The final of the Apple Valley Aerie Challenge featured Class 2A power Stewartville against Rosemount, one of the top teams in Class 3A. Despite the differences in class and height, it proved to be an intensely close match with Rosemount’s power it to a 25-27, 25-22, 16-14 victory on Saturday at Apple Valley High School.

Rosemount’s offense was led by a trio of tall juniors: 5-foot-11 Katie Kalinowski and 6-1 Brittany McLean racked off kills from the outside with sets coming from 6-1 Erin Slinde.

But beating a shorter Stewartville team did not come easy for the Irish.

“I thought Stewartville played terrific defense and they battled really hard with great energy,” Rosemount coach Smokey Vitek said.

The offensive prowess of McLean and Kalinowski provided Stewartville with the opportunity to play some stellar defense.

“I thought our defense was great,” Tigers coach John Dzubay said.

Stewartville had more than 50 digs. Meanwhile, it was defense that almost cost the Irish.

“We struggled a little bit on defense in the long points,” Vitek said.  

In order to combat the defense Vitek had her team focus on each point, “We just talked about how we work really hard to get into these tight battles and the battle should be fun and you kind of just have to brace the moment rather than worry about losing the match.”

Ultimately it was unforced errors that cost Stewartville the match.

“We had too many errors, such as doubles and missed serves,” Dzubay said.

But he added that the game overall was great practice for their next match, against arch rival Faribault Bethlehem Academy.

“The entire game we kept pretending we were playing Bethlehem," Dzubay said. "We’re just so looking forward to playing them on Tuesday.”

As Rosemount looks to its next match against conference team Prior Lake, Vitek attributes her team’s play to good chemistry on the court.

“This bunch of girls, a lot of them are returning varsity, so they got good chemistry," Vitek said. "They know each other just from the club season and all the stuff we do in the summer.”​

Katie Kalinowski and Brittany McLean combined for 15 kills to lead Rosemount to a 25-27, 25-22, 16-14 victory over Stewartville in the Aerie Challenge championship match Saturday afternoon at Apple Valley High School.

Kalinowski and McLean provided the offense the Irish needed to rally from a first-game loss while Stewartville's scrappy defense, led by Meghan Schmitz, kept the score close in the final two. The Tiger’s finished with more than 50 digs.

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