Jenay Fuglestad admitted that there were times during the season when her father Tom’s grand plan for the Heritage Christian volleyball didn’t feel like a lot of fun.

Tom Fuglestad, the Eagles coach, put together a rugged schedule, hoping to toughen up his players as they chased the program’s first state tournament appearance. A little sacrifice, a long-term gain.

It paid off Thursday when Heritage Christian (27-10) fought off undersized-but-feisty Verndale in the Class 1A quarterfinals, winning 25-18, 20-25, 27-25, 25-19 in a battle of state tourney first-timers.

“In the moment, it’s hard playing so many great teams because you’re going to lose every once in a while,” Jenay said. “So it’s awesome to see how strong it’s made us.”

What Verndale lacked in height — the Pirates have just two players taller than 5-7 — they made up for in quickness and a house full of grit. That house would be the Glenz residence, home of coach Shelley Glenz and her three volleyball-playing daughters — Jordyn, Shania and Morgan.

Last season Shelley coached the team while she battled cancer. “I was taking treatments during the season,” she said.

With her daughters leading the way, Verndale advanced as far as the section semifinals.
This year, with her cancer in remission, the Pirates were able to concentrate solely on volleyball.

“I told them at the start of the season to put all of that away,” Shelley said. “I said the cancer isn’t a factor anymore.”

The match could scarcely have had two more contrasting teams. On one side was the quickness and defense of Verndale, on the other the height and power of Heritage.

After the teams split the first two sets, Verndale had a chance to win the third with a set point, but could not put Heritage away. The Crusaders took the third set 27-25 and won the final set 25-19.

“We’re at our best when points are quick,” said Jenay Fuglestad, who had a match-high 25 kills. “I’m glad we played the schedule we did because we learned how to win when the points don’t go that way.”

Tom Fuglestad agreed: “It’s by design that we play a difficult schedule. It’s for moments just like this. If we hadn’t, I wonder if we would have had the strength to overcome a tough team like Verndale. They played a fast game and we’ve played fast teams before. It helped prepare us.”

FIRST REPORT

In a battle of first-time state entrants, Heritage Christian’s size was just too much for Verndale.

The lanky Eagles defeated the diminutive-yet-scrappy Pirates 25-18, 20-25, 27-25, 25-19. Jenay Fuglestad had 25 kills for Heritage Christian, based in Maple Grove.

Verndale, which has only two players taller than 5-foot-7, was led by Shania Glenz’ 21 kills.

Waterville-Elysian-Morristown was hoping that being new to the state tournament would play to its advantage. So far the underdog strategy has worked, as the Buccaneers swept Ada-Borup 3-0 to advance to the Class 1A semifinals.

“We wanted to do justice to our community,” said coach Crystal Lamont of Waterville-Elysian-Morristown.

The Buccaneers were focused throughout the match, hardly cracking a smile when they scored. But according to senior outside hitter Kamryn Kendall, the team was nervous.

“It took awhile to adjust to the really high ceiling,” Kendall said.

Ada-Borup credited Waterville-Elysian-Morristown for its well-rounded game.

“They put together a solid game and played consistently,” Ada-Borup coach Ruth Hayden said.

The solid offensive game is part of “Buccaneers volleyball,” a phrase that Lamont uses often. 

Kendall said “Buccaneers volleyball” means playing as a family.

Waterville-Elysian-Morristown hopes momentum carries them to success in the semifinals against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton.

The Panthers defeated the Buccaneers in 25-20, 25-22 in September.

“I think we’re peaking now, and we want to compete against the best so we can see how good we really are,” Lamont said. 

FIRST REPORT

Waterville-Elysian-Morristown swept Ada-Borup (25-14, 25-20, 25-9) in its state tournament debut.

Junior right side hitter Kate Masberg and senior outside Kamryn Kendall led the Buccaneers, each with 11 kills and six digs.

The Buccaneers came out on the offensive, often hitting over the Cougars’ block. No. 3 seeded Waterville-Elysian-Morristown maintained a hitting percentage of over 400 throughout the match.

Senior middle hitter Morgan Miller kept Ada-Borup alive in set two with a kill that closed the Buccaneers' lead to 19-15. Miller finished with 10 kills and seven digs for the Cougars.

Junior libero Emma Kroshus had nine of her 11 digs in the third set, but kills from senior middle hitter Erika Olson maintained the Buccaneers ten-point lead in set three.  Olson had 10 kills for Waterville-Elysian-Morristown.

The Panthers, runners-up in 2014, took a step toward avenging that championship-match loss with a decisive effort in a 25-9, 25-18, 25-9 victory. 

Sydney Lanoue had 15 kills, Sara Stoneburg 11 kills and 16 digs and Evelyn Dolan added 7 kills and 4 blocks for Tracy-Milroy-Balaton.

Top-seeded Bethlehem Academy defeated the only undefeated team in the state, Cook County, with a 3-0 sweep (25-15, 25-10, 25-9) in the Class 1A quarterfinals.

Junior Payton Nutter led the defending state champion Cardinals with 16 kills, nine assists and five digs.

Cook County was slow to respond to the Cardinals' fast offense in set one. The Vikings fought back with eight blocks in the second set.  Sophomore outside hitter Meredith Sutton finished with five of the Vikings' 10 blocks.

Junior outside hitter Shelby Meyer started the third set with a six-point serving run for the Cardinals.  Bethlehem Academy stayed on top with nine kills from senior middle hitter Madi Strodtman.

Junior outside hitter Emily Jacobsen led Cook County with four kills.