Lakeville North Volleyball Edges South In Thriller To Return To State

The distance between and high schools is a little more than two miles. The volleyball difference between the two schools Saturday night was two points.

The fifth-ranked Lakeville North Panthers won a five-set Section 3AAA thriller from their No. 1 ranked crosstown rivals at Simley High School Saturday, gaining the Class AAA state volleyball tournament on the strength of a 25-20, 17-25, 25-21, 22-25 and 15-13 triumph.

"I thought our team, instead of relying on one or two players, we took everyone on our team, all the coaches and everyone on the bench, even everyone in the stands, and we all just worked together like Lakeville North, said Panthers senior Alyssa Goehner. "We all worked together. It wasn't just one person, it was all of us. We were a team tonight"

Lakeville North (24-5) will play Thursday, Nov. 10, in the 2011 state Class AAA girls volleyball tournament, against an opponent, and at a time to be determined. The state tournament will be seeded for the fourth year.

It will be the fifth state tournament appearance for the Panthers, who won the Class AAA state title last season behind the play of Alyssa Goehner, Taylr McNeil and Kellie McNeil.

Also qualifying for the eight-team Class AAA tournament were: Owatonna, Hutchinson, No. 3 Blaine, Cretin-Derham Hall, No. 9 Eden Prairie, No. 6 Andover and Bemidji. The state tournament will be held in the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul Nov. 10-12.

Lakeville South ended its season at 26-2, its only two losses coming at the hands of Lakeville North.

"Two points was the difference tonight," said Lakeville South head coach Jennifer Nelson. "They closed it out. They closed out the match. They played wonderul. They had a lot of nice swings, a lot of great defensive ups. We were close, we just didn't close it out."

Lakeville North head coach Steve Willingham agreed.

"There wasn't much difference between the two teams," Willingham said. "What was gthe difference? Two points. That was a great volleyball team."

Lakeville North had defeated Lakeville South 3-2 in a marathon match during the regular season, and this one was just as competitive. Indeed, there wasn't much to choose from as the two teams traded body blows the entire match.

"We played our hearts out," said Lakeville North senior setter Jessica Wolff. "I feel our blocks were amazing. We were on our blocks every single time and Sami Flattum ended up ending the game with a block."

The fifth and deciding match was just as close as the first four. The two teams were tied at 6-all, 10-all and 12-all before the Panthers were able to put tn-ether a mini-run for their winning points.

Rather than rely on their big hitters, the Panthers were able to spread their attack around Saturday, and it paid off Willingham said.

"What we did do well, we had a game plan. We kind of stuck to it," said Willingham said. "We really got our other players involved and not just our outside hitters who usually are carrying us."

Senior middle hitter Nicole Latzig had 15 kills for the Panthers and seven blocks.

The match was good for Lakeville volleyball, both coaches said.

"Both teams, in terms of their level of competiveness and heart deserve to be in the state tournament," said Winngham. "That's really too bad how it turns out and I feel for our town, too, with two great volleyball teams playing in the section final. That was a great night for Lakeville."

"If this didn't make a volleyball fan out of everybody in this gym, I don't know what did," said Nelson. "We had two great teams, two outstanding clubs. And the bets part about this is a Lakeville team gets to go to the state and we are so excited for Lakeville North. And we are so happy for them and we wish them the best in the state tourney."