Bethlehem Academy Cardinals Fly into State Volleyball Semifinals

The Faribault Bethlehem Academy Cardinals showed everyone watching court one at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul why they are the top-ranked team in Class A.

The Cardinals cruised to a 25-15, 25-10, 25-9 victory over the previously unbeaten Cook County Vikings of Grand Marais. The match was over in 58 minutes.

It looked like the Vikings didn't know what hit them.

The Vikings didn't communicate with each other very well and had very little offense.

In fact, according to our H&R Block Faribault, Owatonna, Lakeville statistics, Cook County had an attack percentage of -092. That means they had more hitting errors than kills, which is not a good statistic in volleyball.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals hit .338 for the match and the Vikings had no answer for junior Payton Nutter, who can attack from anywhere on the floor. What a weapon to have. She didn't even show every tool in her kit but did have hard smacks, little tips, redirections and flying punches for kills: 16 total while tallying a .387 attack percentage.

Senior Madie Strodtman was lights out efficient with nine kills and a blistering .643 attack percentage, while repeatedly coming down on top of the ball for some impressive kills.

Junior Shelby Meyer led the Cardinals with 17 assists and Nutter added nine.

Bethlehem Academy also had 12 ace serves in the match, led by senior Hannah Robb with four. Meyer added three, freshman Olivia Nass two and junior libero Keely Skluzacek two. Nutter had the other ace.

Skluzacek has improved immensely since I saw her in the season opener against Lakeville North. It just might be the most improvement I've seen in a player over the course of a season. She led her Cardinals with nine digs.

Cook County's leading hitter sophomore Linden Sutton looked to be a bit nervous and had just one kill in the first set and one more in the second. She did finish with four to tie with junior Emily Jacobsen to lead the Vikings with four total kills.

Our Faribault State Farm Insurance agents Faribault players of the match courtesy of Faribault State Farm agents Jason Krohn and Tony Langerud were Nutter (16 kills, nine assists, five digs, an ace serve and two block assists), Skluzacek (nine digs, two ace serves), Shelby Meyer (17 assists, four digs, one block assist and three ace serves), and Madi Strodtman (.643 attack percentage, nine kills, two block assists)

The Cardinals are now 24-7 and will play the Eagles of Heritage Christian Academy of Maple Grove at 1PM Friday.

KDHL 920AM will have coverage beginning at 12:45.  You can also listen at www.kdhlradio.com or download the free Radiopup app and listen on your favorite mobile device.

The Eagles were seeded fourth in the tournament and come into the match with 10 losses on the season. However, like Bethlehem Academy, they do play some bigger schools.

For example, they lost to Belle Plaine, Concordia Academy of Roseville, Hill-Murray of Maplewood all in the Class AA State Tournament and Class AAA schools Lakeville South and East Ridge of Woodbury.

In fact, three of their 10 losses came against Hill-Murray.