In a dramatic fashion Eden Prairie defeated Minnetonka 3-2 to advance to the Class 3A Section six championship game (23-25, 25-17, 25-17, 11-25, 16-14).

“There’s not too many that get the ticker going as much as that game but our kids worked hard all year they believe in each other and believe in themselves, I knew they could get it done it was just a matter if they believed and trusted that they could get it done and I believe you saw that trust at the end,” said Eden Prairie Head Coach Chad Becker.

Two Eagles players had double doubles in the five set win. Abby Ihrke had 19 kills and 20 digs and setter Elizabeth Mohr recorded 12 digs and 47 assists.  Ashley Brueggeman was second in kills with 16.

Set one was a tight battle but the Skippers were able to keep the Eagles at bay with tough serving. Setter Isabelle Aragon-Menzel recorded both of her aces in the first set. Eden Prairie also struggled with miscommunication errors having balls drop numerous times in between players.

All issues were resolved in sets two and three as the Eagles easily maintained a five-point lead for most of the sets.

The momentum changed entirely for set four. Minnetonka took a 9-2 early lead. The skippers had strong offensive help from senior Carlonie Shelquist. The outside hitter would finished the night with a double-double recording 15 kills and 11 digs. Right side Elyse Wanzenried also helped propel the offense recording 4 kills in set four. The senior finished the night with 12 kills and a block assist.

For set five Minnetonka stayed on top until they reached 14 points. Middle hitter Lauren Mershon recorded four of her six kills this set. Mershon finished the night with four block assists.

At 11-14 Becker called a timeout telling his players to make a positive play after the timeout and to focus on what they can control.

From there the Eagles made a comeback with some incredible digs from Lauren Mattison who finished with 24 on the night and won 16-14.

“It’s just fortunate to have the guts seeing that leadership and that experience in that moment,” said Becker, “That probably helped us at 14-11 to not give up and maybe they started thinking they were going to do it (win) and we just kept playing the game. And got lucky.”

For senior Ihrke the comeback was defined by the team’s “moment.”

“We just pulled together as a team you know, how a team kind of has that moment in their season where they just pull together; to me that was kind of it, and I’m glad that it happened now.”

The Eagles will now be playing Wayzata on Saturday for Class 3A Section six championship. This will be the third meeting between the Lake Conference rivals.

“It’s just going to be a great match against two great teams,” commented Becker. 

Senior outside hitter Abby Ihrke finished with 20 digs, 19 kills and an ace, leading top-seeded Eden Prairie to a 23-25, 25-17, 25-17, 11-25, 16-14 victory over fourth-seeded Minnetonka in a Class 3A, Section 6 semifinal match Tuesday at Benilde-St. Margaret’s High School.

Senior libero Lauren Mattison had 24 digs as Eden Prairie’s defense played a key role in the victory. The Eagles used pancake digs at three different times during one play to keep a possession alive.

Eden Prairie also excelled in its blocking, finishing the match with six block assists. Freshman middle hitter Grace Persson tallied one block for the Eagles, ranked No. 3 in this season’s final Minnesota Coaches Association Class 3A poll.

Senior outside hitter Caroline Shelquist had 15 kills and 11 digs, while senior right side hitter Elyse Wanzenried recorded 12 kills for the Skippers. 

Eden Prairie advances to the section final at Benilde-St. Margaret’s on Saturday, Nov. 1, where the Eagles will face the winner of the match between second-seeded Hopkins and third-seeded Wayzata. The championship match is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.   

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