Cook County volleyball players traveled to St. Cloud last weekend to participate in the Star of the North Games. The 14-and-under team took 4th place out of 20 teams in the Gold Division. (L-R, front) Bryn Soland, Hanna Borson, Santina McMillan. (L-R, back) Abby Prom, Claire Sherburne, Jasmine Smith, Jamie Johnson, Raina Ryden.
Cook County volleyball players traveled to St. Cloud last weekend to participate in the Star of the North Games. There were four separate teams with over 20 girls playing on the various teams. The 14-and-under team coached by Kelly Roberts placed 4th out of 20 teams in the Gold Division.
The 14-and-under team consisted of girls going into 9th grade this fall at Cook County School. The team members included Raina Ryden, Claire Sherburne, Bryn Soland, Santina McMillan, Jasmine Smith, Jamie Johnson, Hanna Borson and Abby Prom.
The tournament started bright and early Saturday morning to determine pool play for Saturday afternoon games. The first game was played against the Lady Lakers from Baudette, Minnesota who Cook County defeated in two matches 25-23 and 25-13. Next they defeated a team from Fertile-Beltrami in two matches where Cook County won 25-11 and 25-7. The third game Cook County played against Park Rapids Orange and lost after two close matches 23-25 and 20-25.
After the morning session, teams were put into pools again based upon the morning games. Taking second in their pool the team from Cook County found themselves playing a team from Ada-Borup, Minnesota. The girls started off slow and lost their first match 17-25, won their second match 25-18 and then the third match 15-13.
Sunday morning pool play continued to determine seed positions for the Gold Division. They found themselves playing two teams from Osakis, Minnesota back-to-back. In their first game they were cold and lost 20-25. The girls stepped it up to win the next two games 25-18 and 15-11.
The next Osakis team proved more challenging and the girls lost their first match 16-25 and 24-26.
Seeded 6th in the Gold Bracket, the Cook County girls faced a team from St. Charles, Minnesota seeded 3rd. The first match was close but the girls lost 25-19, won a close second match 25-22 but fell 11-15 in the third match.
The Osakis team the Cook County players lost to in the morning ended up in the championship game. Osakis was defeated against a second team from Park Rapids, Minnesota. Knowing they held their own against the 2nd place team Cook County was very pleased with their tournament play.
The Cook County players did an outstanding job. The girls’ serving kept them very competitive, with Raina Ryden and Claire Sherburne making over 80 percent of their serves and Abby Prom with a 95 percent success rate. Many of the players served aces and had games with 100 percent of their serves in.
Santina McMillan and Claire Sherburne were especially strong in the front row hitting positions. They each had a number of ace hits with set assists from Raina Ryden and Abby Prom. Good passes from back row players Jamie Johnson, Bryn Soland and Libero Hanna Borson allowed Jasmine Smith to excel at the net too.
All of the girls showed major improvement in their skills and really came together as a team throughout the tournament. Be sure to congratulate all of the Cook County volleyball players for their great showing in the Minnesota Star of the North Games.
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