W-DC 3, Pequot Lakes 0
The key: The Wolverines rallied from a 21-18 deficit in Game Three to sweep the match
Overall: PL finishes 22-8, W-DC 22-9
Next: No. 2 South Wadena-Deer Creek vs. No. 1 North Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton for Section 8-2A championship at site to be determined 7 p.m. Saturday.
PILLAGER-With no seniors on their roster, the Wadena-Deer Creek Wolverines appear to be positioned to potentially win Section 8-2A championships this year-and beyond.
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The second-seeded Wolverines are one win away from their first section title since 2011 after getting past No. 4 Pequot Lakes 3-0 in the South Subsection 8-2A championship match Tuesday. W-DC plays Dilworth-Glydon-Felton, which defeated Roseau 3-1 for the North title Tuesday, for the section championship at 7 p.m. Saturday at a site to be determined. D-G-F shut out W-DC 3-0 in the third match of the season Sept. 6.
"Everything we're doing this year in the tournament here will only help for next year," W-DC coach Sue Volkmann said. "Hopefully we won't play with the kind of jitters we were trying to get through today. We're going to take a lot away from this."
Juniors Casey Volkmann and Ellie Miron and freshman Kennedy Gravelle are powerful hitters for W-DC and 6-footers Miron and Gravelle are imposing players up front. Casey Volkmann smashed 20 kills as the Wolverines won their fifth straight match.
"They've just steadily improved all year long," Sue Volkmann said of her hitters. "I can't imagine what they're going to be like a year from now, with another year behind them. It's really going to be fun."
Pequot Lakes' 4-match win streak was snapped and the Patriots finished the season 22-8. W-DC beat the Patriots 3-1 Aug. 29 at Wadena in the second match of the season.
"We didn't pass," Dale said. "We were out of system in our offense way too much. Passing is the name of the game."
Corinna Ruud led the Patriots with 12 kills. Karli Skog added 15 set assists and Clare Ganley 13 digs for Pequot.
After having lost the first two games, Pequot Lakes didn't falter. The Patriots trailed for much of the third game but regrouped and seized a 21-18 edge. W-DC eventually tied it at 21 and went ahead 22-21 on a Casey Volkmann tip before the Patriots tied it at 22. The Wolverines scored the last three points of the game, winning it 25-22 on a tip by Ashley Adams who finished with 29 set assists.
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"We kind of played the whole (third) game with a deer in the headlights look," Sue Volkmann said. "I think we got pretty rattled. We were kind of like playing in gravel all night but the kids came through when they had to, scored some points when they had to.
"(Sophomore) Aly Daigneault was our player of the game. She doesn't have a lot of stats but she came in up front and helped us tonight."
The Wolverines won Game One 25-21, overcoming a 6-5 deficit and pulling away from a 6-6 tie.
Game Two followed a similar script. Pequot led 7-4 before W-DC tied it at 9 and outscored the Patriots 16-5 the rest of the way.
"(Casey) Volkmann is a good hitter," Dale said. "She got her kills. We dug her on some but our serve receive wasn't great. We were out of system way too much. You can't do that."
Pequot Lakes 21 14 22
Wadena-DC 25 25 25
Pequot Lakes statistics
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Emily Stevens 1 set assist, 12 digs
Taya Salminen 1 set assist, 2 kills, 1 ace serve, 11 digs
Quinn Kratochvil 12 set assists, 1 dig
Mariah Rickard 3 digs
Karli Skog 15 set assists, 2 kills, 2 blocks, 7 digs
Corina Ruud 12 kills, 1 block
Clare Ganley 7 kills, 1 ace serve, 1 block, 13 digs
Samantha Littman 5 kills, 1 ace serve, 1 block
Alie Johanneck 1 set assist
Britt Kratochvil 2 kills, 1 block, 3 digs
Wadena-Deer Creek statistics
Mackenzie Carsten 2 digs
Aly Daigneault 2 digs, 4 kills, 5 blocks
Lila Lohmiller 14 digs
Ashley Adams 29 set assists, 6 digs, 2 kills, 1 block
Kennedy Gravelle 2 kills, 3 blocks
Kyla Ness 4 digs
Katlyn Heaton 4 digs
Casey Volkmann 20 kills, 1 block, 15 digs, 4 aces
Ellie Miron 2 digs, 5 kills, 1 block
Kylee Hopp 1 dig, 1 block
