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Playing well finally pays for Chanhassen volleyball

By Jim Paulsen, Star Tribune, 10/01/13, 5:21PM CDT

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Chanhassen, seeded No. 4 in its own tournament, rebounded from a first-match loss to No. 1 seed Minnetonka to take home the team championship

 

Going into its own tournament Saturday, the Chanhassen volleyball team had been playing well against some of the state’s top teams but had little but losses to show for it.

The Storm had lost to Eagan, the No. 1 team in Class 3A, in four sets. It extended 1A, No. 3 Southwest Christian to five sets before falling and did the same against 3A, No. 9 Prior Lake.

Things finally came together in the tournament, however, as Chanhassen, seeded No. 4, rebounded from a first-match loss to No. 1 seed Minnetonka to take home the team championship.

It defeated No. 3-seeded Delano, which had ousted Minnetonka in the semifinals, 21-25, 26-24, 15-13.

“It was a good tourney for us,” Chanhassen coach Mike Domeier said. “We have been playing the top-ranked teams and keeping them all close but losing. We have been working hard in practice trying to find a way to win the ones we’re not supposed to.”

Junior outside hitter Dani Gitzen provided the offensive punch with 35 kills in the semifinals and finals. Junior libero Taylor Soine was the defensive spark with 26 digs in the final two matches.

“This was a great learning experience on how to deal with adversity and how good things happen to people with strong work ethics,” Domeier said.

City champs

A scoreless tie is rarely something to celebrate, but it was a thing of beauty to the Minneapolis Southwest boys’ soccer team.

Two days after earning a share of the Minneapolis Conference championship with a 3-1 victory over Washburn — the only team to defeat the Lakers this year, 1-0 on Sept. 12 — Southwest played to a 0-0 draw with archrival Minneapolis South on Saturday. The outcome gave the Lakers the conference title outright for the first time since 2010.

It is the sixth conference championship in 11 years under coach Jamie Plaisance.

Noteworthy

• Minnetonka’s Morgan Engel set a pool record at Minnetonka East Middle School on Saturday with a six-dive score of 250.90 points. The Skippers defeated Eden Prairie 96-85 in the dual meet.

• Minneapolis Washburn’s Jeff Jones scored seven touchdowns in only 12 carries in Friday’s 62-6 romp over Minneapolis Roosevelt. In five games, Jones has 24 touchdowns.

• Wayzata’s Anna French’s second-place finish paced the Trojans to the girls’ high school team title at Saturday’s Roy Griak Cross-Country Invitational at the University of Minnesota.

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