Things felt different to Ellen Piechowski on the way to the Xcel Energy Center Friday morning. The Eden Prairie outside hitter knew that it was going to be a good day.

“On the bus to get here, we were listening to music and it just felt like it was going to be a good day,” Piechowski said.

The Eagles started fast and never let up, beating Hutchinson 25-12, 25-16, 25-22 to advance to the Class 3A championship game for the first time in school history.

Eden Prairie (26-6) defeated Owatonna in the quarterfinals in three sets Thursday — a seemingly identical result — but the circumstances were vastly different.

Not only were the Eagles trying to adjust to the cavernous surroundings of the Xcel Center, but there was the small matter of academics.

“Thursday was the last day of finals,” said coach Chad Becker. “Some of our girls had to get right back to school and take a final.”

No such distractions existed Friday and it showed right away. Playing nearly impenetrable defense, the Eagles raced to a 10-1 lead in the first set.

“We were a little slow on defense [Thursday],” Becker said. “We talked about our lateral movement in the locker room. We had some balls we dug out in this match that we might have just looked at against Owatonna.”

It also helped that the Eagles have one of the metro’s premier players, junior outside hitter Sarah Wilhite.

“We have a system to serve against other team’s strengths,” said Hutchinson coach Dennis Piechowski (who is Ellen Piechowski’s uncle). “But when you have an outside player like [Wilhite], she’s used to that and it doesn’t affect her much.”

Wilhite, who was battling flu-like symptoms last weekend, looked in perfect health Friday, pounding out 20 kills in 58 attacks. Piechowski added 14 kills and 16 digs and junior libero Jamie Cairncross had 24 digs, many of the diving, sprawling variety.

“That was our best match of the season,” said Ellen Piechowski. “Hopefully, we’ve got an even better one in us.”