Class AA Championship #2 Pequot Lakes vs. #4 Rush City

Recap

There would be no comeback needed this time. The #2-seed Pequot Lakes Patriots took care of business in sweeping #4-seed Rush City to claim the first volleyball state title in school history.

The Patriots had key runs in each set that lifted them to the Class AA championship. In set one, the first run came early. Down 3-1, Pequot Lakes scored 11 of the next 13 to open up a 12-6 lead. After Rush City closed the gap to two, another 6-0 run put the Patriots up 19-11, and they closed out the set 25-18.

The run is set two erased a five point deficit. Down 17-12, with Izzy Larson at the service line, the Patriots scored nine straight keyed by two aces and an ace block to go up 21-17, and won 25-22.

Rush City was determined to give the Patriots a dose of their own state tournament medicine after Pequot Lakes won their first two matches after being down 0-2. The Tigers started fast with six of the first seven. Already using both of their time outs, Pequot Lakes found themselves trading points, keeping Rush City up by 5-6 points. Then the run came again. Trailing 13-8, the Patriots scored ten of the next thirteen to go up 18-16. Rush City scored three in a row to regain the edge 19-18. But Pequot Lakes would not be denied. With the set tied at 22, Pequot Lakes scored the final three points, with the championship clincher being a kill from their leading attacker, Ella Kratochvil, and the celebration was on.

Pequot Lakes wins the Class AA title with a 30-5 record, and will graduate nine seniors from the program.

Congratulations, Patriots!!

Final game stats here.