Northfield Sweeps Faribault Volleyball on Falcon Senior Night

The Northfield Raiders have a very good young team, with just two seniors and no juniors on their roster.

The Faribault Falcons said goodbye to six seniors who possibly saw their last match as team members in Nomeland gym.

Earlier this week I saw senior night be a powerful motivator in a Cannon Falls upset at home of Kenyon-Wanamingo.

Thursday night, Faribault head coach Damien Fox was hopeful the same scenario would play out for his team.

Maybe the Falcons tried too hard, as Northfield scored 25-20, 25-18, 25-16 wins.

I say that because the Falcons had a number of errors in the match -- hitting errors and repeated in the net calls.

Northfield made their share of mistakes in the first set, too, then found their groove.

Sophomore Raider setter Brynne Gray is very good and led her team to the victory.

Northfield finished their season in a tie for second place in the Big Nine with a 9-2 mark while Faribault was 5-6 in league play.

Before the start of the match, Falcon juniors made presentations thanking the seniors for their leadership on and off the court and gave them some parting gifts.

The six honored seniors included Hannah Dozark, Raena Quinnell, Jenna Wetzel, Maddie Carlander, Ellery Akemann and Haley Langeslag.

Langeslag tore her ACL at the very start of the season and was sorely missed by her team. I called her Haley's comet because of her tenacious play in the back row flying after balls.

Faribault suffered a number of other injuries during the course of the season and finished with an 11-16 overall record.

The future looks incredibly bright for Northfield. Eighth-grader Bronwyn Timperley was fed the ball and delivered often in the match and freshmen middle hitters Linnea Larson and Emma Roethler scored a number of blocks that appeared to frustrate the Falcons at the net.

The Raiders finished the season with a 17-10 overall mark and enjoyed wins over Big Nine champion Rochester Mayo, fellow second-place team Winona and perennial league leader Owatonna.

The win over the Huskies was Northfield head coach Tim Torstenson's first in his tenure at Northfield. He did coach for a period in Faribault.

Section seeds will be determined Sunday by coaches' vote. It appears Faribault will be either a eight or nine seed and Northfield a four or five. Lakeville South will undoubtedly be the top seed and Rochester Mayo the second.

Northfield's only losses in the Big Nine came against Mankato East and Rochester Century.

Faribault went into the match winners of five of their previous seven matches.

In other Big Nine action Thursday night, Mayo swept Rochester Century to clinch the Big Nine title. Mankato West defeated Mankato East in a 3-2 thriller. Owatonna beat Austin in four sets, Winona downed Albert Lea in four sets and Red Wing edged Rochester John Marshall 3-2.