CROOKSTON - Kittson County Central prides itself on its defense. Rarely has an opponent gone off on the Bearcats for 21 kills, as did Abby Swanson on Friday night.
“She’s tough,” KCC volleyball coach Tina Turn said. “We had to defend her the best we could. But you know a good athlete like that will get her kills.
“But the balance came through for us.”
Depth was the difference as Kittson County Central beat Swanson-led Fosston 25-18, 23-25, 25-21, 25-17 in the championship match of the Minnesota Section 8A high school volleyball tournament.
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Kittson County Central will make its first appearance in the state tournament since 2005 when the tournament opens Thursday. Fosston lost in the 8A final for the second straight season.
While Swanson had 21 kills, no other Greyhound had more than four. Katie Coffield’s 17 kills paced KCC, with Nichole Kraska getting 15, Lexi Peterson 12 and Tea Jerome 11. Turn said both Peterson and Jerome had one of their highest kill totals in a match this season.
“It’s really nice to have that balance,” Coffield said. “We can depend on everyone to hit.”
Perhaps the biggest kill was by Peterson. In the third set, Fosston had cut a 17-10 deficit to 21-19. But the Bearcats closed on a 4-2 run for the win, with the spurt starting when Peterson powered a shot through a blocker for a point.
“We told her that spot was open for her, that she should keep hammering away at it,” Turn said. “That (kills) got us some momentum.”
Key points came from different players for KCC.
In the first set, the Bearcats closed on a 7-2 run, started by a pair of Nannie Peterson kills. And in the fourth set, after Fosston came back from an 11-4 deficit to within 14-13, Kraska had a block and two kills, the second after a long rally, to start a 9-0 run for a 23-13 lead.
“That’s been us all year,” Turn said. “Nobody can key on any one girl. On any night, at any time, it’s different girls coming through. And they all can hit different shots. That makes it tough to defend us.”
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Lexi Turn dished out 59 assists running the KCC offense, while Macy Westerberg had 26 digs to lead the back row.
Swanson also had 29 digs to lead the Fosston defense. Emily Curfman had 21 assists.
“Abby’s a complete player,” Fosston coach Sarah Dryburgh. “She rises up to a challenge in a big match like this. She’s been our top hitter all year. But, typically, we’ve had more balance.
“We had too many errors. And Kittson played well. They had a clean match.”
