Faribault Volleyball Blocks Their Way to Section Semis

The Faribault Falcons put up an awesome block Friday night in a 4 set win over the Red Wing Wingers in the quarterfinals of Section 1AAA.

The first set #4 seed Red Wing won 25-16 thanks in large part to 12 Falcons errors.  I don't know what Head Coach JoAnna Lane told her team but a different mindset took over and Faribault was aggressive and smart on the attack the rest of the way.

The other set scores in #5 seed Faribault's favor were 25-16, 25-20, 25-18.  There were some long volleys in the match.  It seemed like Faribault won all of those points.

In the first set the Falcons struggled with serve reception.  The Wingers had 3 ace serves in that set and two the rest of the match.

Senior Aubrey Hatfield helped stabilize things in the back row after being inserted into the lineup midway through the first set.

Red Wing senior Baile Roschen came into the night with 350 kills on the season.  My unofficial statistics had her with 13 kills in the 4 sets.  Faribault's presence at the net altered a lot of the Wingers shots and the Falcons blocked a number of hits.

My unofficial statistics had senior Meghan Swanson with 5 blocks, 3 of them in a stretch of the second set.  She also had 9 kills and just 3 hitting errors.

Senior Olivia Bauer got our Cashwise Foods and Pharmacy of Owatonna Delivery of the Match by finishing a point with a header kill.  Very appropriate for the former soccer player.  Bauer completed some monster mashes of the volleyball just in time for Halloween.

She finished with 11 kills.  Senior Maggie Leichtnam had 16 kills, 5 blocks, 3 ace serves.

Junior Addison Dietsch added 6 kills with just one hitting error.  Junior Emily Soukup finished with 4 kills, 2 blocks.

Libero junior Clara Malecha served 3 aces, collecting scores of digs during the match.

Senior setter Whitton Wolff was a steady presence on the court picking up balls and delivering sets for her teammates.

Junior setter/hitter Isabel Herda finished the night with 5 kills and a solo block.

I named Swanson, Bauer, Leichtnam our Malecha's Auto Body Crunch Time Faribault Players of the Match.  They had a combined 36 kills, 10 blocks for the Falcons.  The trio of Captains were joined by Herda and Wolff for the Malecha's Crunch Time honor.

Red Wing finished their season with a 17-12 record.

Faribault now 11-14,  travels to #1 seed, #2 state ranked Kasson-Mantorville 7:00 p.m. Wednesday night.

The other semifinal will feature #2 seed, #3 state ranked Stewartville hosting #3 seed, #4 state ranked Byron 7:00 p.m. Wednesday night.

The winners of those matches colllide Saturday at 2:00 p.m. in Rochester for the Section title and a berth into the State Tournament November 10-13.

Top seed Kasson-Mantorville swept Austin 25-7, 25-5, 25-10.  Stewartville rolled by Winona 25-12, 25-10, 25-8.  Byron swept Albert Lea 25-12, 25-21, 25-12.

In Section 1 Class 4A matches Friday Northfield defeated Owatonna in 3 sets, 25-12, 25-8, 25-13.  The Raiders will go to Rochester Mayo Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.  The Spartans downed Farmington 25-16, 25-14, 25-11.

On the other side of the bracket Rochester Century upended Lakeville South in four sets.  The Cougars won the first set 25-21 before the Panthers picked up 25-23, 28-26, 25-10 wins.

Century goes to Lakeville North Wednesday 7:00 p.m.  The Panthers had little trouble with Rochester John Marshall 25-16, 25-14, 25-8.

The Semifinals winners play Saturday, November 6, 2021 in Rochester at 4:00 p.m. for the right to go to state.

This will entertain you and your friends.

Here are some awesome pictures from the past.