Sacred Heart Wins 3-0, Four Eagles Post 5 Or More Kills

First-seeded East Grand Forks Sacred Heart dispatched eighth-seeded Red Lake County Central 3-0 on Friday evening in the Minnesota Section 8A quarterfinals. The Eagles won by scores of 25-12, 25-14, and 25-13 to improve to 27-3 on the season. Red Lake County Central dropped to 14-13.

Sacred Heart's offense spread its production across the roster. Four players recorded five or more kills. Lexi Lawrence led the attack with 12 kills from the left side. Sophomore Bryn Stevens added 10 kills and three blocks, while senior Lydia Riskey contributed eight.

Finley Horken ran the offense from the setting position and finished with a team-high 29 assists along with five kills. Horken said the team stayed focused on fundamentals. "I feel like we just focused on the little things, and doing what we can to get to the next step. We're taking it one game at a time, so I think we did good at that," Horken said.

The first set saw Sacred Heart pause play with a 12-9 lead after a player suffered a bloody nose. The Eagles outscored the Mustangs 13-3 from that point to close the set. Sacred Heart then pulled away in each of the following two sets as the Mustangs could not contain the number of available hitters. "To be able to be diverse in our offense is amazing," head coach Emily Vonasek said. "We have lots of weapons, which we try to utilize a lot."

Lawrence said the team adjusted its serve-receive strategy between the first and second sets. "Once we get a good pass, we usually get a pretty good kill, so just focusing on passing," Lawrence said. Riskey pointed to the trust among teammates as a factor on the court. "We can really rely on each other," Riskey said.

Sacred Heart enters the postseason having come up short of the state tournament last year. The Eagles lost 3-1 to Ada-Borup-West in the Section 8A championship game. Lawrence, a senior, addressed the group's focus with her teammates. "And I'm like, 'Guys, just be in the moment.' Being seniors, we're really talking about being where our feet are."

The Eagles are scheduled to face fourth-seeded Lake of the Woods in the Section 8A semifinals on Monday at 6 p.m. The match will be held at Minnesota Crookston.