Faribault Falcon Volleyball Advances in Section Tournament

The Faribault Falcons picked a good night to play their best volleyball of the season.

Faribault traveled to Lakeville North High School and were not intimidated by the scores of banners in the gym, many of them for their success in volleyball.

Seniors Jenna Wetzel, Ellery Akemann and Maddie Carlander led the way to a 3-1 win in very impressive fashion.

Falcon head coach Damien Fox said he and his staff had been waiting all season to see the team play to their potential despite all their injuries.

Akemann was terrific all the way around. The H&R Block of Faribault and Lakeville official statistics saw her collect 15 kills and 24 digs on the night. Akemann accounted for 18 of the team's 68 points and had an attack percentage of .238. She also led the team with six block assists.

Carlander was unstoppable at the net in the first set, hitting a blistering .375 and finished the night with 15 kills and a .179 attack percentage. Maddie accounted for 17 of her team's 68 points.

Wetzel did a terrific job of keeping Lakeville North's defense off balance by feeding a lot of different players. The middle was working very well with Carlander in the first set and then the Panthers adjusted. After that, Wetzel set Akemann on the slide, attacking from the outside, and when Lakeville North adjusted to that, she went back outside. Wetzel tallied 44 assists during the match.

Sophomore Lauren Isaacson joined the double-digit kills parade with 12 of her own while hitting .182, and had 13.5 points on the night.

Sophomore Grace Amacher did a super job at libero with 27 serve receptions and only one error while collecting 17 digs and served four aces, including three in the Falcons' come-from-behind win in the fourth set.

Faribault won the first set 25-17 then had more hitting errors than kills in the second set in a 25-19 loss. They were able to flush that out of their system while winning the third set 25-17 and came from down 17-13 to win the fourth set 25-21.

The Falcons had an incredible .367 hitting percentage in the third set after a .270 attack in the first set and -0.067 in the second. They hit .128 in the fourth set. The total hitting percentage was .152.

Lakeville North was in scramble mode much of the night and had attack percentages of .100, .088, .138 and .048. The total attack percentage was .090.

Faribault never trailed in the first set and had just one lead in the second. They never trailed in the third set and were down twice in the fourth before overtaking the Panthers.

Lakeville North ended their season with a 9-20 mark and the No. 9 seed Falcons are 12-16 and play at top seed Lakeville South on Friday night in the quarterfinal round of the Section 1 Class AAA Tournament.

Our Faribault State Farm Insurance Agents players of the match courtesy of Tony Langerud and Jason Krohn were Akemann, Carlander, Wetzel, Isaacson and Amacher.  Junior Elana Palmer had a nice match also with 16 serve receptions and 10 digs to go along with the team's only solo block and five block assists.

Faribault had 11 blocks compared to Lakeville North's seven. The Panthers' 6-foot sophomore Kennedy Brady turned an ankle during the second set and was missed at the net. She did come back later but was clearly hobbling on the ankle.

Lakeville North sophomore libero Amanda Burger had some sensational digs among her 30 on the night. Senior setter Maddy Wolf collected 32 assists and the Panthers had no players with double-digit kills on the night.

In other Section 1 Class AAA volleyball Wednesday night, Winona swept Austin and goes to Northfield on Friday night. Owatonna downed John Marshall in four sets and will play at Farmington on Friday night and Rochester Century swept Albert Lea and plays at No. 2 seed Rochester Mayo on Friday. All Friday matches are scheduled for 7PM.