Warmup at Prinsburg for tough weekend

You could call it a "warm-up of sorts," or a "pre-tournament tune-up", or even a "post-Labor Day" resumption of play.

Whatever, Minneota's very easy 25-5; 25-9 and 25-7 romp over a highly over-manned Central Minnesota Christian squad vaults the 3-0 Vikings into the tough Marshall tournament this weekend.

"We have a big weekend coming up and we start with Elk River," said Coach Hayley Fruin.

The match against the Bluejays was more of a time to, "Work on some things we haven't been able to work on," said Coach Fruin.

While they tried to "tune" themselves for the weekend, they didn't get much opposition from a Bluejay squad that's trying to rebuild after some glorious years.

Setter Morgan Kockelman served 10 straight points, from 15-5 to 25-5 to set the stage for a one-sided conflict.

At the net, Lydia Sussner knocked down eight kills with a pair of blocks — but there wasn't much action at the net as the Bluejays failed to return most of Minneota's serves and hits.

Lizzy Gillingham also patroled her corner of the net with seven kills and a block and Jennifer Krog and Natalie Rolbiecki also did some damage at the net.

But mostly it was setter Morgan Kockelman who fed the hitters, knocked down a few kills herself and kept Minneota in pace despite the Bluejays lack of production.

On Friday the Vikings open at Marshall at 6:15 p.m. against Elk River, a team the coach has scouted.

"They will be taller than us. But we think we found some holes in their back court."

If they win, they could face Waconia, a foe they've met many times at the Marshall Tournament.

"We just want to be smart in the front row and back them up in the back row," the coach said.The tournament continues Saturday in Marshall.