Fillmore Central pulls off upset to move to state volleyball semifinals
ST PAUL, Minn. — Upsets have been a recent trend with the Fillmore Central volleyball team.
After advancing to the Section 1, Class 1A tournament championship last weekend, the Falcons took down Mabel-Canton in four sets for the section title.
They were riding high, returning to the state tournament for just the second time in program history and the first since Fillmore Central was Class 1A runner-up in 2013.
On Thursday night, the Falcons (18-15) narrowly avoided a reverse sweep in the Class 1A state quarterfinals against No. 3-seeded New Life Academy of Woodbury. Sixth-seeded Fillmore Central pulled off the upset and walked away with the victory in a 25-20, 25-18, 27-29, 20-25, 15-7 marathon.
"We love upsets," senior outside hitter Ella Dahly said. "I mean, we were the six seed coming out of (Section 1A), so, yeah, it's just kind of what we like to do. We love coming in here and being the underdogs."
The Falcons looked strong on both sides of the ball in the first two sets. When a New Life Academy player came out of the game with an injury in the middle of set three, the momentum swung in favor of the Eagles as they rallied for their teammate.
Set three was a battle to the end with the Eagles landing on top. They carried the high energy into set four going on multiple scoring runs to ultimately force set five.
The Falcons weren't panicking though.
Fillmore Central dominated in set five, going on scoring stretches to get up 6-3 and 12-5. The Falcons held on and pulled off yet another upset.
"We know what we're capable of," junior libero Kyla Hellickson said. "Sometimes other teams don't know. They kind of overlook us a little bit and that plays to our advantage."
The Falcons were led offensively by freshman middle hitter Madilyn Zwart with 13 kills. Dahly was a close second with 12 kills of her own. Set assists duty was split between freshman setter Hannah Vaalemoen and junior setter Aubrey Daniels with 24 and 18 respective assists. Defensively, the Falcons were led by Hellickson who recorded 16 digs.
The decision to switch up their lineup in the middle of the season without a doubt contributed to the Falcons making the state tournament and advancing to the semifinals.
"I think, going in, that's always our goal, to go to state, no matter how bad or good we're doing at the beginning (of the season) that's always been our goal," Daniels said. "I think that the change helped out and everyone being okay with it. ... At the end, (state) was our goal. So however we were going to get there, that's what we had to do."
The Falcons have a quick turnaround as they advance to the Class 1A state semifinals where they will take on No. 2 Minneota at 3 p.m. tomorrow at Xcel Energy Center.
Since Fillmore Central is back in the state competition for the first time since 2013, all the girls on the team are new to the state volleyball scene.
"It's just a lot of emotions," Hellickson said. "Making our community proud, making ourselves proud and realizing that we're a good team. We deserve to be here, and we're just really proud of everybody that supports us."
