Mayer Lutheran overcomes Ely in Class 1A volleyball quarterfinals

Mayer Lutheran makes the tough plays, and that paid off Thursday as the Crusaders held off Ely in four sets, 25-15, 24-26, 25-12, 25-11, in the Class 1A volleyball state tournament quarterfinals at Xcel Energy Center.

Mayer Lutheran, the defending Class 1A champion and No. 2 seed, has plenty of star power, but the team isn't afraid to get on the floor and attempt to salvage a point, which happened frequently against Ely.

"We just don't ever give up on the ball," outside hitter Gabrielle Wachholz said. "We play for the person next to us. We're selfless players."

Wachholz led her team with 15 kills and 19 digs. Danica Martin had six blocks.

Ely, playing in its first state tournament, sent its fans into a frenzy when it won the second set.

"I am so proud to be here," Ely coach Megan Wognum said. "To see them win that second set made me so proud."

Junior Hannah Penke led the Timberwolves' attack with 11 kills and 13 digs.

"We don't know a lot about them," Mayer Lutheran coach Joelle Grimsley said. "We're both gonna fight and scrap for it."

Minneota 3, New Life Academy 1: Minneota did what it needed to do to advance. It didn't do that without a fight from unseeded New Life Academy.

The Vikings, the top seed and last year's state runner-up, defeated the Eagles 25-13, 23-25, 25-13, 25-14.

Minneota (32-3) rolled through the first set with little pushback from the Eagles; the Vikings (21-12) finished the set with 14 kills. Meanwhile, New Life Academy made 10 attack errors.

"We were a little bit tense," Minneota coach Hayley Fruin said. "We eventually started playing our ball."

"We battled point by point," Eagles coach Dede Lawson said. "I'm so proud of how we battled."

The Vikings made the third and fourth sets their own. Minneota senior Ireland Stassen led the way in a number of ways, with 11 kills, 22 assists, 27 digs and two solo blocks.

"We know the environment now," Stassen said. "Now we can go in and play at our level."

Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa 3, Badger-Greenbush-Middle River 1: The Jaguars won three straight games after dropping the opener to upset the No. 7-ranked Gators 22-25, 25-20, 25-21, 25-15. Senior outside hitter Ava Mueller (22) and junior middle hitter Brooklyn Fischer (18) combined for 40 kills for the Jaguars (26-6), and sophomore Kylie Weller had 57 set assists. The Gators fell to 30-3.