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Panthers take third at Southwest Minnesota Challenge

By LNHS Volleyball, 09/10/16, 11:59PM CDT

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LNHS overcomes first-set losses in three of four victories.

MARSHALL, Minn. -- Lakeville North went 4-1, including three wins after dropping the first set, to take third place in the Molten Southwest Minnesota Challenge.

The Panthers opened tournament play with a pair of wins Friday night, opening with a quick, two-set win over Sioux Falls Roosevelt, before claiming a three-set win over East Ridge.

Saturday began with a match versus second-ranked Champlin Park and, after a 25-12 first-set loss, LNHS came back for a pair of two-point wins.

That victory sent the Panthers to the tournament semifinals, where they faced fourth-ranked crosstown rival Lakeville South, falling in two sets to the eventual tournament champions.

In the third-place match, North faltered in the opening set to Bloomington Jefferson before crusing to wins in the second and third sets  to claim third place.

The Panthers are slated to begin South Suburban Conference play this week when they host Rosemount in a 7 p.m. match.

Lakeville North def. Sioux Falls Roosevelt 25-20, 25-11

Sioux Falls Roosevelt never trailed in the opening set until Lakeville North went on a seven-point run and then cruised through the second set, taking a 25-20, 25-11 win to open tournament play.

Amanda Burger served aces for the final two points of the opening set after the Panthers struggled early before a 10-2 run completed the five-point win.

The second set saw North lead for all but one point of the frame, breaking a 2-2 tie with a four-point run. It was the first of three four-point runs, which enabled the Panthers to claim a 14-point win and end the match in just 38 minutes.

North hit .345 for the match behind a .400 performance by Kennedy Brady (six kills). Elizabeth Juhnke also had six kills and Macy Winter led the team with seven.

Amanda Burger had 23 assists to go with her two first-set aces and Juhnke also had two aces and a team-high eight digs.


Elizabeth Juhnke record eight points with six kills and two aces and also had a team-high eight digs.

Lakeville North def. East Ridge 21-25, 25-22, 18-16

The Panthers saw third hitting and side out percentages improve with each set and they finally overcame East Ridge.

The first set saw a pair of lead changes, as North jumped out to a 4-0 lead, and six tie scores in the opening set before the Raptors finished the set with a 6-2 run to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Although the Panthers saw their hitting percentage go from .111 to .147 in the second set while third side out percentage went from .480 to .591, nothing came easy as the teams traded the league six times and were tied on 13 occasions.

Halle Wolfe service ace gave North a 24-21 and, after East Ridge responded with a kills to cut the lead to two, Kennedy Brady polished off the win with the second of her two kills in the set.

Arianna Barrett played a key role in the three-point win, collecting five kills in six attacks while also record four digs and a block assist.

North would go onto hit .194 in the final set but sided out on 11 of the Raptors' 17 serves, getting a kill from Elizabeth Juhnke to take a 17-16 lead before Barrett and Tori Thompson combined on a block to finish the match.

Juhnke had 10 kills and Brady eight to lead the Panthers' hitters while Amanda Burger had 26 assists. Wolfe led the team with 15 digs.


Kennedy Brady had four kills and a solo block in the decisive third-set win over East Ridge.

Lakeville North def. #2 Champlin Park 12-25, 26-24, 15-13

After hitting -.115 in the opening set, Lakeville North got its front row back on track in sets two and three, hitting .297 in the second set and .231 in the third set, while recording six blocks during that span to overcome the second-ranked Rebels.

Only Macy Winter, with one kill and no errors on seven attacks, had a positive hitting percentage in the opening set but that would change as the teams would engage in a hard-fought duel over the final two sets.

Behind five kills from Sydney Hilley, Champlin Park jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the second and would maintain that lead until a four-point run, kicked off by back-to-back kills by Kennedy Brady, tied the set at 15-15.

The Rebels regained the lead at 16-15 but the Panthers responded with two quick point and would not trail the rest of the match, finish the 26-24 win with kills by Brady and Elzabeth Juhnke.

In the final set, Macy Winter helped account for North's first four points as she combined with Tori Thompson on a block for the first point and then recorded three kills to give her team a 4-2 lead and they would never trail.

Winter and Juhnke had nine kills each to lead the Panthers. Thompson had five block assists while Winter and Arianna Barrett had three apiece.


Macy Winter had nine kills, including four in the decisive third set, to help lead the Panthers past the second-ranked Rebels.

#4 Lakeville South def. Lakeville North 25-19, 26-24

Jenny Mosser accounted for 19 points for South and North was unabled to overcome her performance despite battling the eventual tournament champion to the end.

The Panthers grabbed a 3-1 lead to open the match and the teams dueled to an 11-11 tie before the Cougars went on an 8-2 run. Three late kills by Elizabeth Juhnke cut into South's 23-16 lead but wasn't enough to prevent South from claiming a 25-19 win.

The Cougars then opened the second set by taking a 4-0 lead and, on three occasions, would lead by five points but, using a 10-2 run, the Panthers would take a 20-17 lead.

The Cougars fought off one set point, getting a kill from Mosser to tie the scored at 24-24 and then closed with kills by Karly Lews and Camryn Strong to finish the match.

Kennedy Brady had seven kills without an error and hit .467 and Halle Wolfe had 12 digs to lead North.


Halle Wolfe led the team with 12 digs and the Panthers scored seven points on her 12 serves.

Lakeville North def. Bloomington Jefferson 22-25, 25-17, 15-8

After dropping a three-point first set, North stormed back to down Jefferson to claim third place.

After posting just a .167 hitting percentage in the opening set, the Panthers hit .400 in the second set and .407 in the third set. In addition, they sided out on 15 of the Jaguars 17 serves in the second set and did not commit a service error, after committing three in the opening set.

Despite struggling in the first set, North led three times as the lead changed hands seven times and there 12 ties in the opening set.

All of that changed in the second set as Jefferson scored the first two points and maintained the lead until North tied the score at 6-6. However, after the teams were tied at 10-10, the Panthers went on a 10-3 run and never looked back.

In the final set, Jefferson jumped out to a 3-0 lead before North rebounded to tie the score at 4-4. From that point, the two teams battled back and forth until a Tori Thompson kill gave the Panthers a 9-8 lead.

From that point, Elizabeth Juhnke would serve six consecutive points to put the match away.

Macy Winter had 12 kills and Juhnke 11 to lead North, which also got seven kills from Thompson, who hit a match-high .462, and Kennedy Brady while Arianna Barrett had six kills,

Amanda Burger had her best setting performance of the tournament with 38 assists in 84 attempts.

Kaitlyn Arentz had a season-best 10 digs and Halle Wolfe also had 10 digs, while Barrett, who had nine digs, and Brady both had three blocks to lead the team defensively.


Kaitlyn Arentz had 10 digs to help lead a solid defensive effort by the Panthers.