What an exciting road coach Alanna Hunter's team has been down. Getting to this level demands a lot of the fans. After today the BBE fans finally can get caught up on their rest. I can well remember how a high-climbing prep team can derail your normal routine. I worked in the media. We all love the "rush," of course.
The Jags won in the state quarter-finals before being turned back in the semis by Minneota.
The quarters success
My coverage of BBE's quarter-final success, 3-1 over Badger/Greenbush-Middle River, is on my "Morris of Course" companion blog. Here is the link:
The Jags most certainly had their competitive moments in the semis but they were swept by the Vikings.
Hey! The West Central Tribune has the paywall down for its sports website! It seems to come and go. Any theories regarding this inconsistency? We assume they try to extract as much $ from people as possible - it's the Forum.
Maybe they sense a PR issue at times. Let me explain: teams in state draw interest from players' extended families who live all over. So a player's grandma who lives elsewhere in Minnesota is excited about the team and tries to look up coverage - the West Central Tribune might be a first stop. But wait! There's a paywall!
Grandma would not be interested in paying to read stuff from the WCT on a general basis. Why should she? It's a transitory interest: following this team that includes her family. So it would seem "rude" to have the paywall panel pop up on the screen, preventing entry. When we get back into the routine of a regular season, most likely the paywall will be up again. Unless maybe the people who run the place decide it's just too rude to have it up at all.
We can understand paying for the print version of the WCT product - the company obviously has overhead costs for printing and distribution. The website is a completely different beast. The schools themselves need not feel obligated to continue any sort of special relationship with the WCT or any other paper. Web-based options can be considered widely.
When I left the Morris Sun Tribune newspaper, management was buzzing about how we'd start shooting videos. Special, eh? Seemed like it might be at the time. They actually followed through some after I left. Eventually, guess what happened? The novelty of video on the paper's website disappeared, as other avenues for the public opened up. For example? The "YouTube geniuses" of Morris Area High School. Those kids are not tied to the newspaper at all.
The newspaper is a legacy business, a dinosaur, which in past times felt so empowered and entitled. And that made sense because the paper had access to the printing plant. It was really a monopoly. Everyone was forced to respect what the newspaper did. That model recedes ever so continuously into the past.
For the time being we can still find sports info on the West Central Tribune website. MACA was taken out of their official coverage territory last year. But it's still possible to find some MACA coverage there. The big annoyance now is the paywall. It just cuts down the number of people who can access background info on the games.
Schools should try to encourage as much interest and consumption as possible. The YouTube geniuses have developed such an enthused following. Congrats.
Minneota 3, BBE 0
BBE is the home team for the purpose of this blog post. So it hurts a little to report on a sweep loss. The Jaguars are in the truly rarefied air of state play. Nothing comes easy, not even for Minneota, the 3-0 victor. It was not a rout from beginning to end, anything but. Here are the scores with the BBE numbers first: 21-25, 20-25 and 13-25.
Minneota had to rally in order to put Game 1 in the win column. Then in Game 2, the fifth-seeded Jags were up 20-16 at one point. Hayley Fruin, Vikings coach, called a timeout and sought to size things up. She implored her athletes to come together as a team more. Whether this was the key - who knows? - the Vikings reeled off the last nine points of the game. The momentum had staying power. So Minneota went on to capture the third game 25-13.
So Minneota is on to the state finals where the foe will be Mayer Lutheran, 2:30 p.m. today (Saturday).
BBE's coach Hunter felt her team might have lost some focus. I dunno: at this level, any team can get on a roll at any time. They all have major attributes. Take a look at Minneota's record now: 33-3. Talk about attributes! The Vikings were No. 2 in state last year. We're talking Class A.
BBE enters the third place match with a record of 26-7.
Ava Mueller led BBE in kills in the Minneota match: 11. She was followed by: Brooklyn Fischer 6, Abby Berge 6, Adley Hagen 5, Allison Dingmann 4 and Kacey Fischer 2. In serve aces, Fischer and Mueller each had two, and Harley Roering and Berge each had one. Blocking contributors were Fischer, Berge, Dingmann and Mueller.
Kylie Weller was go-to in setting like always: 30 assists on this day. Fischer and Mueller each added one. Roering and Weller had 14 and 13 digs respectively. Mueller dug up the ball six times, Fischer five.
Minneota's kill leader was Ella Johnson with eleven. Four Vikings each had a serving ace: Lyzah Sussner, Ireland Stassen, Dakota Hennen and Grace Hennen. Stassen put up 24 set assists. In blocking, we see Megan Krog, Emma Brattelberghe, Naveah Hennen, Johnson and Kenado Arndt with impact. Susssner led in digs with 19.
None of the fans ever forgets these experiences. Neither will I!
Congratulations to the 2022 Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa "Jaguars" volleyball team.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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