Knights advance to semifinals with sweep

Sam Peterson
Grant County Herald

After taking down Wheaton/Herman-Norcross in the first round, the two seeded Knights took on the third seed Parkers Prairie in Barrett Oct. 27. The Knights had taken on Parkers Prairie twice this season in a tournament and came away with two victories. WCA improved to 3-0 against Parkers Prairie with a 3-0 sweep to advance to the Section 6A semifinals.

The Knights did record a sweep, but most of the three sets were competitive between the two teams. WCA fell behind 12-5, but the Knights started to turn things around and get back in the set. The final few points went back and forth and both teams had to use timeouts. Macy Grosz went on a four-point service run to give the Knights a 25-22 win in the all-important first set.

The Knights really found their groove in the second set. WCA jumped out to an early lead and rode that all the way to the end of the set, coming up with a 25-18 win to take a commanding 2-0 advantage.

Like the first set, the Knights fell behind in the third set 12-7. Grosz went on another service run, scoring five straight points to take a 13-12 lead. Both teams traded points until the Knights took a 20-17 lead and forced Parkers Prairie to call a timeout. The timeout did nothing to stop the Knight momentum and they were able to cruise their way to a 25-21 win to seal the sweep. “It is always hard to beat a team three times knowing they didn’t play to their potential in the first two games. We came out with a strong performance and the victory,” head coach Melissa Foslien said.

Mya Foslien was borderline unstoppable in three sets. She finished the match with a team high 20 kills. Next on the team was Madi Fagre who added nine kills, Izzy Puchalski added eight and Jaclynn Nelson chipped in with six. Grosz set up most of those kills, leading the team with 38 set assists.

The Knights only finished the match with two ace serves, one from Grosz and one from Whitney Westrom.

On defense, WCA finished the match with three players in double figure digs. Mya Foslien led the team with 16 digs, Madelyn Westrom chipped in with 14 and Grosz dug out 13. At the net, WCA blocked five kill attempts with one apiece from Grosz, Mya Foslien, Fagre, Puchalski and Whitney Westrom. 

The Knights move on to the Section 6A semifinals where they will play the No. 1 seed Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa in Fergus Falls on Thursday, November 2.