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Champlin Park volleyball had 'something extra' this year

By BRYCE EVANS, Special to the Star Tribune, 11/04/14, 4:32PM CST

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Champlin Park reached the Section 5 title game again, but this time the Rebels won it.


Champlin Park's Jenae Alderson celebrated a point against Totino-Grace. ] (KYNDELL HARKNESS/STAR TRIBUNE) kyndell.harkness@startribune.com Sectional finals Champlin Park vs Totino-Grace in Anoka., Saturday, November 1, 2014. Champlin Park won over Tot

Something just felt different, Champlin Park junior Jenae Alderson said.

Maybe it was a level of familiarity, with her Rebel volleyball team in the Class 3A, Section 5 championship match for the second consecutive year.

Maybe it was her team’s ability to stay relatively healthy for an entire season. Last year heading into that championship match, which they lost to Osseo, the Rebels were dealing with the loss of one of their top hitters.

“Everything just felt different in practice,” Alderson said. “We were focused, we were ready. Everything just felt right.”

Alderson, speaking after Champlin Park’s 3-0 sweep of Totino-Grace in the section final Saturday, said that she and her teammates couldn’t help but feel a bit of redemption.

“To make it this far last year and not win, and now to win — it’s the first time I’ve ever felt like this before,” Alderson said. “It’s just different, and unbelievable.”

Champlin Park (24-7) begins play in the Class 3A state tournament on Thursday, when the Rebels take on Roseville (25-4) in a 9 a.m. opening round match at the Xcel Energy Center.

They lost to Roseville in three games Aug. 23, the team’s first match of the season. But, as the Rebels are quick to point out, they’ve come a long way from the start of the fall.

Turning point

Champlin Park Coach John Yunker said his program turned a corner last season, and came back this season ready to carry on that momentum.

But it wasn’t until late in the season that Yunker saw that his team was ready to take that next step.

“I’d really say that it was that first match against Totino-Grace [on Oct. 9],” he said.

The Rebels had lost their first Northwest Suburban Conference match a week earlier to Osseo. Yunker waited to see the response. They beat the Eagles in four games.

“Totino-Grace is a very good team, and after that win, everything really started to come together and you could just tell the girls really believed in themselves,” he said.

Champlin Park won the conference with a 12-1 record, just ahead of Totino-Grace, Osseo and Blaine.

Balanced approach

Despite having five seniors in lineup — Keely Miller, Kassidie Miller, Brenna Walton, Analee Steffan and Peyton Stutelberg — the Rebels have a fairly young roster. There’s Alderson, and then sophomores Maria Claflin, Maria Vattendahl-Vidal and Sydney Hilley all playing big roles.

Hilley, a Star Tribune All-Metro first team member who has committed to Wisconsin, led the team in kills and serving aces, and was second in blocks, digs and assists.

Yunker said the emphasis much of the year has been on defense, and staying together as a team.

“This team is just as talented [as last year’s] but just seems to have something extra in the way they’re able to stick together,” the coach said.

Hilley said it’s been about commitment as a team, focusing on one goal: a trip to the state tournament. The night before the section final was Halloween; Hilley said she and her teammates spurned the usual high school festivities for a quiet night together.

“We’ve made sacrifices for each other and to do this,” she said. “We’ve known all year what we wanted.”

Now that the Rebels are in the state tournament, Alderson said, she doesn’t know exactly what to expect; maybe something quite different, like, say, three more victories.

“That would be something else — something we haven’t experienced,” she said. “We’ll just keep working hard and see what happens, I guess.”

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