The Minnewaska Area volleyball team finished third in the WCC after beating Morris Area-CA in the final league match last Tuesday night at Morris, 22-25, 25-22, 25-16, 25-20.

The win over the Tigers gave the Lakers an 8-6 conference record, finishing just behind Sauk Centre (14-0) and BOLD (11-3).  Last year, the Lakers finished 2-10 in the WCC to place sixth of seven teams.  This year, WCA joined the WCC to give the league eight teams. The Lakers also played at the Fergus Falls Invitational, Thursday, going 2-2 to finish sixth and give the team an 11-14 overall record heading into the postseason.

The start of the section tourney is 7 p.m., Friday, Oct. 28, and the Lakers were seeded sixth and will play at EV-Watkins in the opening round of the tourney.  Paynesville earned the top seed in the Lakers’ half of the section, followed in the top four by NLS, EV-Watkins and Litchfield. “Going into the playoffs, the team is preparing for a tough fight no matter who we match up with,” coach Michele Johnson said.  “We’ve played tough matches throughout the season and will use  those experiences to draw from.”

Minnewaska 3, Morris 1

The Lakers broke a six-match losing streak with a 22-25, 25-22, 25-16, 25-20 victory at Morris Area-CA last Tuesday night.  The win also avenged a loss to the Tigers at the Alexandria Invitational 10 days earlier.

Dacia Fleury and Dreya Barsness were among the leaders for the Lakers.  Barsness had a team-best 18 kills, along with 12 digs, one block and was 11-for-13 serving with five of the team’s 14 service aces.

Fleury had a monster match at the net, hammering down 15 kills with only one error on 30 attempts for a 47 percent kill percentage.  She also had 12 digs and 1.5 blocks.

Avery Fier added nine kills and 12 digs, was 19-for-20 serving with three aces and also had just one error on 42 passing attempts.

Miaya Guggisberg also had a very efficient night at the net with six kills and a 36 percent kill percentage, while Haley Shea put up 44 set assists and was 14-for-14 serving with one ace.

Other top servers for the Lakers were Haillie Schultz (16-for-16 with three aces along with nine digs), Brooklyn Meyer (16-for-16 with an ace along with eight digs), Emma Poegel (8-for-9) and Olivia MacDonald (5-for-5 with an ace). 

Fergus Falls Invite

The Lakers went 2-2 to finish sixth at the Fergus Falls Invitational, Thursday.  Minnewaska went 1-1 in pool play and 1-1 in the Silver Division, losing in two games to West Central Area in the fifth-place match.  Pequot Lakes won the title and Detroit Lakes was second.

During a 25-23, 25-16 loss to Pequot Lakes to open up the tourney, the Lakers had a team kill percentage of 23 percent.  Dacia Fleury had seven kills, Dreya Barsness added six and Avery Fier had four, while Haley Shea put up 15 set assists and Miaya Guggisberg had a team-best 1.5 blocks.

In addition, Fier and Shea led the Lakers in digs with eight and seven, respectively, while Minnewaska went 34-for-41 at the service line with four aces.  Top servers were Shea (7-for-7), and Brooklyn Meyer (5-for-6 with an ace).

•  In the second match, a 25-23, 25-16 win over Walker, the Lakers had a 25 percent kill percentage and were 41-of-48 serving with four aces.  Barsness and Fier led the Lakers with eight kills each, while Guggisberg added six.  Barsness did not have any attack errors on 23 attempts and had a kill percentage of 35 percent.

Shea had 21 set assists, Fleury had the only block of the match for the Lakers, Fier had a team-high 10 digs and the top servers were Fier (7-of-7 with an ace), Meyer (7-for-8) and Barsness (12-for-14 with three aces.

•  The Lakers had an easy time with Lake of the Woods, winning 25-23, 25-12.  However, the team did have its lowest kill percentage of the tourney at 13 percent.  Barsness had eight kills, Fier had seven and Fleury pounded down five.

Shea had another 20 set assists, Fier was the only Laker in double figures in digs with 10 and also led the team with 1.5 blocks and the Lakers went 44-for-48 serving with nine aces led by Fier (11-for-11 with two aces), Shea (14-for-15 with two aces) and Haillie Schultz (6-for-6 with two aces.

•  In the fifth-place match, the Lakers fell in a close match with nemesis WCA, with whom the Lakers split two WCC matches this year, 25-19, 27-25. Fier and Barsness had seven kills each for the Lakers and Fleury added five as Minnewaska had 15 errors and 22 kills for a kill percentage of 8 percent.

Shea had 21 set assists, giving her 77 for the tournament, while Fier had nine digs and Fleury added eight with those two combining for the only block of the night for the Lakers. Minnewaska also went 36-for-45 serving (80 percent) with eight aces.  Top servers were Schultz (11-for-11 with an ace), Olivia MacDonald (7-for-7 with two aces) and Shea (7-for-8 with two aces).

Minnewaska 3, at Morris 1

Minnewaska (9-12) 22 25 25 25

Morris Area 25 22 16 20

WASKA STATS  (good-attempts-aces):  Serving:  Avery Fier 19-20-3, Brooklyn Meyer 16-16-1, Haillie Schultz 16-16-3, Haley Shea 14-14-1, Dreya Barsness 11-13-5, Emma Poegel 8-9-0, Olivia MacDonald 5-5-1, Dacia Fleury 2-2-0 . . . Set assists:  Shea 44, Barsness 2, Fier 1

Hitting:  Barsness 46-54-18, Fleury 29-30-15, Fier 24-31-9, Miaya Guggisberg 13-14-6, Schultz 6-9-1, Shea 6-6-1 . . . Digs:  Fier 12, Fleury 12, Barsness 12, Schultz 9, Meyer 8, Shea 6, Poegel 1, Grace Zenk 1. . . Blocks:  Fleury 1.5, Schultz 1.5, Barsness 1, Guggisberg .5, Fier .5

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at Fergus Falls Invitational

Team scores:  Pool play-Pequot Lakes 2, Minnewaska 0; Minnewaska 2, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 0 . . . Silver division-Minnewaska 2, Lake of the Woods 0; WCA 2, Waska 0

WASKA composite STATS  (good-attempts-aces):  Serving (aces):  Dreya Barsness 6, Avery Fier 5, Haillie Schultz 4, Haley Shea 4, Brooklyn Meyer 3, Olivia MacDonald 2 . . . Set assists:  Shea 77, Barsness 5, Fier 3, Dacia Fleury 2, Schultz 2

Hitting (kills):  Barsness 29, Fier 26, Fleury 20, Miaya Guggisberg 12, Schultz 5, Shea 2 . . . Digs:  Fier 37, Shea 24, Fleury 21, Schultz 18, Barsness 13, Meyer 9 . . . Blocks:  Fleury 3, Fier 2, Guggisberg 1.5, Schultz 1, Shea .5