Section 5AAA playoff pairings set

The playoff pairings for Section 5AAA have been set after the section coaches met to determine seeds for the playoff with Coon Rapids being seeded ninth in the 11-team section.

The top five seeds received first-round byes while the remaining six seeds will play to determine the eight teams slated for quarterfinal action.

The unanimous choice for the top seed was Centennial. With one Northwest Suburban Conference match, against Osseo, remaining on their scheduled, the Cougars have a 25-2 records, have won 16 consecutive matches and are ranked seventh in the state.

The second seed, also by a unanimous vote, went to Blaine. The Bengals are tied with Centennial in this week's state ranking at seventh and, with a conference match against Anoka slated for Tuesday, they sport a 21-4 record.

Totino-Grace received the third seed. Champions of the North Suburban Conference, the Eagles have one match remaining on their schedule and are 17-8 on the season.

The remaining two byes went to the fourth and fifth seeds, which will face off in a quarterfinal game. Osseo, 10-11 on the season with a match with Centennial and the Moorhead Invitational remaining on the schedule, will host Mounds View, 13-12, which is taking on Park Center this evening in their final match of the season.

Champlin Park, 15-10, was seeded sixth and gets a first-round match with the 11th seed, Irondale, which sports a record of 6-15.

Maple Grove, 13-8, received the seventh seed and will host 10th-seeded Rogers, 15-10.

The Cardinals, 11-15 heading into tonight's match at Legacy Christian, will travel to eighth-seeded Spring Lake Park for a first-round match.

All first-round matches will take place Wed., Oct. 27, at 7 p.m. with quarterfinal matches also being hosted by the higher seed, Fri., Oct. 29, at 7 p.m. Centennial will face the Spring Lake Park/Coon Rapids winner while Blaine gets the Maple Grove/Rogers winner and Totino-Grace will host the Champlin Park/Irondale winner.

The Section 5AAA semifinals are scheduled for Wed., Nov. 3, at Osseo, with matches slated for 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. starts. The championship game will be Sat., Nov. 6, at Blaine, at 7 p.m.

Coon Rapids Cardinals Section 5AAA Team
Front row: Student manager Zach Collins, Paige Jones, Megan Hayes, Olivia Jung, Lindsay Bratland, Aneisha DeNio, Hannah Fitzer.
Middle row: Kaitlyn Motschenbacher, Emily Tronson, Ashley Engen, Courtney Pasiowitz, Angela Koch, Kayle Witzman.
Back row: Head coach Heidi Ulwelling, assistant coach Jessia Timmons, Liz Penshorn, Chloe Jacobsen, Emily Haeska, assistant coach Tim McLean.

Minnesota Volleyball Coaches Association Class AAA Rankings

The final Minnesota Volleyball Coaches Association Class AAA state rankings have been released for 2010 and a pair of Northwest Suburban Conference teams are among the top 10 as is one other Coon Rapids opponent.

Centennial, which has clinched at least a share of the conference title, has moved from ninth into a tie for seventh after defeating Roseville and Maple Grove to extend its winning streak to 17 matches.

Blaine remained in seventh after going 5-1 last week. The Bengals' lone loss was a 2-0 loss at the Eastview Invitational to sixth-ranked Eden Prairie. They closed out that tournament with a 2-0 win over ninth-ranked Shakopee.

Stillwater, which participated in the Coon Rapids Invitational and handed the Cardinals a 2-0 loss, is third among other teams receiving votes with 10 points.

Team (1st Place Votes)       Record   Pts

 1. Lakeville North (12)    24- 1-0   180
 2. Wayzata                 20- 2-0   168
 3. Bloomington Jefferson   22- 3-0   152
 4. Eastview                16- 9-0   144
 5. Apple Valley            18- 7-0    99
 6. Eden Prairie            16- 9-0    97
 7. Centennial              25- 2-0    95
    Blaine                  21- 4-0    95
 9. Shakopee                17- 8-0    78
10. Lakeville South         19- 6-0    75


Others: Waconia (40), East Ridge (36), Stillwater (10), Woodbury (8), Owatonna (7), Chaska (6), Northfield (4), Hill-Murray (3), Chanhassen (2), Rochester Mayo (1).

