Bearcats Volleyball takes championship at Perham

By Coach Tina Turn
KCC at Perham Tourney
In the final tournament of the season, the Bearcats volleyball team loaded the bus at 4:30 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 5 and made the trek to Perham for the Perham Invitational Tournament. The tourney consisted of 16 teams; eight Class AA and eight Class A.
The opening match pitted Class AA Melrose Area against the Bearcats. It appeared that the early morning impacted the team as the girls were a little sluggish in the first two sets. They held on to win set one 25-20 but the second set was a comedy of errors for the Bearcats and they endured their toughest set loss of the season at 12-25. Fortunately, they regrouped and looked alive for set three, which they won with a 15-7 score. Kaydence White led the offense with 11 kills, and Grace Faken led the defense with 7 digs. Total serving for the set was a solid 94% with 7 aces.
This was a bracketed tournament, and Class A Underwood beat Class AA Park Rapids in their opening match, so it was the Bearcats and Rockets playing in the quarterfinal match. Unlike the first match, KCC was firing on all cylinders as Morgan Turn opened the set with a run of 9 serves that held the Rockets out of system and allowed our offense to show up big. The Bearcats won set one 25-12.
In set two, the Rockets found the floor on a few tips to get KCC out of their groove, but it wasn’t enough to upset the ship and the Bearcats headed to a 25-20 victory. Again, the team had 94% serving with 6 aces. There was a balanced offensive attack with White recording 8 kills followed by Turn and Berlyn Strege with 7 each. Defensively, Hanna Warnke passed for 8 digs while Turn added 6 to lead the dig stats. At the net, both White and Lauryn Whitlock had 2 blocks each, while Warnke chipped in 1 solo.
With two wins, the Bearcats headed into the semi-final and found themselves matched up against the Class AA Thief River Falls Prowlers, who had beat Sebeka. TRF is a strong blocking team, and so once the Bearcats put their cover in place, they were able to pick up some balls and find their way around the big Prowler block to earn a 25-16 win.
In set two, the Bearcats decided to serve extra tough as multiple players went on serving runs to help in a 25-9 victory. White had 7 kills while Turn recorded 6. It was White who put on a blocking show with 4 blocks. KCC served on goal at 92% with 8 aces.
After three wins, KCC earned the right to play for the championship. After beating Class AA Staples-Motley, Class AA Barnesville had also earned their shot at the title. The two teams battled closely, and in set one, the Bearcats had to come from a significant deficit to nab the come-from-behind win 25-23.
Set two was a back-and-forth battle for the first half dozen points until Strege stepped to the line and played a little cat-and-mouse with the Trojans. She served 8 times and successfully kept Barnesville out of system enough to help her team get a significant lead, which they held on to win 25-17. The team served magnificently at 98% with a single ace. White had 9 kills and a block in the match, while Lily Peterson led the defensive back court effort with 5 digs.
With a late-night homecoming dance the night before and an early morning bus ride, the girls had a couple of factors going against them as they stepped into the Perham gym. After a little bit of a slow start, the Bearcats re-energized their focus on their goals and played to win all day. It was great to play against quality competition, especially from Class AA, which helps give a little boost to the quality results formula (QRF). It was satisfying to take home the championship in the final tournament of the season as it gives the team a taste of what is possible.

To view the individual stats from the tournament, click this link:  Volleyball at Perham