The Northfield Raiders completed their second straight unbeaten Big Nine Conference season with a sweep of the Faribault Falcons Tuesday night in Northfield.  It was senior night with the seven Raiders seniors receiving a yellow rose from Head Coach Tim Torstenson.  Just a few minutes into the match Torstenson took a time out to present a volleyball to his sophomore daughter Emma Torstenson for picking up the 1,000th dig of her career.

The first set started very well for the Faribault Falcons.  They jumped out to a 5-0 lead thanks in large part to hitting errors by Northfield.  Coach Torstenson told us following the match his team wasn't focused but he knew they would get it together.  They did and never looked back picking up 25-13, 25-16, 25-11 wins.

The Falcons had no answer for the rapid fire Raiders offense.  Northfield is able to quick set anywhere along the net and they varied the attack so Faribault couldn't cheat toward any area with their block.  Coach Torstenson believes a number of their opponents have had trouble with the speed of their offense and says the athletes ability to transition quickly from defense to offense has been a key to their success.

The Raiders block was also effective with 6'3 senior Linnea Larson, 6'0 senior Emma Roethler and 6'1 senior Rachel Kelly leading the way.  My unofficial statistics had those three ladies combining for 25 kills while the entire Faribault team had 18 kills.

Our Faribault State Farm Insurance agents Faribault players of the match were sophomore libero Hannah Cunniff, sophomore setter Payton Evenstad and senior Ellie Knutson.

My Perch in Northfield Gym. Photo by Gordy Kosfeld
My Perch in Northfield Gym. Photo by Gordy Kosfeld
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