Season Openers Worth Watching: Minnesota River Conference

<p>This week we finally get to see some of our favorite teams take the court after weeks of uncertainty.  Here is a preview of the top matches to watch online in the Minnesota River Conference.</p> <p>Thursday, October 8th: </p> <ul> <li><em>Belle Plaine vs Southwest Christian -</em> The top teams in the conference kick-off the season with what is sure to be an intense match-up.  Belle Plaine returns  players from their squad that took 3rd last year at the state tournament.  It has to be hard playing, knowing they won’t get a chance to experience that again this year, but Southwest Christian will still prove to be stiff competition.  Belle Plaine’s top returners are <strong>Leah Lenz (</strong>jr.), <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="100592" first="Sydney" last="Meyer"]</strong> (jr.) and S<strong>ara Lenz</strong> (sr.)  They lots of a lot of their height and big hitters, but their defense is always tough.   Hoping to outshine them will be a fairly young SC team.  They graduated four seniors and have a handful of sophomores and junior athletes.  They include outside <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="72775" first="Callie" last="Coughlin"]</strong>, defensive specialist- <strong>Sonja Brastad</strong> , and setter- <strong>Hailey Miedema.</strong>  It is a new season and anything is possible.</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <ul> <li><em>Northwood Young America vs Mayer Lutheran</em> - We are excited to catch a glimpse of the 2020 Mayer Lutheran team.  They consistently finish in the top half of the conference where NYA is typically found in the middle.  However, NYA has an army of seniors ready to charge: <strong> Allison Fritz, Kiara Kroells, Lydia Schrempp, Lillian Brinkman, [player_tooltip player_id="72041" first="Grace" last="Strickfaden"], Amanda Schmieg, Hayden Glander, </strong>and <strong>Rachel Crown.  </strong>Meanwhile Mayer Lutheran only has two seniors, and several underclassman.  <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="31616" first="Lilly" last="Wachholz"] (6’2’’), Emma Lade (5’10’’)</strong>, and <strong><a href="https://www.mnvolleyballhub.com/roster_players/35324528?subseason=618634">[player_tooltip player_id="72048" first="Morgan" last="Chmielewski"]</a> (5’9) </strong>they will help them match up well. </li> </ul> <p><em>Looking ahead:</em></p> <p>Oct. 9th - <em>New Prague vs Jordan</em></p> <p>Oct. 10th - <em>Belle Plaine vs Sibley East</em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>