Volleyball Season Tournament Play
By: Chloe Arfsten
As the volleyball season comes to an end, the girls will soon begin tournament play. After a seemingly short season, the girls have an opportunity to play past the regular season and compete in the state tournament. To get to state, each team is seeded into a bracket to compete for the section championship title. Once a team wins the section championship match, they will go on to play in the state tournament. Like last year, the Lady Falcons are hopeful for another chance to compete well into the final stages of the tournament and go one step further by winning the Section 3A South title.
The Falcons volleyball coach, Sara Arfsten, explained how the teams were ranked, and it was revealed that they are actually determined by the coaches. Towards the end of each season, every coach receives a sheet of paper in which they are supposed to rank the teams in order, excluding themselves. The coach determines the rankings based on each team’s record, how tough their schedule is, and whom they believe are the strongest teams. After the coaches submit their rankings to Jim Lasely, the section executive secretary, each team’s points get added up individually. However, he does subtract the highest and lowest score from each team to help make sure the coaches are fair when they rank them. After adding up the points, the teams are put into order, with the lowest amount of points being the best team. The top four teams are given a bye to round two in the tournament, while the other top teams play in round one against the other lower ranked teams.
These are how the teams were seeded in Section 3A, from the number one seed to the lowest seed: Southwest Minnesota Christian, Westbrook-Walnut Grove, Southwest United, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton, Russell-Tyler-Ruthton, Murray County Central, Red Rock Central, Adrian, Hills-Beaver Creek, Ellsworth, Fulda, and Edgerton. On Monday, October 22, at 7:00 p.m., the Falcons will be hosting Ellsworth in Jeffers for the first round of tournament play. The winner of that match will play on Friday, October 26, at 6:00 p.m. in Luverne. Remember that season passes are invalid for tournament games, so bring cash to the games. Admission is $6 for adults and $4 for students. Go on out and support the Lady Falcons as they try to soar to the top of Section 3A!