MACA girls fall to private foe in state

Concordia Academy? Doesn't sound like a public school to me. Here we go with an old issue: should public and private schools be on the same playing field? Concordia Academy is located in Roseville. Concordia Academy is who the Tigers played at the start of state volleyball play.
I remember when the Hancock girls basketball team under Jodi Holleman reached great heights before finally being cut down by a private school. I found an online discussion where protests were issued over the private school aspect.
This is not how it was when I was a kid. Public schools had their own grand tournament. I'm talking basketball because volleyball hadn't come into being yet. The huge attraction of the state tournament was followed by the afterthought or asterisk of the state "independent" tournament. Well, lobbying came forward fast and furious on behalf of those private schools, so today we have everyone in the state tournament. Fair? In my opinion, no. But this is the reality of things.
The Tigers came out on the short end Thursday (11/10). The site was Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul. The West Central Tribune continues to call us "Morris/Chokio-Alberta" rather than the correct Morris Area Chokio Alberta or MACA. The paper must feel it knows better.
The Tigers were making a repeat state tournament appearance. The Willmar paper had a subhead that sought to salve the disappointment: "Morris/CA volleyball team drops state opener but makes CA earn every point." I'm reminded how, starting in about 1989, I was forced by local politics to try to become a salesman for MAHS athletics. We had been getting shown up by some small schools. I was supposed to try to play that down. Eventually the ultimate salesman took over writing for the Sun Tribune: Mike Martin, who had a full-time job with the school.
Meanwhile, the majority of Sun Tribune readers didn't much care about sports at all, and would have been happier just seeing a smaller sports section. I don't blame them for gravitating to Senior Perspective: it's free and it has no sports, obituaries or district court news.
Concordia Academy is known as the "Beacons." The game scores were close, for what that's worth. We lost 3-1 with scores as follows: 25-23, 25-27, 23-25 and 28-30.
Four Tigers each had one serving ace: Karly Fehr, Brooke Gillespie, Ashley Solvie and Koral Tolifson. Karly in her specialty of setting racked up 46 set assists. Several other Tigers had a minor role with assists: Jenna Larsen (3), Riley Decker (2), Koral Tolifson (2), Ashley Solvie (1), Gillespie (1), Nicole Solvie (1) and Cassidy Fehr (1).
Jenna Howden was focused and powerful at the net, racking up 23 kills. Gillespie pounded down 16 kills. Jenna Larsen pounded nine kills at the Beacons. Nicole Solvie and Ashley Solvie each had seven kills. Karly Fehr added two kills to the mix.
Nicole Solvie had two ace blocks. The digs list is as follows: Riley Decker (45), Gillespie (21), Karly Fehr (17), Larsen (11) and Cassidy Fehr (7). Three Beacons each had one serving ace: Taylor Brunn, Sarah McTaggart and Rachel TerHaaar. Brooke Wechbrodt was the setting master for the Beacons with 60 assists. Erin Fallert was the top hitting contributor for the victor, pounding 30 kills. Three Beacons each had one ace block: Kira Fallert, McTaggart and Anika Neuman. Terhaar dug up the ball 37 times.
 

Newspaper shrinking more?

Is the Morris Sun Tribune newspaper showing more signs of retreat and retrenchment? When I left the paper in the summer of 2006, the general manager reportedly told the staff things will be "better" with me gone. I don't know how you define "better." Terry Timmerman said to me just before I left that it's a cliche to sometimes hear that a certain person is "irreplaceable" but that in my case, it might actually be true. I appreciated hearing that very much. I appreciated Terry remembering on my birthday that my favorite soft drink was Mountain Dew Code Red.
I certainly don't think it's any fun working for the paper anymore. It has gone steadily through phases of shrinking. Some of the work has gotten farmed out to Detroit Lakes.
And now, an ad sales rep is leaving and it sounds like he might not be replaced. This individual sent an email announcing his departure to his clients recently, and one of those clients forwarded the email to me. It said most of his accounts would be transferred to another ad rep already on the staff. We might deduce he won't be replaced. The Forum puts a smiley face on everything, so they would be incredulous at what I'm writing. Just let big business use "efficiencies" to keep on going, never mind the human element. We'd be better off in this county if the Morris newspaper didn't even exist. We'd be relieved of dealing with (and disposing of) those piles of non-Morris ad circulars coming at us every week. Elden's. Sheesh.
Congratulations to the MACA volleyball team on its abundant success in the fall of 2016.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com