Section 5AA Preview

Matt Bigelow

October 30, 2017 @ 05:37 PM

Postseason play is right around the corner. With sections set to start in less than two weeks, PrepDig is breaking down each section with teams and players to watch. Section 5 took a hit when it lost Concordia Academy from last season. With five teams finishing the season with between 15 and 20 wins, the section looks pretty wide open. Favorite: Watertown-Mayer The only team with at least 20 wins on the season, the Royals played a tough schedule during the regular season which should prepare them for a lengthy postseason run. Janessa Berrios is their top hitter with almost 300 kills on the season but Paige Thibault, Kylie Hoese and Vanessa Schroeder all have more than 100 kills as well. Emily Ernhart is a top-notch libero as well. In the Mix: Delano, Totino-Grace, Mound Westonka Delano went 14-13 in the regular season and earned the No. 2 seed in the section. The Tigers have been playing good volleyball really since the end of September and they've gone 10-4 over the course of the second half of the season. Libero Kenzie Cayler and setter Brynn Heinonen give the team two excellent passers to set the table. Totino-Grace actually went under .500 during the regular season but because the Eagles played in a handful of tough tournaments and in a very good conference, their QRF number was strong. They picked up a handful of quality wins over the course of the year, beating Owatonna, Spring Lake Park and Duluth East during the season. Setter Maddie Schaefer is a player to watch. Mound Westonka went .500 during the regular season but earned the No. 4 seed thanks to a higher QRF rating due to a challenging schedule. The White Hawks didn't pick any wins that would be classified as 'great' but they played a lot of bigger schools throughout the year and a lot of their losses were to quality teams.