The Grand Forks Red River volleyball team will begin its quest for back-to-back Class A titles as a No. 1 seed.
Emily Asche and Hadley Steffen combined for 28 kills to lead the Roughriders to a 25-14, 25-22, 25-22 victory against Fargo Shanley in the East Region tournament's championship match Saturday at Red River High School.
"We wanted the best seed going into state and we got that tonight," said Asche, who finished with 15 kills. "So we're pretty happy."
The Roughriders, who won the Eastern Dakota Conference regular-season crown by tie-breaker criteria over Shanley, came out blistering the ball to open the match.
Asche, Steffen, Annika Strand and Katie Ronkowski all contributed early as Red River took the 1-0 advantage.
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The Roughriders' block proved too much for the second straight match.
A day after limiting standout Fargo North sophomore Kira Larson to six kills, Red River kept EDC Outstanding Senior Hillary Rotunda from getting into a groove.
Rotunda was effective, however, finishing with 12 kills and two blocks.
But it wasn't enough to rattle the Roughriders.
"Asche and Steffen played really well on the outside and I thought their middles really sold the block," Shanley coach Wendy Zeiher said. "Our blocks got fooled a little bit so the outsides were one-on-one. But I thought we played well. We were just excited to be here. Hopefully, we will take them at state."
The Deacons, who had never reached the region's title match in Zeiher's 11 years as coach, managed to scrap their way to leads in the second and third sets.
Asche helped turn the momentum around with strong finishes each time.
The Roughriders will face the No. 4 seed from the West Region at noon Thursday in the first round of the state tournament in Minot.
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"Its' our chemistry together," Asche said. "Just the basic fundamentals, blocking and defense. We just put that all together and we became a better team."
Fargo South 3, West Fargo 2: The outlook was bleak.
Trailing 22-13 in Game 4, Fargo South was three points away from the end of their season. The Bruins' body language said the team had all but accepted defeat.
"It started to sink in that we weren't going to go to state," South hitter Bridget Kruger said. "But that's not how we play. That's not what we came here to do. We wanted to go to state."
Thanks to an improbable comeback, the Bruins will do just that.
South outscored the Packers 13-4 down the stretch in the fourth game and used that momentum to win the fifth game en route to a 20-25, 25-20, 17-25, 26-24, 15-8 victory over West Fargo in a state-qualifying game.
"We finally started believing in each other," South hitter Raquel Wellentin said. "We told each other that we've come from behind before."
Fargo North 3, Wahpeton 0: Fargo North coach Missy Wilson didn't waste any time refocusing the Spartans after Friday's semifinal loss to Grand Forks Red River.
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"As soon as we were done, I challenged the girls," Wilson said. "Either they can let a loss like that eat at them or they can respond positively."
The Spartans chose the latter.
North junior Keli Johnson had 14 kills, six assists and two service aces to lead the Spartans to a convincing 25-10, 25-12, 25-16 victory over Wahpeton in the other state-qualifying match.
The Spartans, who improved to 26-11, advance to the state tournament that begins Thursday in Minot.
Wahpeton, a No. 7 seed, finished the season 15-21. The Huskies offense was led by Jordyn Braun, who had four kills and 10 assists. Katelyn Kleven chipped in three kills.
"We watched Wahpeton yesterday and saw that they played with a lot of energy and with positive attitude," Wilson said. "They took one set from us in the regular season, so we were expecting a challenge."