Coon Rapids goes 2-2 at BSM Invitational

Coon Rapids lost its first two games but responded with a pair of wins late in the day to salvage a 2-2 record in the BSM Invitational at Benilde-St. Margaret's.

The opening match of the day pitted the Cardinals against Minnehaha Academy and only one lead changed occurred in the three-set affair. The Redhawks led through the opening set, but not without being pushed. Leading by seven, 18-11, Minnehaha was Coon Rapids close to within two points at 22-20 before escaping with a 25-22 win.

Conversely, the Cardinals were given little challenge in the second set as they opened up with a 5-0 lead but the Redhawks never got closer than three points as Coon Rapids used five service aces and six blocks to cruise to a 25-14 win.

The third set saw the Cardinals lead throughout the first half but an eight-point run by Minnehaha, helped by four attack errors by Coon Rapids, enabled them to overcome an 8-6 deficit en route to the decisive 15-10 win.

In their second match of the day, the Cardinals opened with a 25-14 win over Holy Angels. After three lead changes, Coon Rapids scored 15 of the final 19 points of the set to break a 10-10 tie.

After finishing the first set with momentum, the Cardinals failed to carry that over to the second set as the Stars opened with an 8-2 lead and never trailed as they evened the match with a 25-16 victory.

The third set came down to service as Holy Angels got four consecutive service aces from Katelyn Caron during an 8-0 run, which turned an 8-7 Coon Rapids lead into a 15-8 win for the Stars.

Relegated to the bronze pool in the afternoon. the Cardinals came out and needed just 34 minutes to hand Mounds Park Academy a 25-6, 25-11 defeat. Courtney Pasiowitz had six kills and hit .625 in the match, leading an attack effort which saw the Cardinals hit .270, its second-best total of the season.

The day ended with another three-set match, which saw Coon Rapids claim a 25-20, 20-25, 15-12 win over Holy Family with Pasiowitz leading the way with seven kills and five blocks.

Ashley Engen led the Cardinals with 24 kills in the four matches. Meanwhile, Pasiowitz hit a team-high .386 with 22 kills to go with seven blocks, which tied Lindsay Bratland and Angela Koch for the team lead on the day. Paige Jones had 67 assists.

Emily Tronson led the team in both aces (12) and digs (38), and also received a team-high 64 serves.

The Cardinals head into the final week of the regular season with an 11-15 record, surpassing last season's win total of 10. Coon Rapids closes out the regular season with a pair of road matches this weekend, taking on Legacy Christian, Monday, before facing Park Center in the Northwest Suburban Conference finale.

Engen leads Cardinals to first conference win

Ashley Engen accounted for over one-third of all Coon Rapids points and her all-around play led the Cardinals to a 25-22, 25-23, 25-19 win at Robbinsdale Armstrong, the team's first Northwest Suburban Conference victory of the season.

In the opening set, the Falcons jumped out to a 2-0 lead before Engen recorded a kill to give her team the serve, and she then proceed to serve five aces in the next six points as Coon Rapids quickly took a 7-2 lead.

When the rotation returned Engen to the service line, the lead had been cut to 14-12, but she recorded two more aces as the Cardinals extended the lead to 17-12 and, after Armstrong came back to tie the score at 22-22, she combined on a block with Angela Koch and then served up two more aces, giving her nine for the set, to give Coon Rapids a three-point victory.

Engen again started the Cardinals off with five aces in the second set as the visitors took a 6-0 lead. The Falcons came back to tie the score at 9-9 but could never gain the lead.

The hosts would not go away, however, and were within one point late in the set when Courtney Pasiowitz notched one of her six kills on the night to give Coon Rapids set point at 24-22. Armstrong cut the lead to one once again but Olivia Jung struck a cross-court attack resulting in a kill and the final point to give the Cardinals a 2-0 match lead.

