Marshall put to the test, advances

If Thursday's sweep of Mora was a warmup for Marshall, the defending state champions got a much sterner test Friday in its Class 2A semifinal match with Belle Plaine.

Marshall defeated Belle Plaine in four games to advance to the state championship for the fifth time in six years, but the tourney's top seed needed its best to do it.

"It was definitely a test," Marshall junior Kenzie Beekman said. "I thought we played really well. They're a good team."

Beekman led her team with 27 kills. Fellow junior Sidney Griffin had 14 kills and 20 assists.

Both sported white-and-black uniforms, the same team nickname and even the same chants from their student sections.

It seemed the only way for a casual fan to tell the teams apart might have been the scoreboard.

But even that was a bit tricky much of the night.

Eventually, Marshall took the game 27-25 on a block by junior Sydney Griffin.

Belle Plaine won the third game 25-18 but couldn't keep up in the Game 4, as Marshall closed out the match with a 25-20 win.

"Those are the fun matches to play, where it's back-and-forth like that," Beekman said.

"We got a good test ... and we liked that."

Senior Haley Fogarty had 19 kills for Belle Plaine.

If there were any doubt as to why the school from Minnesota's southeastern corner got the better seed, that was put to rest in Friday's second Class 2A semifinal.

Behind 21 kills from Emma Lange and another 14 kills from Maria Fruechte, Caledonia closed out No. 3 Sauk Centre in three games, 25-21, 25-20 and 25-9.

"We didn't really have any special things we were trying to do," Lange said. "We just went out and played our game, and that's what helped us come out on top."