For Totino-Grace the goal to defeat Osseo twice was made at the start of the season. In five sets the Eagles were able to accomplish just that with a 3-2 win over the Orioles in the Class 3A Section five semifinals, (22-25, 27-25, 23-25, 25-18, 15-12).

“It feels really great because we know Osseo is a great team and experienced team,” said Totino-Grace head coach Kayla Cole. “They’ve been here they’ve been to state, and for them (totino) to set that goal and achieve it, against a team who’s won conferences and won sections, and been third at state, it means a lot to the girls.”

The win required a comeback for the 4th seed in the section. Set one was all Orioles. Christina Boe notched four kills and senior Hannah Pekarek added three kills, a block assist and one ace.  Pekarek finished the night with a double-double recording 12 kills and 27 digs.

In set two the Eagles were trailing until Eliza Dahly found her line shot nailing two in a row putting the team at 24-24. A block and Osseo hitting errors would allow the Eagles to take the second set.

Reflecting set one, Osseo led for a majority of the game in set three. At 20-17 the Eagles began to make their move with hits from Dahly and Hope Schiller. But it was senior Shiah Sanders who helped the Orioles to their set three win with a huge block. Sanders finished the night with a double-double with 11 kills and 16 digs.

Middle hitter Olivia Kreuser stepped up her game in set four. Four of the juniors seven hits were in this set. Kreuser also added three block assists to propel the Eagles to victory.

In set five Osseo came out quick. Natasha Gichaba had her one kill and two of her three blocks in the final set. Christina Boe was unstoppable in her hits. Boe posted a team high of 27 kills. Orioles were easily up 10-3. Unfortunately, subbing out setter Ellie Hoyt put the Orioles in trouble. 

Osseo Head Coach Bill Quan commented after the match that Hoyt had been suffering from a calf injury.

The Eagles made their move with big kills from Kreuser and Brooke Schermann who finished the night with eight kills.

“I don’t even have words right now,” said senior Hope Schiller on the win.

Schiller commented that the comeback was fueled by teams focus on their own mistakes and what they can control.

Coach Cole added that it was the team’s ability to side-out that gave them the advantage.

“All season our goal has been to play one point at a time. Whatever happens happens, and we got to be the team that moves on faster. If we can side out faster we’ll be the team that wins. And they just gave it hard. They dug down deep and found a way to finish it,” said Cole.

At one point during the match all the fans, Champlin, Blaine and Totino Grace were cheering for the Eagles.

“That was awesome because usually we don’t have a quarter of those fans and having Champlain support us meant a lot especially, because we want to play them in the finals,” said Schiller.

Coach Cole commented that Totino-Grace lost to both Blaine and Champlin in conference play.

“I think the girls want to avenge either of those teams,” said Cole.

Schiller will be getting her chance to avenge the Rebels after Champlin beat Blaine. The Eagles will play the Rebesl in the Class 3A section five Championship is at Anoka at 7 p.m. this Saturday. 

Senior outside hitter Hope Schiller had 16 kills and 19 digs, helping second-seeded Totino-Grace outlast third-seeded Osseo for a 22-25, 27-25, 23-25, 25-18, 15-12 victory in a Class 3A, Section 5 semifinal match Wednesday at Champlin Park High School.

Junior middle hitter Olivia Kreuser finished with seven kills and sophomore middle blocker Izzy Summers had five block assists and one solo block for the Eagles.

Totino-Grace relied on its defense and blocking to combat Osseo’s strong offense and tie the match at 2-2 four sets. An injury to Orioles’ sophomore setter Ellie Hoyt allowed the Eagles to rally in the fifth set to seal the victory.

Hoyt left the match with Osseo leading 10-3 and Totino-Grace took advantage as Kreuser’s three kills fueled an 8-0 scoring run that put the Eagles ahead 11-10. 

Osseo won the first and third sets behind the play of outside hitters Shiah Sanders and Christina Boe. Boe, a sophomore, finished the match with 27 kills and eight digs, while Sanders, a senior, had a double-double with 11 kills and 16 digs. 

Totino-Grace advances to the section finals, where it plays the winner of the matchup between fifth-seeded Blaine and top-seeded Champlin Park. The championship match takes place at Anoka High School on Saturday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m.

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