The Minnewaska Area volleyball team lost a pair of tough matches last week to two of the top teams in the WCC.  

The Lakers, who dropped to 6-7 in the conference and 11-10 overall, lost in five games at Melrose Area last Tuesday night and also fell in four games to league-leading Sauk Centre at home, Thursday.

The Lakers are currently in fifth place in the WCC behind Sauk Centre (12-1), BOLD (11-2), Melrose Area (8-5) and West Central Area (8-5).

The Lakers are set to close out the regular season this week with a match at home against Morris Area, Tuesday, and the Fergus Falls Invitational, Thursday.

Coming up is the start of the Section 6A Tourney, Oct. 26.  In the results that follow is also information about the Alexandria Tourney, Oct. 7, where the Lakers went 2-2 to place fifth.

Alexandria Tourney

The Lakers went 2-2 at the Alexandria Tournament, Saturday, Oct. 7, including a two-game win over Litchfield in the fifth-place match.  Alexandria won the 8-team tournament with a win over Ada-Borup in the finals, while Hopkins beat BBE in two games for third place and Morris Area defeated Fergus Falls for seventh.

In pool play, Minnewaska Area fell to Hopkins and Alexandria in two games each and also beat Morris Area-CA in two games to earn a berth in the fifth-place match.

During the 25-12, 25-11 win over Morris, Avery Fier had six kills, Dreya Barsness had five, and Dacia Fleury and Haillie Schulz both added four as the Lakers had a 43 percent kill percentage as a team.

Schulz was 10-for-11 serving with three aces, Fier had 1.5 blocks and Barsness had a team-high eight digs with Fier adding seven.

The Lakers fell 25-11, 25-19 to Alexandria.  Minnewaska was 30-for-32 serving with one ace and this time, the kill percentage was at 10 percent,.

Fleury and Barsness both had five kills to lead the team, while Haley Shea had nine set assists and had the Lakers’ only ace-serve, Barsness had a block and Fier and Emma Poegel led the Lakers with six digs each.

The Lakers also lost to Hopkins in a close match, 26-24, 25-20.  Minnewaska played a great match with a 23 percent kill percentage and 40-of-44 serving with five aces.

Barsness had a monster game with 12 kills and two errors on 31 spike attempts, while Fleury added seven kills.

Barsness was also 12-for-12 serving with two aces, while Addy Kath, Fier and Schulz all had solo blocks, Shea had 13 set assists and four Lakers had double-digits in digs as Barsness had 12 digs and Fier, Poegel and Schulz each added 10.

In the third-place match, the Lakers beat Litchfield, 25-18, 25-11.

Barsness led the way again with 14 kills on 20 attacks with no errors for a 70 percent kill percentage.  Fleury added nine kills on 18 attempts with just one error, while Fier had five kills.

Shea put up 18 set assists and was 13-of-14 serving with three aces, while Schulz had eight set assists and was 11-for-11 serving. 

The Lakers had seven blocks on the night with Fier registering 3.5 and Fleury two, while Barsness had 12 digs to lead Minnewaska Area.

Melrose 3, Waska 2

The Lakers fell in five games at Melrose Area last Tuesday after winning two of the first three games, 21-25, 25-21, 14-25, 26-24, 15-13.

It was the third five-game conference loss this season for the Lakers, who fell to 6-6 in the WCC, but could be 9-3 and competing for the conference title had they had won those three matches.

It was a great match for the Lakers as Minnewaska was 100-for-110 serving with 15 aces and had a team kill percentage of 16 percent, led by Dacia Fleury, who had 19 kills on 53 attacks for a kill percentage of 25 percent.

Dreya Barsness added 17 kills, while Avery Fier had nine, Haillie Schulz had six, Miaya Guggisberg had five and Addy Kath put down three.

Barsness went 28-for-31 serving with eight of her team’s 15 aces, while Haley Shea was 16-for-17 with an ace to go along with a team-high 38 set assists, Brooklyn Meyer and Emma Poegel were both 9-for-9 with Poegel also registering an ace, and Fier added three ace-serves.

The Lakers had four players with double-digits in digs as Fier had 23, Schulz had 21, Barsness 19 and Shea 12, and Minnewaska Area also had 6.5 blocks with Fier leading the way with two.

Minnewaska, which had just six errors on 83 pass attempts, had a kill percentage of 28 percent in game one, 7 percent in the second game, 45 percent in game three, 2 percent in the fourth game and 7 percent in the final game.

Sauk Centre 3, Waska 1

The Lakers gave Sauk Centre all they could handle before losing in four games, 25-21, 26-24, 24-26, 25-13.  

The Lakers had their chances in the first two games, including a 24-22 lead in the second game, but Sauk Centre played some of its best volleyball late in each game.

Minnewaska Area finally pulled through with a 26-24 victory in the third game, but Sauk Centre took control in the fourth to earn the victory.

 The Lakers played a solid match with Haillie Schulz leading the team with 13 kills and no errors, followed by Avery FIer and Dreya Barsness with 11 each and Dacia Fleury with eight. 

Minnewaska was 82-for-87 serving with eight aces.  No server missed more than one serve.  The top servers were Barsness (18-for-19 with an ace), Haley Shea (17-18-1), Fier (14-15-3) and Emma Poegel (11-11-1).

Miaya Guggisberg led the Lakers with 1.5 blocks, while Shea put up 29 set assists and Schulz added 15. 

In addition, Barsness had a team-high 28 digs, followed by Fier and Poegel with 18 each, Shea with 15 and Schulz with 11.

at Melrose 3, Waska 2

Waska (11-9) 25 21 25 24 13

Melrose (16-9) 21 25 14 26 15

WASKA STATS  (good-attempts-aces):  Serving:  Dreya Barsness 28-31-8, Haley Shea 16-17-1, Haillie Schulz 13-16-1, Avery Fier 13-15-3, Berlynn Green 11-12-1, Brooklyn Meyer 9-9-0, Emma Poegel 9-9-1 . . . Set assists:  Shea 38, Schulz 11, Fier 3

Hitting:  Dacia Fleury 47-53-19, Barsness 44-57-17, Fier 32-36-9, Schulz 17-20-6, Miaya Guggisberg 13-14-5, Addy Kath 5-7-3 . . . Digs:  Fier 23, Schulz 21, Barsness 19, Shea 12, Poegel 8, Green 4, Meyer 4, Fleury 4 . . . Blocks (aces):  Fier 2, Guggisberg 1.5, Barsness 1, Fleury 1, Schulz .5

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Sauk Centre 3, Waska 1

Sauk Centre 25 26 24 25

Minnewaska (11-10) 21 24 26 13

WASKA STATS  (good-attempts-aces):  Serving:  Dreya Barsness 18-19-1, Haley Shea 17-18-1, Avery Fier 14-15-3, Haillie Schulz 13-14-1, Emma Poegel 11-11-1, Brooklyn Noyes 9-10-1 . . . Set assists:  Shea 29, Schulz 15

Hitting:  Schulz 36-36-13, Barsness 50-58-11, Fier 33-37-11, Dacia Fleury 25-33-8, Addy Kath 5-7-2, Shea 5-5-1, Miaya Guggisberg 8-9-1. . . Digs:  Barsness 28, Fier 18, Poegel 18, Shea 15, Schulz 11, Fleury 7, Noyes 7, Guggisberg 3 . . . Blocks (aces):  Guggisberg 1.5, Schulz 1.5, Fier 1, Fleury .5

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