Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

Now that last weekend is behind them, it’s apparent the Forest Lake volleyball team’s schedule didn’t take long to switch from probable victories to probable state contenders.

On Saturday, Sept. 8, the Rangers were out of town for the Shakopee Tournament, which had the talented host school as well as serious volleyball programs like Anoka and No. 3-ranked Eagan.

In Pool A, Forest Lake opened with N. St. Paul and came away with a fairly routine 25-17, 25-20 win.

Head coach Sherri Alm felt the score was closer than it should have been, but at least Forest Lake was moving on to face Anoka with a victory.

Last season, Anoka proved to be a problem that the Rangers just couldn’t solve. They faced each other twice in 2006, and both times the Tornadoes handed Forest Lake an “L.”

After scores of 25-22 and 25-16, the Rangers had an answer for Anoka, and entered a big contest against No. 2-ranked Shakopee.

There was essentially no break between the matches and wide-eyed Forest Lake wasn’t prepared to turn around an immediately face the confident Sabres.

The first game, 25-6, reads like a misprint, and it only gets worse when Alm mentions how her group actually earned just two of those six points.

In the second go-around the Rangers pulled together and made it much more respectable, but still lost, 25-19.

With the defeat, Forest Lake would take the second seed from Pool A, which brought a meeting against the second seed from Pool B — Holy Angels — for the right to claim third place.

Whatever went wrong in the second game of this contest was quickly forgotten, or used for motivation, as the Rangers would win, 25-12, 20-25, 15-5.

Alm wasn’t pleased with some of the officiating in Game 2, and neither were her players. After stubbing their collective toe, Forest Lake cruised for the 10-point victory in the clincher.

“That says a lot about the team,” Alm said.

In the championship game, Shakopee held off Eagan for the 28-26, 25-21 win.

“All in all it was good,” Alm said. “We should be all right.”

Two days before taking on the big-name acts in Shakopee, Forest Lake hosted Mora, and won in three straight, 25-19, 29-27, 25-21.

The Rangers saw a decline in their serving percentage (91 percent), and seemed like they wanted to keep the games close so they could play longer. Whenever Forest Lake built a small lead, Mora would get a boost from a Ranger missed hit or a serve into the net.

While there was never a feeling this one would get completely out of control — even in the extended second game — there was always a sense the scores shouldn’t have been so tight.

Megan McKenzie was 16-for-16 on serves and had 40 setting assists; Lexi Alm had 16 kills and was a perfect 12-for-12 on serves; Chelsie Sobieck had 13 kills and nailed all 13 serves; and both Amanda Johnson and Caitlin Lehner had five kills each.

The flurry of games continued on Monday night, as the girls had the pleasure of traveling to Anoka for a near-instant rematch. In a complete reversal of last fall, the Rangers handed Anoka another defeat, by the score of 25-14, 25-21, 25-22.

Shakopee Tournament Totals -

Chelsie Sobieck: 45 kills, 32 digs

Lexi Alm: 25 kills, 35 digs, 8 blocks

Jamie Bucholz: 12 kills, 4 blocks

Caitlin Lehner: 8 kills

Megan McKenzie: 24 digs, 89 setting assists

Betsy Kelly: 22 digs

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