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Majettes stay alive, sweep St. Mary’s in elimination match

Alex Eisen/MDN The Majettes celebrate after scoring a point in the first set against Bismarck St. Mary's in a West Region Tournament loser-out match on Friday at Minot High School.

This season has been quite the turnaround for the Minot High School volleyball team.

Last year, the Majettes didn’t win a single varsity conference match. Now, they are one win away from reaching the state tournament after a straight sets victory (25-23, 25-9, 25-23) over Bismarck St. Mary’s on Friday in an elimination match at the Western Dakota Association Tournament.

No. 5-seeded Minot (19-21), hosting the WDA tournament, hasn’t reached the state tournament since 2011.

“They really wanted this,” MHS coach Sherry Carlson said. “This is loser-out and they aren’t ready to be done.”

The Majettes held the lead for a majority of every set against No. 8-seeded St. Mary’s (13-28). But, as the final line score suggests, the Saints didn’t go down without a fight.

Minot was rolling along in the first set up 7-2 and then 18-10 before momentum shifted to St. Mary’s on two bad breaks against the Majettes.

First, St. Mary’s got a kill following a desperation dig sequence which ended with the ball rolling off the top of the net. On the next point, a Minot dig flew up into the rafters, redirected off a beam and fell to the floor.

Carlson immediately jumped out of her seat and called a timeout.

“I’m so thankful we have timeouts,” Carlson said. “And using them to stop runs and get them to (focus on) what we are going to do next, and not talk about what we just did or the mistakes. We are just talking about how we are going to get that next side-out.”

The misfortunes rattled the Majettes confidence and allowed St. Mary’s back into the set. The Saints even the score at 21-21 and again at 22-22, but Minot regained its composure when it was needed the most to win the set by the minimum, 25-23.

“You can see that they play very relaxed when they are ahead by a lot,” Carlson said. “But, the minute a team starts threatening them, they get tight. Today they had to work through that tightness and come out on top.”

The Majettes opened the second set with seven straight points and never looked back for a 25-9 set win. Kills and blocks were spread across the court. Senior Liz Lucy and junior Kali Askvig led the Minot attack with 10 and nine kills, respectively.

Lucy also put up three blocks, while sophomore Sydney Beck and junior Elise Klein each had two.

The third set was fairly close until the Majettes went on a 6-0 run in the middle of the frame with senior setter Riley Irmen serving to give Minot a 17-10 lead.

Irmen finished with a match-high 23 assists and junior setter Brooke Nelson added nine more assists.

“We had a good warm-up, I just felt connected with the ball,” Nelson said. “We played great, played as a team and communicated well. Beating them in three sets just feels really good.”

The Majettes seven-point cushion slowly faded as St. Mary’s flustered Minot with its net front presence to eventually tie the score at 23-23.

“We played aggressive at times, but other times we were a little hesitant,” St. Mary’s coach Kyle Kuether said. “It’s hard to get into a rhythm when we have been playing with so many different people all year, having to deal with injuries and people playing different positions. Given that, they still played pretty aggressively and somebody has to lose.”

A misplayed set attempt from St. Mary’s and MHS junior libero Rylee Terrel getting away with a questionable double-contact with the ball on match point, allowed Minot to hang on for the sweep.

“I’m so excited,” Terrel said about getting the chance to play for a state tournament berth. “That would be my first state tournament in North Dakota, so it will be awesome.”

Minot advances to a state-qualifier match against Jamestown at 2 p.m today at Minot High School.

“Tomorrow we have nothing to lose,” Carlson said. “The pressure is not on us unless they decide to put it on themselves. We are the underdogs. So, just come in and put everything together they have learned all year long and finish strong. Whatever the outcome is.”

Alex Eisen covers Minot High School, Minot State athletics and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.

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