Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

Going into Saturday’s Duluth East Tournament, the Forest Lake volleyball team was looking at coming home with a shiny, first place trophy.

A shiny, second place award will have to do.

“We didn’t play our best,” head coach Sherri Alm said, but she also gave plenty of credit to winner Hill-Murray, 25-19, 25-23.

“They really played pretty error-free,” she added.

Where Hill-Murray excels is in the middle, with tall players who can dominate. That meant Forest Lake needed to do its thing on the wings as well as on defense. After sitting for nearly two hours in between their semifinal win over Minneapolis Washburn (25-17, 25-14) and the championship match, the tired Rangers just didn’t have it.

“Second is acceptable,” was how Alm rationalized the defeat two days later. She could also point to a 15-2 overall record this year, and know that Forest Lake is in good shape for the final month of the season.

Besides facing Hill-Murray, Alm didn’t feel her squad was really tested, which showed in their earlier tournament victories.

The day started with a 25-13, 25-16 win over Minneapolis South, which was followed by an even easier contest against Moose Lake/Willow River (25-13, 25-9).

During the tourney, the Rangers served at 92 percent as a team, with Betsy Kelly contributing at 36 of 38 on serves, and Britta Johnson rubbing a little extra mustard on the ball. Johnson picked up 30 points on serves throughout the day, while also collecting 14 aces.

Megan McKenzie continues to rack up the assist total, getting 74 in the four matches, and she also came in with 30 digs.

Chelsie Sobieck equalled McKenzie’s dig total and then led the way with 31 kills.

Lexi Alm was close behind, getting 23 kills and 27 digs, while Jamie Bucholz chipped in with 11 digs and Caitlin Lehner had 12.

Lehner’s kill efficiency has been exactly that — efficient. She sits at .357 on the year.

SEC PLAY

Much like the early rounds in Duluth, Forest Lake had little trouble dispatching both White Bear Lake and Stillwater in Suburban East Conference play.

In Thursday’s 25-14, 25-13, 25-19 victory over Stillwater, coach Alm admitted her girls were hoping for a more competitive match.

But as Lexi Alm was filling out the boxscore with 13 kills, 15 digs, three blocks, 100 percent serving and six aces, the Ponies didn’t have much of a chance.

As a team, the Rangers served at 96 percent and piled on with a .455 kill efficiency. Sobieck had 20 kills and nine digs and McKenzie did what she does, collecting 31 setting assists.

On Tuesday, Sept. 25, it was more of the same as Forest Lake made really quick work of the Bears, 25-11, 25-11, 25-14. The entire match didn’t even last an hour.

With the relatively easy win, the Rangers were able to rotate more players in, and coach Alm liked Tristan Uram’s performance.

The sophomore was 5-for-6 on serves and coach Alm felt Uram passed well.

The team was in action on Tuesday with a match at Hastings, and then remained on the road for a Thursday meeting at Cretin-Derham Hall.

Top of Page