MARSHALL - A slow start couldn’t stop Lexi Scott from propelling Central Minnesota Christian into the Section 3A championship match as the Bluejays rallied to beat Minneota 25-23, 25-27, 20-25, 25-15, 15-12 Thursday at Southwest Minnesota State University.
No. 2-seed Minneota used a 6-0 run to take a 10-4 lead in the fifth game of the North final, but the top-seeded Bluejays closed out the match by winning 11 of the final 13 points to advance to the section final. CMCS (28-6) will meet South champion and Camden Conference rival Tracy-Milroy-Balaton (25-9) Saturday at 6 p.m. back at SMSU.
“We fired out in that first game but after that it was a battle,” said CMCS head coach Terrin DeBoer. “Honestly, it was not a matter of either team not playing well, it was a matter of who finished.”
Minneota (21-9) star Taylor Reiss outdueled Bluejays’ star Lexi Scott statistically, but Scott tied Game 5 at 11-11 with a kill and later had two kills before ending the match with an ace block. A Reiss hitting error allowed CMCS to take a 12-11 lead.
“Lexi pretty much took over,” DeBoer said.
Reiss had 30 kills and Scott 15, but the Bluejays also got a combined 32 kills from Erin Orred (21) and Kalley Schwitters (11).
CMCS and TMB split two matches during the regular season with the Panthers winning the last meeting 3-2 Oct. 13 at the Camden championship in Clara City.
TMB advanced with a four-set win over top-seed Heron Lake-Okabena in Thursday’s first match.
“It’s going to be a battle,” DeBoer said. “All of (the matches) have been. We feel like we’re having our own mini state tournament down here in the sections. We’re looking forward to going out there (on Saturday) and playing our best.”
CMCS 3, Minneota 2
Minneota (21-9) 23 27 25 15 12
CMCS (28-6) 25 25 20 25 15
(Key: good-attempts-aces)
Minneota
Statistics not available
Central Minnesota Christian
Serving: Christine Mikelson 15-15-0, Kalley Schwitters 20-22-1, Nicole Brouwer 13-14-0, Hannah Nelson 19-20-2, Natalie Brouwer 18-18-3, Lexi Scott 18-18-0 … Set assists: Nicole Brouwer 156-159-52 … Hitting: Schwitters 29-30-10, Scott 46-47-19, Erin Orred 53-58-22, Natalie Brouwer 12-13-1 … Blocking (aces): Schwitters 4, Nicole Brouwer 2, Natalie Brouwer 2, Scott 3, Orred 5 … Digs (5 or more): Mikelson 28, Schwitters 19, Nicole Brouwer 9, Nelson 6, Natalie Brouwer 15, Scott 17
