Spirit Lake knew it had a major challenge ahead of itself Monday night when it boarded the bus to Algona to battle the seventh-ranked Bulldogs on the road in the opening round of the Class 3A girls volleyball tournament. Despite a gritty performance, the Indians fell in three-straight games, 25-15, 25-10, 25-15. Cara Vale led the Spirit Lake attack with seven kills, while Kendra Stokke had five. Whitney Berkland notched 15 assists and two aces, and Paige Krause added seven digs and a block. The loss ends the Indians’ season at 13-14 overall. Algona, which received 14 kills in the match from Brittany Vaske and 19 assists by Connor Barber, will move to the regional semifinals to take on MOC-Floyd Valley. The Dutch upended Spencer in a three-game sweep, 25-17, 25-18, 25-16. The other semifinal will consist of LeMars, who won at Storm Lake in three, 25-14, 26-24, 25-23, and fourth-ranked Bishop Heelan, which defeated Sergeant Bluff-Luton with a sweep, 25-14, 25-19, 25-20.
North of the border, Round Lake-Brewster opened their postseason with a three-set loss to Red Rock Central, 25-9, 25-16, 25-21, in the Minnesota Class A tournament.
