Volleyball: Alexandria defeats Detroit Lakes in dominant fashion to get to Section 8-3A title game

ALEXANDRIA —

The Alexandria Cardinals and Detroit Lakes Lakers have played each other frequently in the Section 8-3A Volleyball tournament in recent years.

Coming into Tuesday’s Section 8-3A semifinal match, these two met in the last three postseasons. Alexandria beat Detroit Lakes 3-1 in the 2021 section semifinals, but Detroit Lakes won the next two, winning 3-2 in the 2022 Section 8-3A Tournament Championship and 3-1 in the 2023 section tournament semifinals.

Alexandria got a bit of revenge on Tuesday, as it swept Detroit Lakes 3-0 on Tuesday, Oct. 29, to advance to the 2024 Section 8-3A Tournament Championship match.

“I think getting this win tonight means a lot, especially after they’ve beaten us in our section tournament in the past two years,” Alexandria senior Hadley Thul said. “We came into this one with a chip on our shoulders.”

Alexandria dominated the match from the start, leading 8-0 in the first set and winning set one 25-17.

“They looked like they were on a mission,” Alexandria head coach Mary Byrne said. “They had great teamwork, had good chemistry on the floor, and attacked well the entire match.”

The Cardinals kept things rolling from there, winning set two 25-8.

Alexandria, the No. 1 seed in the section, controlled set three, winning it 25-17 and the match 3-0 over the No. 4 seed Detroit Lakes (14-15).

“We didn’t give them any runs on the court, and that was our intention,” Byrne said. “Two weeks ago, when we faced them, they came out strong, so in this one, we wanted to make sure we kept things going and really continued to keep the momentum on our side of the net with an up-tempo offense.”

In Tuesday’s win, Thul earned her 1,000th career kill. This feat comes just two after junior setter Meadow Zimpel earned her 1,000th career assist in a 3-0 win over Detroit Lakes on Oct. 15.

“I owe a big thanks to my teammates,” Thul said about reaching 1,000 career kills. “I couldn’t have done it without them, and this has been a goal of mine for a while. Being a junior setter, getting to 1,000 career assists is a huge accomplishment for Meadow.”

“I think it says a lot about them as athletes, but then also the great teammates that they have alongside them that deliver the ball to them,” Byrne said. “This is exciting. Our passers deliver the ball well to Meadow, and the girls get kills for her. Hadley has two great setters with her on the court.”

Full official stats for this match aren’t yet available. Unofficial statistics show Thul finishing with a team-high 18 kills, followed by senior Addie Rossum with 10.

Alexandria is set to face the ROCORI Spartans (18-12) in the Section 8-3A Championship at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Sartell-St. Stephen High School.

“We’re going to have to be ready for their serving,” Thul said. “They have a strong outside attack, and we’re going to need to have a good block and know where to place the ball on offense.”

Alexandria defeated ROCORI twice in the regular season, 3-2, in Cold Spring on Sept. 3 and 3-2 in Alexandria on Oct. 3.

ROCORI, the No. 2 seed in the section, defeated the No. 3 seed, St. Cloud Tech (17-9), 3-0 on Tuesday.

“We have to contain their outside hitter (South Dakota commit Kate Holthaus and keep focusing on our play,” Byrne said. “We’ve got a lot of offensive weapons, and we have to take care of the ball on first contact, whether that’s a serve with pace or passing.”

Detroit Lakes – 17 8 17 – 0

Alexandria – 25 25 25 – 3

Sam Stuve covers a variety of sports in the Douglas County area. He also is assigned to do some news stories as well.