It's Bethlehem Academy, Windom for 1A title

Sometimes height makes volleyball a simple game.

Bethlehem Academy head coach Franz Boelter, for instance, had an easy time putting together a game plan for Friday's Class 1A semifinal against Ada-Borup: set the ball to 6-2 Holly Hafemeyer as often as possible.

Ada-Borup did many things well in extending top-seeded and defending champion Bethlehem Academy to a fifth and deciding game. But in the end, Hafemeyer and her 34 kills allowed the Cardinals to win 20-25, 25-21, 25-15, 20-25, 15-10 and advance to the championship match at 1 today at Xcel Energy Center.

"I told [setter] Jena Budde, 'This is a match where we need to get a ton of balls to Holly,'" Boelter said. "It just made sense." That's because Ada-Borup, despite featuring several talented athletes and skilled players, has nobody taller than 5-11 on its roster. That gave the rangy Hafemeyer a distinct advantage that she used to compile a .409 attack percentage.

Still, it was not easy for the defending champs. Ada-Borup used energy and balance to take the first game 25-20. Bethlehem Academy reversed the momentum midway through Game 2 and took that one and Game 3 before Ada-Borup again scrapped and dove its way to a Game 4 victory. Several of fourth-seeded Ada-Borup's key players were members of the school's Class 1A championship basketball team last spring, including Katy Ness, who led the way Friday with 21 kills.

"They're not big, but they're great athletes," Boelter said. "When you look in their eyes, you never see their expressions change." In the deciding game, though, Hafemeyer had seven kills --accounting for nearly half of her team's points. Budde finished with 62 assists in the match.

The two biggest factors for the duration of the second semifinal between Windom Area and Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa were sophomore Courtney Ysker's prowess and B-B-E's inability to return serves at key times.

In the fifth and deciding game, those two facets overlapped, allowing second-seeded Windom to score a dominant 15-7 victory and advance to face Bethlehem Academy in today's title match.

With the fifth game tied 1-1, Ysker rattled off four consecutive service aces to give the Eagles a commanding lead they would never relinquish. For the match, Windom had 16 aces to just three for B-B-E.

"I knew I had to get it done," Ysker said of the clutch serves. "I just stepped up." Ysker is a big part of Windom's offense, but normally it's her older sister, senior Megan, who dominates the kills portion of the stat sheet. On Friday, though, B-B-E seemed determined not to let Megan be the differencemaker. So Courtney filled the void with a team-high 19 kills and a robust .432 kill percentage. Four of Windom's final six points in the deciding game came on Courtney Ysker kills.

"After the first and second games, I got more into it," she said.