Armstrong scored the first point of the third set but a four-point run gave Coon Rapids the lead once again. The Falcons eventually tied the score at 6-6 with a four-point run of their own but an 8-2 run by the Cardinals gave them a lead they would never relinquish and Engen's 10th kill of the night finally ended the match.

Engen's double-double of 10 kills and 16 aces led Coon Rapids. She also had eight digs, a block assist, two set assists and received 18 serves without an error. Paige Jones, with 27 assists, averaged nine assists per game for the first time this season while Pasiowith had six kills and Angela Koch had five while hitting .444 on the night.

The Cardinals are idle until Saturday when they take part in the BSM Invitational at Benilde-St. Margaret's. Coon Rapids opens pool play at 9 a.m. by taking on Minnehaha Academy. The Cardinals second game is scheduled for 12 p.m. against Holy Angels to conclude pool play. Medal round play is slated to get underway at 2 p.m.

Minnesota Volleyball Coaches Association Class AAA Rankings

The Minnesota Volleyball Coaches Association has released the state rankings as of Oct. 4, 2010 and two Northwest Suburban Conference teams are in the top 10 for the first time this season.

Centennial moved into the top 10 for the first time this season, receiving 77 points to rank ninth, after defeating previously fourth-ranked Blaine, 3-1, and extending its winning streak to 14 matches.

Blaine fell to seventh, receiving 82 points, after two conference matches last week, falling to Centennial before sweeping Maple Grove.

Team (1st Place Votes)       Record   Pts
 1. Lakeville North (10)    22- 1-0   164
 2. Wayzata                 18- 2-0   155
 3. Bloomington Jefferson   19- 1-0   130
 4. Eastview                12- 8-0   119
 5. Apple Valley            14- 5-0   117
 6. Lakeville South         15- 4-0   100
 7. Blaine                  16- 3-0    82
 8. Shakopee                14- 5-0    78
 9. Centennial              24- 2-0    77
10. Eden Prairie            11- 8-0    70

Others: Waconia (60), Stillwater (18), Cretin-Durham Hall (6), Woodbury (6), Hopkins (5), Minneapolis Southwest (4), Owatonna (2), Hill-Murray (1).

Tornado hitters prove too much for Cardinals

Coon Rapids matched Anoka in many areas and all three sets were tightly contested but, in the end the 1-2 punch of Lesi Robinson and Mikayla Gallagher proved too much for the Cardinals to overcome as the Tornadoes claimed a 25-19, 25-19, 25-17 win.

The teams battled through the first half of the opening set to a 12-12 tie before an 8-1 run by Anoka put the visitors ahead, 20-13, and sent the Tornadoes on their way to a six-point victory.

The second set featured 12 tie scores and seven lead changes as the teams. Robinson recorded kills to account for four of Anoka's final 10 points of the set as the Tornadoes overcame a 17-16 deficit to finish out the second-set victory.

The third set played out much the same as the first two sets in the early going but Anoka would not give up the lead, finally breaking a 10-10 tie with an 8-1 run. Ashley Engen had seven of her match-high 15 digs in the set and the Cardinals were perfect in receiving 25 serve. The hitting game proved to be the difference as Anoka hit .303 while Coon Rapids had 10 kills and 10 errors.

"We didn't play bad," Cardinal head coach Heidi Ulwelling said. "We did a lot of things well tonight and just weren't able to finish at the end."

Defensively, Coon Rapids had one of its best nights of the season, averaging better than 14 digs per set while committing just four errors in 71 serve receptions to go with seven total blocks. Lindsey Bratland had a team season-high six blocks with a solo and five assists. Paige Jones had block assists as well. Emily Tronson chipped in with 12 digs.

Seven Cardinal seniors played their final match at the Carlson Fieldhouse. Co-captains Engen and Jones, were joined by fellow co-captain Megan Hayes as well as Tronson, Bratland, Angela Koch and Aneisha DeNio.

