Fosston poked the giant, taking the first set from defending champion and top-seeded Minneota in the Class 1A volleyball semifinals.

Sufficiently irritated, the Vikings put their quick, side-to-side offense to work and won the next three sets with relative ease en route to a 23-25, 25-14, 25-7, 25-10 victory on Friday at Xcel Energy Center.

"Fosston came ready to go. They were digging everything, so scrappy, keeping balls alive," Minneota coach Hayley Fruin said. "Our serve receive isn't our strong suit. Our setters ran a few miles in that first set. We just didn't come out fired up and ready to go."

The Vikings looked more like the team they had shown for much of the season in the ensuing sets. With setter McKenna Yost setting to her collection of hitters at both pins, the Vikings offense outpaced the Fosston block, forcing the Greyhounds to chase and get tired.

"We usually use two or three hitters and it really works well for us because when we do that, we're unstoppable," Yost said. "We like to run quicker sets because its way harder for the blocks to get from pin to pin. And we spread the ball around a lot because it makes the middles tired."

JIM PAULSEN

Waterville-Elysian-Morristown 3, Medford 0: This semifinal was the fourth match of the season between these Gopher Conference rivals.

"We know a lot about them, but we also know they know a lot about us," Waterville-Elysian-Morristown coach Crystal Lamont said.

The victor was the same as in the previous three meetings. The No. 2-seeded Buccaneers swept third-seeded Medford 25-21, 25-20, 25-20.

"W-E-M's been our bugaboo probably the last two years," Medford coach Missy Underdahl said.

On Friday the Buccaneers (34-2) used 7-0 runs in sets one and two to put some distance between them and the 2018 state runner-up Tigers (25-9).

"When we go on runs, I feel like we stay together and we cheer each other on more," Buccaneers senior middle hitter Delaney Donahue said. "And we're just more into the game as a team."

The Tigers got within two points in the first set but couldn't overcome the deficit, despite recording 12 kills in the set.

HEATHER RULE