No. 1 Lakeville North toppled

A few minutes after Shakopee, the second-ranked volleyball team in Class 3A, defeated No. 1 Lakeville North on Saturday to win the Apple Valley Eagle Invitational, Lakeville North assistant coach Doug Bergman put a friendly hand on the shoulder of Shakopee coach Matt Busch.

"Congratulations," Bergman said. "You can have the monkey for a while."

Of course, he was referring to the monkey that rides on the back of the No. 1 team. And Shakopee is certain to take over the top spot after rallying to defeat the Panthers 23-25, 25-23, 15-12.

"We've been kind of hidden in the shadows, and this shows that we deserve to be No. 1," said Shakopee outside hitter Maggie Geske.

Shakopee will be the first team outside the Lake Conference to hold the No. 1 ranking since anyone can remember. Last season three teams were No. 1 at different times: Chaska, Eden Prairie and Lakeville North, all from the Lake. The Sabers were ranked no higher than sixth last season.

"The key was that we never took any other opponent lightly," Busch said. "That was the most important thing, so that if we had the chance to play against Lakeville North, we were at our best. It was such perfect play going back and forth, it was really a matter of who was going to make the one more error."

In the first two games neither team led by more than three points. Two kills by Amy Braun clinched the first game for North, and Shakopee sophomore Ashley Wittman closed out the second game in similar fashion. Three kills and a block by Wittman helped the Sabers take a 10-4 lead in the third game, and the Panthers couldn't close the gap.

"I feel good," North coach Milan Mader said. "We played well, we have a lot of young kids on the team, and they need to go through this. I'm not going to have a hard sleep over this at all."

The Sabers, who watched Lakeville North win at Chaska on Tuesday night, were not intimidated about facing the No. 1 team.

"We talked about that before the game, and for some reason none of us were nervous," said setter Jessica Menden.

The teams are likely to meet again in the Lakeville North tournament Oct. 5-6. If they both advance to state, they could face each other in the Nov. 9 semifinals. Shakopee has never been to the state tournament; Lakeville North (and, as it was previously known, Lakeville High) was the state runner-up in 2003, 2004 and 2006.

"We're going to see them again, and we need to be ready for that," Busch said. "This was just one game. We'll enjoy it tonight and we'll back on Monday and be ready."

John Millea • jmillea@startribune.com