Playing one of their best matches of the season, the Minnewaska volleyball team beat Eden Valley-Watkins in the opener of the Section 3AA Volleyball Tournament, Friday night at EVW High School, 25-20, 18-25, 25-18, 25-18.

Dreya Barsness has 16 kills to lead the Lakers, while Dacia Fleury had 14 kills, Avery Fier had 11 kills and 12 digs and Haley Shea added 46 set assists.

The win sends the Lakers into the quarterfinal round at 7 p.m., Tuesday, at New London-Spicer High School where the Minnewaska Area will meet the second-seeded Wildcats.

If the Lakers beat NLS, they will play again at 7 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 3 at a site yet to be determined, against top-seeded Paynesville or fourth-seeded Litchfield.  The Section 3AA championship match is set for 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 5 at SMSU in Marshall.

EV-Watkins 3, Waska 1

The Lakers upset the third-seeded EV-Watkins team, Thursday night, winning in four games and utilizing a balanced team effort.  

Minnewaska won the first games, 25-20, but lost the second, 25-18.  Not wanting the match to go a fifth set, the Lakers played some of their best volleyball of the season in games three and four, winning 25-18, 25-18, to earn a berth in the section quarterfinals.

The Lakers had a kill percentage for the team at 19 percent.  Dreya Barsness had 16 kills, Dacia Fleury had 14, Avery Fier hammered down 11 kills and Miaya Guggisberg added six.  In addition, all four of those players had kill percentages above 15 percent.

Minnewaska was 85-for-89 from the service line with 10 aces.  Haillie Schultz was perfect on 23 serves with two aces, Emma Poegel was 18-for-18 with another two aces, Fier was 10-for-19 and Haley Shea put down four service-aces to go along with a team-high 46 set assists.

Fier led the Lakers with 12 of her team’s 50 digs, while Shea and Fleury both had eight and Barsness had seven, while Fier and Guggisberg led the team with two blocks each and Fleury was the team’s top passer with only one error on 20 attempts.

The Lakers are now 9-4 in their last 13 best-of-five matches.  NLS is 16-11 going into the match against Minnewaska Area.

Minnewaska 3, EV-Watkins 1

Minnewaska (12-14) 25 18 25 25

EV-Watkins 20 25 18 18

WASKA STATS  (good-attempts-aces):  Serving:  Haillie Schultz 23-23-2, Emma Poegel 18-18-2, Haley Shea 16-18-4, Dreya B Barsness 11-12-1, Avery Fier 10-10-0, Brooklyn Meyer 6-6-0, Dacia Fleury 1-2-1 . . . Set assists:  Shea 46, Fier 1, Fleur 1, Barsness 1

Hitting:  Barsness 35-44-16, Fleury 30-38-14, Fier 27-30-11, Miaya Guggisberg 24-26-6, Shea 10-10-3, Schultz 1-1-0 . . . Digs:  Fier 12, Shea 8, Fleury 8, Barsness 7, Schultz 6, Meyer 5, Guggisberg 4. . . Blocks:  Guggisberg 2, Fier 2, Barsness 1, Fleury 1, Meyer .5