The Minnewaska Area volleyball team has experienced the highs and lows of a high school volleyball season in the past week-plus.  The Lakers won five-straight WCC matches in a span from Sept. 20-Oct. 6, but Minnewaska Area has now lost six-straight matches from that point on, including four three-set losses at the Alexandria Invitational, Oct. 8.

The Lakers also fell to Melrose in four games last Tuesday at home, and in three games at Sauk Centre, Thursday, putting the team’s overall record at 8-12 and conference mark at 7-6.

Only two competitions remain before the start of the Section 3AA Tourney, including a match at Morris Area-CA, Tuesday (tomorrow) and the Fergus Falls Invitational, Thursday.

The start of the section tourney is Thursday, Oct. 27, and right now, it looks like the Lakers will be seeded seventh and play at NLS, Eden Valley-Watkins or Litchfield in the opening round.

Alexandria Invitational

The Lakers lost four three-game matches at the Alexandria Invitational, Saturday, Oct. 8, to finish eighth overall.  All four matches were decided by scores of 15-13 or 16-14 in the third set.

In the first match, Alexandria edged the Lakers in three games, 24-26, 25-12, 16-14.  Minnewaska Area played one of its best games of the tournament in the opening game with a 35 percent kill percentage, but the Lakers couldn’t keep it up for the next two games.

Barsness had 17 kills and only three errors in 31 attempts for a 45 percent attack percentage, while Fier added nine.  Haillie Schultz was 11-for-11 serving with an ace, while Grace Zenk was 9-for-9 with an ace and Meyer was 6-for-6.  In addition, Shea had 27 set assists, Barsness had 10 digs and Schultz had the only solo block for her team.

The Lakers fell to Morris Area in the second match, 25-21, 14-25, 15-13.  Dreya Barsness had nine kills, Dacia Fleury had eight and Avery Fier, Haley Shea and Miaya Guggisberg each added five to lead the Lakers.

Shea also had 26 set assists, while Haillie Schultz was 11-for-11 serving, Fier had a team-high 19 digs and Barsness and Guggisberg both had one block.

In the third match, Big Lake beat the Lakers in three games, 18-25, 25-22, 16-14.  Fier had a team-high 12 kills with Barsness adding seven and Fleury pounding down six, while Shea had 27 set assists, Brooklyn Meyer was 15-for-16 serving with two aces, Fier had 14 digs and Barsness, Shea and Guggisberg each had one block to lead Minnewaska.

After going 0-3 in pool play, the Lakers also lost in three sets during the seventh-place match to Fergus Falls, which rallied from a first-set loss to win 12-25, 25-19, 15-13.

Barsness and Guggisberg both had seven kills to lead the Lakers, while Fier had six and Fleury five.  The top servers were Shea (10-for-10 with two aces) and Barsness (15-for-16 with three aces), while Fier had a team-high 13 digs and Fleury had the only block of the match for the Lakers.

Alexandria went on to earn the team title with a 2-0 win over BBE, while Morris Area fell to West Fargo Horace for third (2-0) and Big Lake lost to Ada-Borup for fifth (2-0).

Melrose 3, Minnewaska 1

The Lakers fell to the visiting Melrose Dutchmen last Tuesday night at home, 25-23, 22-25, 25-19, 25-20.  Minnewaska led for most of games one and two, but Melrose took over control of the match in the third game.  The Dutchmen also beat the Lakers earlier this year in a three-game sweep.

Dacia Fleury had a big offensive game for the Lakers with 18 kills and only three errors in 32 attacks for a 47 percent kill percentage.  Dreya Barsness added 11 kills, while Avery Fier had nine and Miaya Guggisberg had six with a kill percentage of 21 percent.

The Lakers were 81-of-87 serving with seven aces.  Brooklyn Meyer was 15-for-15 with three aces, while Haley Shea was 17-for-18 with an ace, Haillie Schultz was 13-for-13 with an ace, Barsness was 14-for-15 with an ace and Fier 10-for-11.

Four Minnewaska Area players had double-digits for digs, including Barsness with 13, Fleury with 12, Shea with 11 and Meyer with 10, while Shea had a team-high 43 set assists and Fleury and Guggisberg had the only blocks of the match for the Lakers, who had a five-match conference winning streak snapped with the loss.

Sauk Cen 3, Waska 0

State-ranked Sauk Centre shut out the Lakers in three games, Thursday at Sauk Centre, 25-16, 25-21, 25-18. The Lakers had a good offensive match with a 18 percent kill percentage, but Minnewaska Area couldn’t stop the strong Sauk Centre offense from posting its 23rd win of the season.

Dreya Barsness had 12 kills to lead the Lakers, while Dacia Fleury added nine kills and Avery Fier also had nine kills with only two errors for a team-best 32 percent kill percentage.

Haley Shea was the top server, going 14-for-14, while also going 100 percent from the service line were Barsness (8-of-8) and Fier (6-of-6). Shea added 34 set assists, while Fier had 17 digs and Barsness had 15, and Haillie Schultz led the Lakers with three blocks.

Melrose 3, at Minnewaska 1

Melrose 25 22 25 25

Minnewaska (8-11) 23 25 19 20

WASKA STATS  (good-attempts-aces):  Serving:  Haley Shea 17-18-1, Brooklyn Meyer 15-15-3, Dreya Barsness 14-15-1, Haillie Schultz 13-13-1, Avery Fier 10-11-0, Olivia MacDonald 6-7-0, Emma Poegel 5-5-1, Dacia Fleury 1-3-0 . . . Set assists:  Shea 43, Fier 3, Barsness 1, Schultz 1

Hitting:  Fleury 29-32-18, Barsness 37-43-11, Fier 31-36-9, Guggisberg 17-19-6, Schultz 14-16-3, Shea 13-14-2 . . . Digs:  Barsness 13, Fleury 12, Shea 11, Meyer 10, Schultz 8, Fier 8, Guggisberg 3, MacDonald 2, Poegel 1. . . Blocks:  Guggisberg 1.5, Fleury 1

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at Sauk Centre 3, Minnewaska 0

Minnewaska (8-12) 16 21 18

Sauk Centre 25 25 25

WASKA STATS  (good-attempts-aces):  Serving:  Haley Shea 14-14-0, Brooklyn Meyer 9-10-1, Emma Poegel 8-9-0, Haillie Schultz 7-9-1, Dreya Barsness 8-8-0, Avery Fier 6-6-0 . . . Set assists:  Shea 34, Fier 2

Hitting:  Barsness 24-29-12, Dacia Fleury 24-29-9, Fier 20-22-9, Miaya Guggisberg 16-18-4, Schultz 14-15-3, Shea 6-7-1 . . . Digs:  Fier 17, Barsness 15, Meyer 9, Fleury 9, Shea 7, Schultz 5, Poegel 1, Guggisberg 1 . . . Blocks:  Schultz 3, Fleury 1, Fier 1, Guggisberg .5, Barsness .5