The high-flying MACA volleyball team met its end of the road on Saturday
(11/2).
The Tigers vied at Southwest MN State University, Marshall, against the
"home" team from those parts. This was a Tigers vs. Tigers confrontation.
Marshall has the "Tigers" nickname just like Motown.
Motown was coming off two significant upset wins. First our Tigers disposed
of Litchfield, who owned the No. 2 sub-section seed, and then they triumphed vs.
the top seed New London-Spicer.
It was important to see a Tiger team get past NL-Spicer in a significant
post-season contest. It's a reminder that the Wildcat athletes put their pants
on one leg at a time just like we do. Tiger athletes have found the going rough
vs. NL-Spicer in post-season contests over the last few years. Volleyball has
demonstrated it needn't be that way.
Coach Kristi Fehr coaxed her orange and black athletes to a dominating
sweep over NL-Spicer, but that same magic couldn't be reproduced Saturday vs.
the Marshall Tigers. Marshall came into the day with super credentials. There
would be no turning back Marshall, at least not on this day.
Our Tigers had to settle for runner-up in Section 3AA. Marshall was the
victor in three games with scores of 25-15, 25-9 and 25-7. So the books are
closed on the volleyball campaign of 2013, with stellar won-lost numbers of
19-6. A big win streak was a season highlight.
Marshall moves on with a won-lost mark of 29-3. Those Tigers have won the
last two Class AA championships. They'll play Mora next. Match-time is 5 p.m.
Thursday at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
Three Marshall players were at the fore turning back our Tigers on
Saturday. Kenzie Beekman slammed down 15 kills, plus she had two blocks, four
ace serves and 20 digs. MACA also had to cope with Sydney Griffin who posted
these stats: 11 kills, 16 set assists, two blocks and eight digs. Marah Mulso
made her presence felt with Marshall with seven blocks.
State cross country: Goulet runs
MACA Tiger Aaron Goulet ran in the big and exciting spectacle of state
cross country on Saturday. He covered the 5K route in 17:20 to place 56th in the
Class A boys race. The top runner was Keegan Hurley of Perham whose 4K time was
15:36. Perham had the top team.
Annandale was the top girls team in Class A, followed by Lac qui Parle. Emi
Trost of Cannon Falls won the girls race with her time of 14:40.
We can all get set now for the long winter sports season. It does make the winter seem shorter, right?
We can all get set now for the long winter sports season. It does make the winter seem shorter, right?
Media notes:
I had a chance to see the current Morris newspaper Saturday at DeToy's
Restaurant. I was eager to glance through, as I was curious if there would be
some sort of explanation or apology regarding that "Northstar" publication which
was inserted with the previous week's Morris paper. That insert was more than
just a curiosity. It included some libelous material.
Therefore I was curious if the next week's Morris paper would have some
sort of statement to share. I didn't see any. There should at least have been a
statement of clarification, helping people understand it. However, there may be
conflicting interpretations, which is part of the problem.
I wrote a post on the "Northstar" which appears on my companion website,
"Morris of Course." Here's the permalink:
This "Northstar" thing comes at us from the UMM campus. You'll probably
sense that almost immediately. The publication has an orientation so far to the
political right, it's almost off the scale.
People on the political extremes sometimes have a way of communicating that
is a little hard to follow. They have trouble communicating on a plane of
sensibility.
This "Northstar" paper can grate on us because it's hard to comprehend
without poking around with various theories on just what these students were
trying to accomplish.
John Wayne in "The Shootist" accused an adversary of "taking the long way
around the barn" with how he was trying to say something. This "Northstar"
definitely "takes the long way around the barn." It appears to go around the
whole pasture. And in the process it has picked up no small amount of manure.
By far the most offensive aspect is that it got out into the community,
beyond the campus. The campus is a place that is ready to deal with all sorts
of offbeat communications or thoughts. Not so with the "real world" of Morris
outside campus boundaries.
A member of Campus Security once asked me, "What are you doing out here?"
I'd like to turn that question around now, and ask "What are you doing out here
(with this silly campus publication in the regular community)?"
If UMM wishes to draw some sort of line at the campus border, fine, then
respect it yourselves. Don't bother us with this sort of thing anymore.
Addendum: I had an astute friend when I was in college who said that when
you get to the extreme political right and political left, these people begin to
have some things in common. Whatever it takes. We need more of that.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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