Senior High volleyball bounces back

The rest of the postseason wasn't looking too promising for East Grand Forks Senior High after the first game against Roseau on Friday night.

In a Minnesota Section 8AA North subsection quarterfinal, Roseau took an early 7-0 lead en route to a dominant 25-12 win in Game 1.

But Senior High, determined to avoid the same fate of last season -- a quarterfinal loss -- bounced back to beat Roseau 12-25, 25-21, 25-16, 26-24 in the Senior High gymnasium.

Warroad knocked out the Green Wave in last season's quarterfinals.

In Game 1, Senior High had its hands full with Roseau's Setareh Mostofi (match-high 19 kills, nine blocks) and a large crowd from Roseau.

"That crowd caught us off guard. They (Roseau) caught us off guard," Senior High setter Ashley Mertens said. "But once we started playing, the crowd pretty much stopped. We just had to get together as a team and decide how much we wanted it and just push."

Senior High coach Paula Hedlund agreed the crowd played a role.

"After the first game, I told them a bunch of boys who have never practiced volleyball just beat you," Hedlund said.

The Green Wave got right back in it in Game 2, taking a 7-0 lead with kills from Kate Warmack, Brooke Vonasek, Betsy Smith and Mertens.

"We didn't block in the first game and came out in the second and got our hands on everything," Hedlund said. "We're much bigger than them; we just had to utilize our strengths. Brooke stepped up, Kate stepped up . . . they all stepped up."

The Rams then went on a 6-0 run, but Senior High answered with another 7-0 run and held on.

"Especially with that first game, I thought we played a perfect game," Roseau coach Katie Hedlund said. "But East Grand Forks is a great team, and I knew they'd be coming back at us."

The Green Wave cruised through Game 3, but Roseau put up a fight in Game 4. Neither team led by more than three points in the game.

"We almost took it," Katie Hedlund said. "It could have been a different story."

Hannah Hogenson tipped it in for a 22-20 Roseau lead. But a couple of out of bounds hits and a Chelsey Frydenlund kill put the Green Wave up 24-23. Mertens and Warmack recorded kills to ice the win.

"We got our heads in the game," Warmack said. "Once we got a feel for how they played we were able to adjust to it."

Warmack paced Senior High with 18 kills, followed by Steph Berger with 10 and Brooke Vonasek with nine.

Mertens added 14 digs, eight kills and an ace.

"This is farther than we've gotten in many years," Paula Hedlund said.

She gives credit to her senior class for that. The Green Wave have seven seniors on their roster.

"I knew when they were winning tournaments in sixth grade that they were going to do something special," Paula Hedlund said. "They had 19 wins their sophomore year and 20 the year after that. That's three solid seasons with them in the program."

Roseau finished the season with an 11-18 record.

Senior High (21-8) plays Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton on Tuesday at Crookston High School.