Bearcats take 8th place in Class A volleyball showcase at Burnsville

By Coach Tina Turn
It’s an incredible opportunity for the KCC Bearcats to attend the Class A Showcase tournament held at the Midwest Volleyball Warehouse in Burnsville. This year’s tournament was held on Friday, Sept. 20 and Saturday, Sept. 21.
Sixteen of the top teams from around the state competed in some pretty amazing volleyball action. The tournament allows teams to see where they stack up among the best in Minnesota. Since it was KCC’s second year in a row attending the showcase, the players didn’t feel like “deer in the headlights” like they kind of did in 2023. Instead, the girls came out battling and truly hung with and beat some top-quality teams.
In match one, KCC was pitted against a top-ranked team from the perennial powerhouse section in the state: 1A. The Fillmore Central Falcons had a lot of firepower, but it turned out that we were well-matched with them. In set one, KCC came out super strong and won 25-13. Everything was flowing really well in set two until late in the set. KCC was up 18-16 when a Falcon server disrupted our passing. This caused the team to get a bit uptight, and we made some uncharacteristic errors. The battle went to extra points, but the Bearcats lost 24-26. In the deciding set, Morgan Turn had the only kill, so KCC was playing a lot of defense, which always proves to be a tough way to win a game, and they didn’t. KCC lost a tough one 11-15.
It’s difficult knowing how close the team was to getting a two-set win in their opening match of the tournament. But they also realized how anxious and tight they played when things got tough. The team talked things over before their second match, and good adjustments were made. The Bearcats served 88% and recorded 8 aces. Kaydence White had a match-high 8 kills, followed by Berlyn Strege with 6 and Turn with 4 kills.
Match two had the Bearcats pitted against the Wabasso Rabbits, a team that competes in a tough Section 3A. KCC decided to focus on playing relaxed and it worked. The Bearcats only recorded 8 total errors in the two sets it took to beat the Rabbits 25-21, 25-19. KCC served well at 96% and 7 aces, and their hitting efficiency came in above their goal as well. It was a really fun game to watch as the flow and energy was top-notch.
KCC had a tough draw for the third pool-play match in No. 1 ranked Mayer Lutheran, a contender at the state tournament every year. The match proved to be a battle and the Bearcats nudged the Crusaders to their limits, pushing the match to three sets, the first team to do so in our pool. KCC jumped to an early 4-2 lead, which prompted a Mayer Lutheran timeout. The Bearcats continued to play well and maintained a lead until mid-point when the momentum shifted to the Crusaders who hit some tough shots to the cross-court lines and won 25-16.
Set two started the same, with Mayer Lutheran needing to take an early timeout down 0-5. Fortunately, the Bearcats held tough and won in extra points 26-24. In the final set, the Crusaders dug into their arsenal of experience against good teams and stayed aggressive. The Bearcats tried to be aggressive but some off-target passes forced a weaker offensive effort. Turn had 2 kills in the set while White had 1 in the 7-15 loss. The Bearcats served on goal at 92% and even nabbed 3 aces against this top-seeded team. KCC’s hitting efficiency was a stellar .27, but it seemed like experience in competitive games came out on top and Mayer Lutheran held off the underdog.
With our 1-2 pool record, we statistically came out on top of both Fillmore Central and Wabasso, and landed in the silver pool with Minneota, Canby and MACCRAY, all teams from Section 3A. We played Minneota, another team that has won the State Class A title numerous times. It’s fun to be pitted against such high-quality teams, and the scores indicate just how closely matched the Bearcats and the Vikings are. The scores were 19-25, 25-19, 15-17. It was another heartbreakingly close loss for KCC.
In sets one and two, both teams traded points, fighting to stay on top. In set three, it looked like the Vikings would win 15-13, but the ref called a replay after he believed he made a bad judgment call, which put the game tied at 14. With a second chance, the Bearcats fought but came up just short. A couple of swings that weren’t as aggressive late in the game gave the Vikings a chance to prove their offense would keep swinging hard, and they did.
Once again, confidence and aggressiveness, most likely gained from the experience of playing in a lot of close matches, proved to be to the advantage of Minneota. White had 12 kills in the match, followed by Strege and Turn, each with 6. KCC needed to serve better to win as they only served 85%.
The Bearcats watched Section 3A foes, MACCRAY and Canby battle it out in three sets to see who we would play. Canby, although seeded ahead of MACCRAY in Section 3A, lost a close one in three sets, so it was the Canby Lancers we faced off with in the final match of the day. Our record stayed true as we lost the first set, won the second set, and lost the third set with scores 22-25. 25-16, 12-15. Once again, it was obvious how well-matched we are with good quality teams.
Canby had the best serve receive we played against; we served 93%, above our goal, and recorded only 2 aces. We passed well against a tough-serving Canby team, averaging our highest pass rate of the tournament. KCC also blocked like champs in the match, recording a tournament high 7 blocks, with four players contributing to that stat. Offensively, White led the way with 15 kills as she proved hard for the Lancers to defend. But it was our scrappy back row play that kept this team alive to fight to an almost-win.
The Bearcats finished the tournament eighth out of 16 teams, and White was named to the All-Tournament team. Our season record moves to 12 wins and 5 losses.
Sure, we could have played in a tournament against teams that may have been easier for us to beat, thus maintaining a higher number in the win column, but to beat the best, you have to play with the best and risk some potential losses. KCC is grateful for the opportunity to do just that by competing in the Class A Showcase. We are excited to know how closely we are matched with high-caliber teams. We will work on the things that the team learned about themselves this weekend and build on the strengths that we recognized are truly our strengths, all the while, hoping that down the road, we may get the chance to compete with some of the best Minnesota teams again.