It will be an all Lakeville Section 1 Class 3A Final Saturday at the Rochester Mayo Civic Center.  The Lakeville North Panthers swept Rochester Century and Lakeville South Cougars overcame a 2-0 deficit to defeat Northfield Wednesday night.  Scores in the Lakeville North win over Rochester Century 25-12, 25-23, 25-16.

Northfield was down early to the Lakeville South Cougars in the first set before having 5 set points and winning 28-26.  The Raiders won the second set 25-22 before Lakeville South cut down on their errors and captured 25-18, 25-21 and 15-13 victories.  The final point for Lakeville South was a Northfield serving error.  Although it was the Cougars who finished the night with more errors it seemed fitting the match would end that way.

The total hitting percentages for the night were .133 for Northfield and .165 for Lakeville South.  In the end the Cougars had 75 kills and the Raiders 46 kills.  What is amazing is the 38 attack errors by Lakeville South coupled with their 16 service errors and two receiving errors.  That adds up to 56 total errors compared to Northfield's 35 mistakes.

Raiders Head Coach Tim Torstenson told KDHL following the loss his team simply didn't take advantage of all those gifts from the Cougars.  "We didn't play our best volleyball I feel.  They are a very good team."

Senior Jasmine Mulvihill led Lakeville South with 27 kills and 15 digs, sophomore Ava Moes had 18 kills and had a .306 hitting percentage and senior Nicole Banitt smacked 11 kills.  Sophomore setter Jasmine Weidemann tallied 60 assists and 11 digs.  Senior libero Alena Moldan had 33 digs.

For Northfield sophomore Megan Reilly was the only player with double digit kills (13) and hit .133.  Senior Linnea Larson was through the roof efficient with a .533 hitting percentage, 9 kills on just 15 attempts.  Junior Bronwyn Timperly had 9 kills and 20 digs.  Sophomore libero Emma Torstenson with 29 digs.  Sophomore Rachel Wieber had 13 digs.  Junior setter Lida King had 13 assists and 10 digs and senior setter Nora Lehmkuhl finished the night with 22 assists and 9 digs.

Seven seniors ended their volleyball careers for Northfield.  Larson is heading to Hillsdale College in Michigan to play volleyball.  Lehmkuhl, Emma Roethler (7 block assists), Rachel Kelly (7 kills 4 block assists), Stephanie Franz (4 kills), Cora Rezac and Lily Hollerung.

The #9 ranked Raiders end their season with a 24-7 record and their second straight undefeated Big Nine Conference season.

#4 rated Lakeville South is 26-4 and will play #2 rated and defending State Champion Lakeville North (26-4) at 11:00 a.m. Saturday for the Section 1 title.

Lakeville North had a team hitting percentage of .288 against Rochester Century with 50 kills compared to 26 kills and a .083 attack percentage.  The Lakeville North Panthers junior libero Halle Wolfe picked up 25 digs.  Senior setter Amelia Wherland had 40 assists.  Senior Elizabeth Juhnke 16 kills and 12 digs.  Senior Macy Winter 12 kills.  Senior Tori Thompson 10 kills.

The two Lakeville schools split during the regular season.  Now the rubber match determines who goes to state.

Northfield Pre-Match Warmups in Rochester. Photo by Gordy Kosfeld
Northfield Pre-Match Warmups in Rochester. Photo by Gordy Kosfeld
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