Two Suburban East Conference foes fighting for position collide Tuesday when No. 9-3A Stillwater takes on a streaking Forest Lake team.
Stillwater (10-5, 3-0) is coming off a second-place finish at the St. Michael-Albertville tournament last Friday, when the Ponies had wins over previously ranked opponents Hopkins (2-0) and Southwest Christian (2-0). On Saturday, the Ponies lost in two sets to No. 2-3A Champlin Park.
With veteran leadership in setter Olivia Walsh, libero Britta Borrman and hitter Lexi Oeltjen, Stillwater can climb higher in the conference standings.
Forest Lake (14-3, 4-1), which begins the week second in the league standings, has won its last 10 matches, and hasn’t dropped a set since Sept. 22. All three of the Rangers’ losses came in the Shakopee Tournament on Sept. 8, against ranked teams in Minnetonka, Eagan and Suburban East-leading East Ridge.
The Rangers' recent success is due, in part, to a versatile offense with Kaitlyn Bakke (303 assists) and Riley Gorman (221 assists) in the top 30 in the state, while Ava Schmoll is third in the state with 295 digs. The Rangers have two big attacking options in Angela Denney (190 kills) and Abigail Groeneweg (168 kills).