Benilde-St. Margaret's overcomes Monticello in Class 3A volleyball tournament

Benilde-St. Margaret's found out quickly what it was up against Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the Class 3A volleyball state tournament at Xcel Energy Center.

The quick stuff ended there. The Red Knights, seeded third, needed five sets — and extra time in three of those — to overcome unseeded Monticello 3-2, with scores of 23-25, 28-26, 30-32, 28-26, 15-10.

The Red Knights (24-7) made a run at the end, taking six of the last seven points in the fifth set. Before that each team had one run of seven consecutive points in an otherwise back-and-forth match.

"We didn't have many common opponents, if any. So it's hard to get a feel for a team like that as opposed to some of the teams we had to play in sections," Red Knights coach Michael Becker said. "Once that first set started, I think we knew what we were going to be in for. Just kind of a battle, a tug of war."

The Red Knights trailed 2-1 and were down to their last point in the fourth set before scoring three straight points to force the fifth set.

"I think our team does really well under pressure. We find ways to fight back when there's not a lot of hope left," Red Knights senior Lily Eigner said. "Having all 14 players care so much definitely helps."

The Magic (18-13) knew they had little room for error.

Eigner led the Red Knights with 22 kills and 27 digs, Sierre Lumpkin had 13 kills, Erica Lee had 10 kills, Ellery Clark had 29 assists, Michaela Dooley had 28 digs and Izzy Saffert had 22 digs.

Shalyn Adams led the Magic with 15 kills, 22 assists and 21 digs, Brooklyn Sigler had 33 assists and 23 digs, Kendall Luoma had 13 kills, Stegora and Morgan Lemke had 11 kills each, Lizzie Sigler had 25 digs and Raegan Bryant had 23 digs.

Grand Rapids 3, Mahtomedi 0: Mahtomedi took forever to reach the state tournament, and then it took a few more minutes to start playing well. Those minutes cost the Zephyrs in a three-set loss. Grand Rapids won 25-16, 25-17, 25-19.

The Zephyrs (24-6), seeded fifth and making their first appearance at state, fell behind fourth seed Grand Rapids (27-4) 8-1 in the first set.

"We [came] out with no fear and just played. We know how fun it is to be on that floor," Thunderhawks senior Kate Jamtgaard said. "We have girls that haven't been here before. We were able to be there for them and calm their nerves."

Senior Katherine Arnason led the Zephyrs with seven kills, four blocks and eight digs. Ellie Mustar had a team-high 15 digs and 16 assists, Clara Schimnowski had five blocks, Abby Bruggeman had nine blocks and Anusha Khandpur had two aces.

"In that first set we got the jitters out," Arnason said. "A lot of the girls only have club experience. It's their first time in the bright lights and a lot of people.

"I feel like we earned being here. This team has earned being the first team in program history to come to state."

Marshall 3, DeLaSalle 0: The unseeded Islanders lost in three sets, 25-10, 25-4, 25-4, to the top-seeded Tigers and still got what they came for.

"We're just grateful to have the experience to come in here and play volleyball," Islanders senior Ava Schwind said. "It is about winning, but it is more about having fun."

"It was definitely nerve-racking for me," Islanders junior Lia de Sibour said. "I was the first server. I was shaking on that serve. I just had to take a couple deep breaths."

The Tigers have bigger goals than winning one match, but they didn't want to look past the Islanders.

"We keep it in the back of our mind, but we just gotta play our game," Tigers senior Caitlyn Christenson said. "If we just focus on our goals to win the state championship, we can make that happen."

Erin Stauffer and de Sibour led the Islanders with 10 digs each, and Schwind had a team-high three kills.

Randi Wendorff led the Tigers (31-2) with 16 kills, Lauren Wherry had 29 assists and seven digs, Christenson had 10 digs and Leah Jones had 10 kills and three aces.

Ellie Ask had 16 kills for the KoMets (25-8), and Ella Babcock had 15. Jalynn Gunderson had 16 kills for Detroit Lakes (18-6).