Austin Packers volleyball falls to Kasson/Mantorville 3-0 in Section 1AAA quarterfinals

The Austin Packers volleyball team, the No. 8 seed in the Section 1AAA tournament traveled to Kasson Wednesday evening to take on the top-seeded and No. 3 ranked Komets of Kasson/Mantorville in the section quarterfinals, and it was the Komets advancing via a 3-0 victory 25-22, 25-17 and 25-8.

Head Coach Jeremy Struck stated that the Packers played their best match of the season against a very tough Komet squad as Austin led for most of the first set before falling 25-22, but he added that the performance in the first set set the tone for the rest of the evening.  Ava Denzer led Austin in kills Wednesday evening with four, plus she added four digs, Isabella Bolster led the Packers in ace blocks with four, plus she chipped in two kills and a dig, Alia Retterath put up the most set assists for Austin with seven, plus she had six digs defensively and two ace serves, which was also tops for the squad in the match, Kristen Nielsen tallied 15 digs, which led the Packers Wednesday night, plus she added one set assist, Peyton Manahan contributed one kill, one ace serve and 11 digs, Nora Tweeten tallied three kills and three digs, Emily Hjelmen tallied two kills and a block for the Packers Wednesday evening, Teagan Sutter had one kill and one dig, Avery Wempner tallied one dig and one ace block, Chloe Jenkins put up five set assists and added four digs, and Katheryn Crouch chipped in three digs in the match for Austin.

The Packers conclude the 2022 season with a record of 4-19, while Kasson/Mantorville moves into the section semi-finals against No. 4 seeded Faribault, who swept No. 5 seed Red Wing Wednesday night 3-0.  Section 1AAA is arguably the toughest section in the state in Class AAA with two other top ten-ranked teams besides Kasson/Mantorville advancing Wednesday evening, as the No. 2 seeded Stewartville Tigers, the No. 6 ranked team in the state downed seventh-seeded Winona 3-1 to advance to play No. 3 seed and ninth-ranked Byron, who swept No. 6 seed Albert Lea 3-0.

Kasson/Mantorville will host Faribault Tuesday, November 1st at 7:00 p.m., while Stewartville entertains Byron also next Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m., with the winners meeting in the Section 1AAA final Saturday, November 5th.