The Bulldog girls volleyball team had a light week this week coming off a six-game tournament last weekend at Sauk Rapids-Rice.

 

In the Sauk Rapids-Rice tournament Saturday, Becker went 2-3-1 and captured sixth place. They beat Cloquet (2-0) and Isle (2-0), tied St. Cloud Apollo (1-1) and lost to Jordan (0-2), Canby (0-2) and Deer River (1-2).

 

With so many games crammed into a one-day tournament, it was refreshing for Greg Lynch’s team to have five days off of games to wind down the season. Thursday, they donned their uniforms and hosted the 7-7 Milaca Wolves.

 

The Bulldogs began Thursday’s match against Milaca in fine form, jumping out to an early lead and sustaining it. The game was back-and-forth through the middle half and — after Milaca’s Abby Larsen was carried to the bench with what looked like a serious ankle injury —the Wolves pushed hard and defeated the home team in the first set.

 

After that first set loss, Lynch’s team buckled down and came back to win the next three sets and the match.  

 

Senior Leah Andersen had a particularly good night on defense, challenging every Milaca attack with controlled digs that allowed the Bulldog offense to hammer away at a tough Milaca defense until they found the cracks that won the match.  

 

With the win, Becker (4-3 GRC) moved ahead of Milaca in the Granite Ridge Conference for third place behind Albany (8-1) and St. Cloud Cathedral (10-1).

 

The Bulldogs (10-13) have one remaining game in their regular season where they travel to Zimmerman Tuesday for a match against the Thunder.

 

Seeding for the Section 8AAA tournament will occur Oct. 22 and a first round play-in game is scheduled for Wed., Oct. 25. The quarterfinals are Fri., Oct. 27, the semi-finals Tues., Oct. 31 and finals are Sat., Nov. 4.