The Minnewaska Area volleyball team went 1-1 in the Section 6AA Volleyball Tourney, beating Osakis in four games during the section opener last Wednesday at home before losing in three games at second-seeded Sauk Centre, Friday.

The Lakers closed out the 2024 season with a 19-9 overall record, which included an 11-3 mark in the WCC to place third.

Minnewaska Area, coached by Mitch McGuire, was seeded seventh in the section tourney while Osakis came in as the 10th-seed.  Moving on to the Section 6AA semifinals, set for this week, are Sauk Centre, Albany, Milaca and Royalton.

Minnewaska 3, Osakis 1

The Lakers survived a good test by Osakis in the opening round of the Section 6AA Tourney last Wednesday night at home before winning in four games, 20-25, 25-13, 25-23, 25-8.

It was a back-and-forth first game with the Lakers trailing early 6-5 and 8-7 before taking a 10-9 lead after one of the longest points of the match.

Osakis quickly ran off five-straight points before a kill by Dacia Fleury kept the Lakers close at 11-14.

A little later, Minnewaska Area found itself trailing 11-17 before a kills by Emma Hellermann and three-straight service points by Brooklyn Noyes, which included a block by Avery Lewison and kill by Mya VanLuik, closed the gap to 17-18.

Moments later, the Lakers went up 20-19 on a tip by Schulz, but Osakis scored the final six points, including a missed serve by Waska and three ace-blocks by the Silverstreaks, to pull out the 25-20 first-game win.

During the first game, Minnewaska sophomore Haillie Schulz picked up the 1,000th set assist of her career and she was recognized between the first and second games.

“It was a really intense match,” coach Mitch McGuire said.  “I think we played a little tight at first, but once we settled down, we started to play better.

“The student section has been a great motivational part to our game.  It has been amazing to see so many of them attend home and away games.”

The second game was all Lakers as Fleury had two kills and a block, Hellermann had a kill and VanLuik uncorked two monster spikes to help the Lakers take leads of 5-1, 8-4, 12-7 and 16-12.

Osakis gained the serve back to cut the deficit to 16-13, but the Lakers got the service back on the next point and Schulz went to the service line to serve the final eight-straight points of the game to lift the Lakers to the 25-13 win.

During those final eight points, Fleury had four of her game-high 25 kills for the match.  “Since Osakis had such a great block and really good defense, we actually had to speed up our offense more and this helped us beat the block and hit tighter shots,” McGuire said.

The third game was as close as they get as Minnewaska Area led early 5-3, 9-7 and 13-9.  Fleury’s 19th kill of the match gave Minnewaska a 17-11 lead and seemingly put the Lakers in control of the match, but Osakis would not give up and cut the deficit to 18-16 before the two teams traded points for the next 10 minutes with Minnewaska clinging to a 22-20 lead.

A missed spike by the Lakers tied up the game at 22-22, causing Minnewaska to call a timeout.  The break in the action worked out for the Lakers as Osakis missed a serve on the next point and a kill by VanLuik put the Lakers up 24-22.  Osakis fought off one game point, but VanLuik came through with another kill on possibly the longest and most-exciting point of the match to give Minnewaska the 25-23 third-game win.

That was just enough to put a damper on the Osakis energy level and the Lakers took advantage, quickly building a 12-7 lead on one of four ace-blocks by Avery Lewison during the match.

Berlynn Green went to the service line and served eight-straight points to build the lead up to 20-7 and, after a sideout by Osakis, Emma Poegel took over, serving the final four points to give the Lakers the 25-8 win and 3-1 match victory.

Fittingly, it was Fleury who put down the final kill of the match for the Lakers.  “Dacia is a steady athlete and she comes to compete each match,” coach McGuire said.  “She has been a huge asset to our success this season.”

•  The Lakers served at a 91 percent clip with Eliana Marthaler registering two ace-serves and five others ending the match with one ace-serve each.

The Lakers had a kill percentage of 12 percent with Fleury’s 25 kills leading the way.  VanLuik added nine kills, while Hellermann had seven, Lewison had four and Schulz had three.

Minnewaska had a great night of defense with five players ending the night with double-digit digs, including Poegel with 19, Fleury with 18, Marthaler and Green with 17 each and Schulz with 10, while Lewison had a team-high three blocks and Hellermann, VanLuik and Fleury each added one.

“Playing great defense in high school volleyball is all about lining up with the hitter and then reacting to what the ball can do,” coach McGuire said.  “Our girls did a great job.”

Sauk Centre 3, Waska 0

The season came to a screeching halt with a three-game loss at Sauk Centre, Friday in the Section 6A quarterfinals.  It was the third win by SC over Minnewaska this year with the first going five games and the next two taking only three games.

The Lakers served at a 91 percent clip and had 19 attack errors with 20 kills.  Dacia Fleury led the offense with seven kills, while Emma Hellermann added four, Haillie Schulz had three and Eliana Marthaler put down two.

“We knew Sauk Centre was going to be tough; they always are,” McGuire said.  “We had a great matchup with them the first time we played them, losing in the fifth set by five points.  We changed a lot as a team since then and we were excited to get another opportunity against them this season.”

Schulz also had team-highs of two ace-serves, 14 set assists and 10 digs, while Fleury and Emma Poegel both had seven digs, Marthaler had five and Avery Lewison and Mya VanLuik had one ace-block each.

It was only the second time all season the Lakers have been swept in three games; both against Sauk Centre.

at Minnewaska 3, Osakis 0

Osakis (10-17) 25 13 23 8

Minnewaska (19-8) 20 25 25 25

WASKA STATS  (good-attempts-aces):  Serving (aces):  Eliana Marthaler 2, Berlynn Green 1, Brooklyn Noyes 1, Dacia Fleury 1, Emma Poegel 1, Haillie Schulz 1 . . . 91%serving . . . Set assists: Schulz 42, Fleury 3, Green 2, Marthaler 2, Avery Lewison 1

Hitting:  Fleury 56-63-25, Mya VanLuik 25-33-9, Emma Hellermann 17-21-7, Lewison 13-17-4, Schulz 10-12-3, Addy Kath 12-13-1, Green 5-6-1, Marthaler 2-3-1 . . . 12%kill% . . . Digs:  Emma Poegel 19, Fleury 18, Marthaler 17, Green 17, Schulz 10, Brooklyn Noyes 6, VanLuik 5, Lewison 3, Kath 3, Kyra Nelson 2, Hellermann 2 . . Blocks (aces):  Lewison 3, Hellermann 1, VanLuik 1, Fleury 1

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at Sauk Centre 3, Waska 0

Minnewaska (19-9) 21 10 18

Sauk Centre 25 25 25

WASKA STATS  (good-attempts-aces):  Serving (aces):   Haillie Schulz 2, Emma Poegel 1, Eliana Marthaler 1, Berlynn Green 1 . . . 91%. . . Set assists:  Schulz 14, Dacia Fleury 2, Brooklyn Noyes 1, Poegel 1

Hitting:  Fleury 22-24-7, Emma Hellermann 8-9-4, Schulz 12-14-3, Marthaler 6-9-2, Addy  Kath 2-2-1, Avery Lewison 5-9-1, Green 4-6-1, Mya VanLuik 7-12-1 . . . Digs: Schulz 10, Fleury 7, Poegel 7, Marthaler 5, Green 4, Noyes 3, VanLuik 2 . . Blocks (aces):  Lewison 1, VanLuik 1, Hellermann .5, Schulz .5