State volleyball: Apple Valley upsets East Ridge in 4A quarters

Apple Valley rolled into the postseason with the opposite of momentum The Eagles lost seven of their final regular-season matches That can definitely set selected teams back noted Apple Valley junior outside hitter Sophia Cowan but we know who we are The Eagles still made the state tournament despite their sputtering finish and were seeded seventh heading into the Class A state tournament No matter Coaches agreed Seeds No - can all beat one another in this year s Class A tournament That came to fruition Wednesday as the Eagles upset second-seeded East Ridge in a five-set quarterfinal thriller in St Paul The Eagles - will next face third-seeded Prior Lake in the semis at a m Thursday Apple Valley was swept by Prior Lake on Oct part of that tough season-closing stretch Apple Valley claimed the first set Wednesday to announce its presence But East Ridge responded by winning the second set and then the third with the latter coming in comeback fashion Apple Valley led the third set - but the Raptors closed strong to take it - At that point East Ridge appeared to have seized control That s usually enough to stunt any upset bid But Apple Valley reached state a year prior And coach Hannah Specktor preached consistency ahead of Wednesday s match When we re a little bit more calm and steady we re controlled and make good decisions she disclosed of her pregame message Just making sure everybody is taking a breath calming down and staying the same way mentality-wise whether we re up or down And when they got down they rallied back The Eagles dominated the fourth set - and controlled the fifth from start to finish to complete the upset Cowan led the Eagles with a whopping kills including the match clincher while Ginny Gores added of her own Apple Valley went to Cowan again and again throughout the match and the star hitter never seemed to tire You don t really think about it You don t think about yourself and how you re hurting Cowan announced You re focused on your company and what can I do for my association Just giving everything Of program preparation helps in those instances She s literally in the weight room days a year Specktor declared Apple Valley beat East Ridge - in the Eagle Invitational in mid-September Players noted that added confidence ahead of Wednesday s match But it s also solely a gang that loves and believes in one another Gores revealed the Eagles were never doubting ourselves It was a classic duel between the two teams one in which East Ridge entirely discovered itself on the wrong side of Lauren Bunge had kills for the Raptors - while Peyton Dornfeld added East Ridge rallied from down two sets to one to edge Eagan in its section final to reach this point The Raptors were on the other side of the coin Wednesday I just felt that they executed better Raptors coach Steve Anderson mentioned of Apple Valley They were the more confident unit the more aggressive company and we got rattled and couldn t get out of it Related Articles State volleyball Lakeville South begins A title defense with win over Sartell State volleyball Roseville rolls with quarterfinal sweep of Rogers Girls state cross country Wayzata s Gullickson wins A title Forest Lake s VanAcker second Class A cross country Como Park sweeps individual unit boys titles A boys cross country Minnetonka s Fries sets new record