Coon Rapids returns to action Tuesday when the Cardinals will be at Robbinsdale Armstrong for a 7 p.m. match.

Cardinals suffer tought five-set loss to Rebels

In a match which featured 33 tie scores and 18 lead changes, including six lead changes in the final set, Champlin Park overcame a late deficit to score a 24-26, 25-14, 27-25, 16-25, 17-15 win over Coon Rapids.

Early on, the Rebels made the match look like it would be a runaway as they scored the first five points of the night. The Cardinals came back, behind the service of Chloe Jacobson, to tie the score at 6-6 but Champlin Park responded with a 7-1 and would eventually take a 20-11 lead in the opening set.


A Courtney Pasiowitz kill returned serve to the Cardinals at that point and, with Jacobson at the service line, they a 10-0 run to take a 21-20 lead. Champlin Park again responded, getting to set point by scoring four consecutive points, but a service error gave the ball back to Coon Rapids.
 
Paige Jones set Olivia Jung for two kills, Jung returned the favor once, and Jones and and Lindsey Bratland combined for a block as the Cardinals scored the last five points of the set to pull out the win and set the tone for the rest of the night.
 
The second set was the only set of the night that didn't hold to the script of a tight battle. The teams traded the lead twice early but a 10-1 run by the Rebels sent them on their way to the 11-point victory to tie the match at 1-1.
 
Much of the third set appeared to be going the way of the home team. After falling behind early, they grabbed a 4-3 lead and, after snapping a 10-10 tie, they pulled out to a 23-17 lead.
 
Once again, the Rebels came back, pulling to within one point with a 5-0 run, but a service error gave Coon Rapids a chance to win the set. Back-to-back kills by Lexi Wood tied the match at 24-24. The teams were tied again, at 25-25, before one of Taylor Goar's 26 kills on the night final put the set away for the Rebels.
 
The fourth set proved to be one of the the Cardinals' best of the season as they hit a stunning .522. Champlin Park also had its best hitting performance of the night, at .286, but, despite 10 tie scores and five lead changes, couldn't keep pace with the home squad.
 
"That was as well as we've played all year," Coon Rapids head coach Heidi Ulwelling said. "Both our hitting and our defense came together in that set."
 
Eight of the Cardinals nine plays who saw action in the set recorded kills, they committed just one reception error and the back row grouping of Aneisha DeNio, Emily Tronson and Kayle Witzman combined for 10 digs.
 
The fifth set proved to be the most hotly contested set of the night. The set saw more lead changes (6), and as many ties (10) as any other set of the night despite being played to just 17 points.
 
The Cardinals would serve for the match at 14-13 but Wood stepped up for the visitors, notching her 15th kill of the night, to tie the score. Goar's 26th kill of the night gave the Rebels their first match point of the night but Jung collected her 14th kill to tie the score one more time.
 
A service error gave Champlin Park a second chance to serve for the match and Christa Koep converted the opportunity with an ace.
 
Despite being disappointed with the loss, Ulwelling found plenty of positive things from her team.
 
"We battled back when we were down," she said. "I had nothing but positives for the team afterwards. We did so many things well tonight, against a good team, and that was my message."
 
Ulwelling stated that she was happy with the play of senior setter and co-captain Paige Jones. "She really distributed the ball well tonight," she said.
 
All four of the Cardinals' front-row maintstays, Bratland, Jung, Pasiowitz and Ashley Engen, had at least 22 attack attempts. Engen finished with 16 kills while Jung had 14 and Pasiowitz 11 while Jones finished with 40 assists.
 
Defensively, Coon Rapids matched its season high with nine blocks, getting four each from Angela Koch, who played just two sets, and Bratland. Tronson, who sat out the third set before moving into the libero role for the final two sets, finished with a team-high 16 digs while Engen had 15.
 
Up next for the Cardinals is Anoka, Thursday at the Roger E. Carlson Fieldhouse. The opening serve is slated for 7 p.m. and, as the team's final home match of the season, is slated to be Senior Night.