Congratulations to Coach Brittany Jackson and the Adrian Dragons on winning the 2019 Red Rock Conference volleyball championship outright — after tying for the title last fall with Red Rock Central.
This year, the Dragons defeated the Falcons in the first conference match of the season and then “ran the table” in the Red Rock, going through the always highly-competitive league undefeated (9-0) in conference action, while compiling an impressive overall mark (so far) of 23-2.
The defending South Sub-Section champions have been seeded Number One for the upcoming Section 3A South Tournament and will host an October 21 first-round winner at Adrian on Friday evening, October 25. The semifinals are scheduled for Tuesday, October 29 with the sub-section championship match to be played on Thursday, October 31 (Halloween Night).
The Section 3A title clash — between the winners of the South and North — will be played at Southwest Minnesota State University (SMSU) in Marshall on Saturday evening, November 2.
RRC and Heron Lake-Okabena / Fulda, in its first season as a paired program, tied for second in the conference with identical 7-2 league records. Both the Falcons and Coyotes lost competitive matches to Adrian. HL-O lost a five-set match to RRC at Lamberton on October 3 and RRC was defeated by Southwest Minnesota Christian in a four-set thriller at Edgerton on October 7.
Perennial powerhouse Tracy-Milroy-Balaton of the Camden Conference is the South Sub-Section’s second seed, while RRC (three), HL-O (four) and Westbrook-Walnut Grove (five) are the next three seeds.
T-M-B, coached by Heron Lake native Rick Haberman who previously coached volleyball at both Fulda and HL-O (known in those days as Southwest Star Concept or SSC), has an overall record of 15-8 this fall, which includes three recent losses to exceptional teams from Minneota, Lakeview and Marshall. The Panthers will be ready when tournament play begins.
Despite losing to Murray County Central (21-6 at Adrian) in the second football game of the season on September 6, the 4-3 Adrian Dragons are ranked ahead of the 5-2 MCC Rebels in the latest QRF rankings. Adrian is rated 29th in Minnesota Class A (among 61 teams) and third — out of seven teams — in Section 3A. The Rebels are currently ranked fourth in the section and 30th in the state.
The QRF is a complicated formula which figures in records of opponents and gives extra points for playing against teams from a higher class. I am not sure how head-to-head results don’t carry more punch?
Springfield (7-0) is the top-ranked team in Section 3A and is Number Three in the QRF state rating. Martin County West (5-2) is ranked second in the section and 11th in state. The Mavericks and the Rebels are both 5-2, but MCW is ranked 19 places ahead of MCC?
Murray County Central / Fulda is ranked third in girls’ cross country in all of Class A by the State Cross Country Coaches Association. The Warriors have moved up from ninth to fourth to third as the season progressed.
Individually, Morgan Gehl continues to hold down Class A’s second-place ranking, behind Natasha Sortland, a freshman from the combination of Zumbrota-Mazeppa and Kenyon-Wannimingo. Luverne sophomore Tenley Nelson (third), Fairmont freshman Laura Thompson (eighth) and Canby / Minnesota sophomore Grace Drietz (10th) are among other area runners ranked high.
Luverne (fourth) and Canby / Minneota (12th) are a pair of Section 3A girls’ teams that are ranked. Perham and Staples-Motley are the two teams ranked ahead of the Warriors in the latest poll.
Defending Section 3A champion Lac qui Parle Valley / Dawson-Boyd is ranked fourth among Class A boys’ teams, one spot behind Section 2A power St. James Area, which trails Number One Perham and Number Two West Central Area in the latest state ratings.
The Minnesota Gophers are 6-0, following their impressive 34-7 victory over Nebraska and the Minnesota Vikings have seemingly redeemed themselves and are 4-2 after a big 38-20 home-field victory over the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday. Kirk Cousins tossed some very good throws, including four touchdown passes. He may be getting better?
How about the Washington Nationals? They won the NLDS, three games to two, over the heavily-favored Los Angeles Dodgers and — with impressive pitching — took a 2-0 lead in the NLCS over the St. Louis Cardinals. They may be the surprise team of the MLB playoffs?
