Minnesota Team Rankings Breakdown 9/23/2018

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After the Class A and AA Showcase this past weekend in Burnsville and the Apple Valley Tournament there is definitely some move ups and shake ups in the rankings for September 23.  Here is a quick run down of teams that I have been able to see live and others who are on the radar that could make a push whether now or the end of October, early November come post-season time. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Class A</strong> </span></p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Fun watching <a href="https://x.com/vballvikings?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@vballvikings</a> play again after watching them at the SW Minnesota Challenge. So efficient, clean volleyball. They make it look so simple (when that’s so tough to do)</p> — Chris Fitzgerald (@PrepDigChris) <a href="https://x.com/PrepDigChris/status/1043286386894364672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2018</a></blockquote> <p><script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A new number one!  I love to make analogies to other sports with volleyball, and when I think of Minneota I can’t help but think if they were a baseball team, it would all come down to pitching, defense, and speed.  Those three things rarely slump. For the Vikings of Minneota, they play really fundamentally sound defense when it comes to being in the right position, stopped on contact, and just being extremely efficient.  Setter <strong>Morgan Kockelman</strong> and middle blocker <strong>Lydia Sussner</strong> are like clockwork together. Kockelman can put a ball anywhere and Sussner just finds a way to score. Mayer Lutheran has one Senior in their lineup in <strong>Symone Jopp</strong>, but has a trio of six footers who are really solid athletes.  <strong>Olivia Tjernagel</strong>, a Northern Iowa commit, plays so high above the net and is extremely smooth, and reads the other side of the net to be in the best position to block. <strong>Claudia Stahlke</strong> is the other middle and at 6’2 and only a Junior, she is very athletic and physical. College coaches - get her on your list!  Wabasso and Watertown-Elysian-Morristown are full of athletes who run such a quick tempo and tough defense. Wabasso has a solid setter-outside combination with <strong>Jenna Frank</strong> and <strong>Maddy Guetter</strong>. Great athletes who connect well to score points in a hurry. </span></p> <p><strong>Class AA</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To be completely transparent, I have not seen Stewartville play, but the I have seen eight of the top ten play live this year.  Kasson-Mantorville just does not have a lot of weakness, <strong>Peyton Seuss</strong> is so sound defensively in all six rotations, not to mention a major scoring threat, but the Komets are much more than Seuss with a solid libero in <strong>Bailey Berge</strong> as well as a plenty of hitters who can keep the defense off balance.  <strong>By the way, Stewartville and KM play in a conference match on October 16</strong>. North Branch I saw early in the season and <strong>Cia Selbitschka</strong>, a Junior outside heading to UM-Duluth is electric. Front row, back row, she scores points in all rotations. Marshall plays with so much fire and intensity (and has a really great student section), they will be tough to beat in a five set match.  As far as #5-#10 which consists of Concordia Academy, Kenyon-Wanamingo, Sauk Centre, Belle Plaine, Watertown-Mayer, and Academy of Holy Angels throw them into a hat and take your pick. These teams all kind of took their bumps to each other this weekend besides Sauk Centre who was not at the Showcase. </span></p> <p><strong>Class AAA</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">What a week it was in AAA.  Lakeville North defeats Champlin Park, Lakeville North defeats Shakopee, Eagan defeats Lakeville North, Eagan defeats Lakeville South, and East Ridge defeats Lakeville North.  The equation, as confusing as it is results in a top five of 1. Eagan 2. Champlin Park 3. Lakeville South 4. Lakeville North 5. East Ridge. These teams are so deep, with multiple Division 1 players on these squads it makes for quite the matchups that more than likely results in the team who executes the best that particular match.  I was fortunate enough to take in the five set thriller between Champlin Park and Lakeville North. <strong>Lauren Clark</strong>, a Penn State recruit and <strong>Jordan Stalpes</strong>, a Junior outside for CP had big nights, but just wasn’t enough as <strong>Elizabeth Juhnke</strong>, a South Dakota recruit had nearly 30 kills and the defense of <strong>Halle Wolfe</strong> of North. This weekend at the St. Michael - Albertville tournament will feature another battle between top teams (and not just top teams from Minnesota).  River Falls (WI), ranked 2nd in the big class in Wisconsin will be in attendance as well as STMA, Champlin Park, Wayzata, Stillwater, WIllmar, and Maple Grove in the 31 team field.</span></p> <p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/prepdig/?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Prep Dig Instagram</a></p>