The #6 seed Faribault Bethlehem Academy Cardinals had a happy bus ride home following a sweep of #3 seed Grand Meadow tonight.  Scores were 25-19, 25-18, 25-20.  Sophomore setter 5'8 Kaitlyn Kotek had 10 kills for the Cardinals, 8 of them were dumps.

A dump kill is when the setter look like she is going to set the ball to a teammate and in setting form flips the ball over the net.  Kotek has my new moniker "The dump master." Bethlehem Academy was up 10-5 in the first set before the SuperLarks went on a tear and took a 16-11 lead.

The Cardinals dug in to get the lead back by playing some very good defense.  Libero junior Brianna Radatz was right there to pick up a number of the kill attempts along with senior Haley Lang and freshman Kate Trump.

Bethlehem Academy had terrific balance on offense with my unofficial statistics courtesy of the new Star Sports and Apparel of Faribault showing Lang with 10 kills and junior 5'9 Kennedy Tutak with 10 kills and 3 blocks.

Grand Meadow had trouble scoring against the Cardinals with a total of 20 kills in the three sets.  Head Coach Chris Bothun was pleased with her team's play but said following the match, "We can't have as many errors Saturday as we did tonight and expect to win."

Bethlehem Academy had 10 service errors.  My notepad had 10 of Grand Meadow's points in the first set coming off Cardinals errors.  10 of the 18 second set points and 8 of the third set 20 points for the SuperLarks.

Grand Meadow senior outside hitter 5'9 Riley Queensland led her team with 9 kills.  No other SuperLark had more than 3 kills on the night.  They finished their season 22-12.

Bethlehem Academy is now 13-17 and advances to the West Subsection Class 1A Semifinals Saturday at the Rochester Mayo Civic Center Arena.  The Cardinals play defending Section Champion Medford at 3:00 p.m.  The fellow Gopher Conference Tigers breezed in their win over Southland 25-11, 25-12, 25-11.

Top seed Kenyon-Wanamingo swept Leroy-Ostrander in a 45 minute match in the Castle 25-9, 25-12, 25-8.  The Knights play Goodhue in the other West 1A Subsection match at 1:30 p.m.  Goodhue swept Hayfield 25-18, 25-22, 25-22.

Both semifinal matches will be broadcast on KAT KOUNTRY 105, 104.9 FM with Randy Sobrack on the call.

In the East Subsection of Section 1A tonight top seed Mabel-Canton swept Rushford-Peterson with no set scores reported.  #4 seed Fillmore Central swept Spring Grove 25-16, 25-14, 25-7.  On the other side of the bracket #2 seed Caledonia downed Chatfield in 4 sets winning the first and second 25-8, 25-10 before losing 25-23 the winning 25-14.

The Lady Warriors will play Wabasha-Kellogg who swept #3 seed Cotter 25-16, 25-14, 25-17.

The Mabel-Canton Cougars versus Fillmore Central Falcons match is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Saturday  followed by Wabasha-Kellogg and Caledonia at 11:30 a.m. at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester.

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