The Sauk Rapids Tournament on Saturday, Sept. 17, had some of the best teams around with Class 2A and Class 3A schools playing. The Long Prairie-Grey Eagle girls finished the day 2-2.

The first match of the day was against Mora. The girls came out a bit slow making too many errors. The Eagles fell 0-2 (22-25, 15-25). Mora controlled the pace of the game, which was fast and aggressive. The girls fell behind and were not able to recover.

LPGE bounced back by winning matches against Annandale 2-1 (25-28, 25-20, 15-11), and Sauk Centre 2-1 (21-25, 25-18, 19-17).

“Beating Sauk Centre was something we needed in a big way,” head coach Brad Hollenhorst said. “In my five years with this program, we’ve lost some heartbreakers to Sauk and needed a win.”

Sauk Centre was undefeated on the year, and also went to state last season, so it was a big win for the Thunder.

In the consolation championship game, the Eagles squared off against Rogers, a tough Class 3A school. The girls played right with them but fell 1-2 (15-25, 25-15, 15-17).

“We had two swings for match point that fell short and Rogers was able to capitalize,” Hollenhorst said. “At least we went down swinging and played our hearts out. We can be proud of the day we put together.”

The girls played well together on the day. Maggie Chapin stepped up big in the absence of Sara Roe, who was out with back problems.

Stats from the tournament:
Lesley Roe: 10 ace serves, 8 kills, 65 set assists, 20 digs
Emi Jansen: 3 ace serves, 28 set assists, 13 digs
Sam Zastrow: 3 ace serves, 16 kills, 25 digs, 4 blocks
Jenna Langer: 30 kills, 31 digs, 10 blocks
Maggie Chapin: 14 kills, 8 digs, 3 blocks
Megan Pohlmann: 3 ace serves, 21 kills, 26 digs, 7 blocks
Jade Line: 15 digs
Rachel Bachmeier: 3 ace serves, 12 digs
Alex Brinkman: 6 kills, 2 blocks
Taylor Irwin: 2 kills

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