2. The Packers outshot WHS 37-18.