“This was definitely one for the record books,” exclaimed Barnesville Head Coach Megan Askegard.  “The girls really brought the energy with them from the match on Wednesday to the gym in DGF last night. The atmosphere at the Fort only comes around so often. It was fun for us to be one of the first big games to take place in their new facility. All of our stars needed to align tonight. They were pumped up and ready to go. We have talked a lot this season about having confidence and always being focused for the games. They have mentally prepped for tonight and you could see it on all their faces.”

Leaders for the Trojans were Emily Riddle (21 kills, 4 solo blocks, 1 block assist), Emily Smith (12 kills, 23/23 serving, 2 aces, 8 digs), Belle Peterson (6 kills, 1 solo block), Kenzie Skogen (6 kills, 14/15 serving, 1 ace, 19 digs, 1 solo block), Rumley Biewer (40 set assists, 4 kills, 12/12 serving, 1 ace, 9 digs, 1 solo block, 1 block assist), Amelia Newell (20/22 serving, 1 ace, 7 digs, 4 kills, 5 set assists), Sydney Strand (27 digs, 13/13 serving, 1 ace), Kenadee Gray (17/17 serving, 1 ace, 11 digs) and Kailey Olson 10 digs).

Here is Askegard’s match assessment, “We started out the night playing very loose and relaxed. Our serving was excellent and we really worked their offense by trying to eliminate their setter from taking their second ball.  We were very evenly matched with the Greenwave. They were just as scrappy in the backcourt as we were digging up many hard hit balls on both sides of the net. We took turns sending hard hit balls over the net from all angles. My two middle hitters were extremely aggressive tonight and they needed to set the tone for our offense. They both do such a great job blocking and attacking in the front row. Our energy really comes from the big plays that they get started in the middle.” 

Coach Askegard continued, “We really took control and relaxed in the first two sets. In the third set both teams were really battling it out to the very end. Needing extra points to decide a set isn’t uncommon in the game of volleyball. It was really coming down to who made the fewest amount of mistakes and who was aggressive enough to put the ball away. We came up short in the 3rd set, finding us in very familiar situation that we did against Hawley. We had every reason to battle back in the 4th set with a state berth on the line in one match to 25. This was very familiar territory for us to go into the 4th set. It really shows how much you can accomplish when you battle back as a team and come out strong to finish the match off tonight in that 4th set. It is unbelievable and I really can’t describe the amount of emotions we are all feeling right now. It really doesn’t seem real!”

Barnesville will play the #1 seeded Pequot Lakes Patriots on Thursday at 1:00pm at the Xcel Energy Center. The Trojans have not won a section title since winning the 6A sub-section in 2012.