Season Openers to watch: Metro West

Molly Orte-Thomas

October 7, 2020 @ 03:15 PM

This week we finally get to see some of our favorite teams take the court after weeks of uncertainty. Here are our picks for the conference Oct. 8th <ul> <li>Chaska vs. Bloomington Kennedy - Chaska is likely to center their offense around junior, [player_tooltip player_id="31580" first="Mallory" last="Heyer"]. The 6’1’’, outside hitter drew attention last year as a top prospect and this year will look to solidify their position in the conference. They will be rebuilding parts of their offense but with strong tradition and a solid staff we know they will rebound fine. </li> </ul> Oct. 9th <ul> <li>Robbinsdale vs Bloomington Jefferson - RC will have their work cut out for them as they get set to face a strong BJ , who finished second in the conference last year. They did graduate seven seniors but return a strong core. Their leading attackers for the year will be [player_tooltip player_id="72796" first="Cassie" last="Sieling"] and [player_tooltip player_id="31609" first="Ellie" last="Sieling"]. They graduated their top setter, Alicia Wendler, but have a good replacement with [player_tooltip player_id="71964" first="Kelly" last="McArthur"] and a few underclassmen. Sophomore Olivia Opstad, will likely see more playing time this year. Jefferson is the heavy favorite here but we will wait to see what awaits them on the other side.</li> </ul> Oct. 15th <ul> <li>With a few matches to get out jitters and finalize line-ups, we are most excited for the following Thursday as Bloomington Jefferson and Chaska face off. Last year Chaska claimed the West title and they have taken on some tough competition for their shortened season, including Wayzata. But Bloomington will be hard to beat with a bounty of hitters and excellent passing. </li> </ul>