Medford Brings Home Hardware Again

The Medford Tigers volleyball team knows how to bring home some hardware.  For the second consecutive year the Tigers did well at the State Tournament and have the trophy to prove it.  Medford swept the Fosston Greyhounds today in the Third Place match 25-16, 25-16, 25-17 to finish their season 26-9.

The Tigers were runner-up last season losing to the Minneota Vikings 25-20, 25-14, 25-11. The two years combined Medford had a record of 55-15.  After opening with a sweep of Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa the Tigers lost to fellow Gopher Conference member Waterville-Elysian-Morristown in the semifinals, 25-21, 25-20, 25-20.

In addition to the team trophy the third place finishers receive individual medals while teams that place 4th do not get the individual medals to pass down to future generations.

The Tigers were laser-focused in their win over the Greyhounds hitting .360 for the match while Fosston hit .183.  Medford had 19 kills in the first set while hitting .306.  They had 19 kills in the second set and clubbed at a .516 percentage and 15 kills while hitting .290 in the third set.

Fosston collected 9 kills in each of the sets while hitting .135, .346 and .100.

Senior Emma Kniefel had a .462 hitting percentage with 15 kills, 9 digs, 2 ace serves.  Junior Kinsey Cronin clubbed .652 with 17 kills.  Sophomore Clara Kniefel tallied 6 kills while hitting .267, senior Alyvian Johnson had 8 kills with a attack percentage of .143.  Senior setter Morgan Langeslag hit .357 with 6 kills, had 45 assists, 9 digs.  Senior libero Kiley Nihart had 11 digs to lead the team and had a ace serve.

It took Medford just 65 minutes to sweep Fosston.  The Tigers finished with 53 digs, Greyhounds had 38.

Fosston ended their season 29-8.

After two five set thrillers in Section One to advance to state Medford went 6-3 in sets against the three opponents they faced at the Class A State Tournament.

All 12 players got to play on the Xcel Energy Center Sport Court for Medford in their final match of the season on the final day for high school volleyball in Minnesota.

Five seniors have left quite a legacy to future teams.  Kiley Nihart, Morgan Langeslag, Emma Kniefel, Alyvia Johnson, Izzy Reuvers.