Stewartville and Belle Plaine Volleyball Advance

The defending state champion Stewartville Tigers will play the top-ranked Belle Plaine Tigers on Friday in Class AA state volleyball at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Belle Plaine ended Kenyon-Wanamingo's season Saturday in Mankato and the Knights were co-champions of the Hiawatha Valley League Conference with Stewartville this year.

Kenyon-Wanamingo defeated the Tigers in Stewartville in a five-set thriller.

It took just 61 minutes for Belle Plaine to get by Perham  25-20, 25-17, 25-18 and improve their record to 30-3.

Six-foot junior Mariena Hayden had 20 kills and served three aces while collecting a hitting percentage of .400 for Belle Plaine, and 5-foot-10 senior Kaylee Hentges had a hitting percentage of .667 with 13 kills.

The Perham Yellowjackets did have nine blocks in the match.

Stewartville had their usual defensive match with four players with double-digit digs led by senior libero Emily Branstad with 19 digs in a four-set match with Hill-Murray.

Stewartville won the first two sets 25-14, 25-11 before losing the third 25-22 and then finishing off the Pioneers 25-18.

No. 3-rated and No. 4-seeded Stewartville is now 24-8 and plays at 5PM in the semifinal against No. 1-ranked and No. 1 seed Belle Plaine.

The other semifinal has No. 2 seed Concordia Academy of Roseville, victors during the seson over Hill-Murray, Belle Plaine and Stewartville, going up against No. 3 seed Rocori of Cold Spring at 7PM.

In Class AAA, No. 1 seed and No. 1-ranked Prior Lake swept Hopkins 25-14, 25-17, 25-11 and plays No. 4 seed Roseville Area.

The Raiders beat the Moorhead Spuds. Roseville Area lost the first set 25-16 before winning the next three 25-19, 25-19 and 25-23.

On the other side of the Class AAA bracket, Eagan won in four sets over Rochester Mayo 25-12, 24-26, 25-17, 25-17.

No. 3 seed Champlin Park got their 28th win in a sweep of North Branch 25-19, 25-9, 25-15.

The Class AAA semifinal matches are 9AM and 11AM Friday.