We just have to work on that team chemistry and that team consistency and next year we’ll come back with a win.”

Park junior hitter Sonja Lind of the Raptors

East Ridge’s top-seeded and third-ranked Raptors flexed their considerable volleyball muscles to end Park’s 2023 season Thursday night at Woodbury. The Raptors won in three games, 25-14, 25-21 and 25-17 to advance to the Section 3AAAA volleyball championship.

Fourth-seeded Park ended with an 18-10 record, the Wolfpack’s best season since at least before the 2011 season.  Park has never qualified for the state tournament in volleyball.

With no seniors on the team and every player eligible to return, the future is clearly bright for the Wolfpack.

With the win, East Ridge (24-5) advanced and will host second-seeded Eagan (21-8) Thursday, Nov. 2, in the section finals and the right to advance to the Class AAA state tournament. Seventh-ranked Eagan made the section finals with a 25-18, 25-21, 17-25, 25-16 win over third-seeded and ninth-ranked Rosemount.

The Raptors broke out of the gate quickly Thursday, taking leads of 9-4 and then 17-6 in the first game before winning by 11 points. Park responded in the second game, taking an early 8-4 lead and still led 20-16 before East Ridge caught and passed the Wolfpack by scoring nine of the final 10 points. The Wolfpack had trouble with serve receive in the game and it cost them.

“They’re just such a consistent team, and we’re a little bit less consistent than them,” said Park junior hitter Sonja Lind of the Raptors. “We have our ups; we have our downs, but they stay level the whole time. They’re always up and that’s something that our team needs to work on. But I think that’s really all they have against us. They just are always consistent.”

“I think everything we could have done better,” Lind added. “I think we weren’t really playing very well as a team. We were kind of playing as individuals. We weren’t flowing like our normal Park self.”

Park hung tough in the third game and trailed just 20-15 late before the Raptors again closed strong, winning five of the final seven points to close it out.

“I think we just kind of have to want it more,” said Park junior defensive specialist Jenna Katlack. “I feel like we went into it thinking – we didn’t really think about it like we were going to win. I feel we could have put in more effort. But if we just want it more we have it. I feel we can get that easily, too. If we just put it all together, we’ll be fine.”

East Ridge is ranked third in the state for a reason. The Raptors are very good, again. East Ridge came into the section semifinals on a 14-game winning streak. Four of the team’s five losses this season were to teams in the Class 4A top seven.

“I think for the most part they (the Raptors) executed well,” said varsity assistant coach Robert Lozinski-McLean who was filling in for Park head coach Amy Johnson who missed the game because of a family emergency. “On serve receive we put pressure on them. I thought they executed well there. And then they have some hitters that do very, very well. Even with the solid block that we put up; they performed well.”

The future, however, is bright for the Wolfpack, the Park players and coach agreed.

““Next year we’re going to have pretty much the same team,” said Lind. “We just have to work on that team chemistry and that team consistency and next year we’ll come back with a win.”

“I think for us the next step is cleaning up some of our fixables, the things on our side of the net that we can change. It starts with serve receive, it starts with coverage, it starts with just talking in general,” said Lozinski-McLean. “All of that are controllables on our side of the net. It’s teachable, it’s coachable, we just have to execute next season on it.”

On Tuesday, Oct. 24, Park (18-9) defeated visiting and fifth-seeded Eastview (13-16) in four sets in a Section 3AAAA quarterfinal matchup, winning 25-17, 9-25, 25-22 and 25-19.

“We had a little hiccup during the second set where we couldn’t seem to serve receive a ball but other than that we were just rolling along and cooking,” said head coach Johnson. “Our hitters were doing smart things out there once our serve receivers calmed down. That helped our offense. Our blockers started pressing over the net more so that was what we needed.”

In the other section quarterfinals Tuesday, top-seeded East Ridge (23-5) swept eighth seeded Hastings (5-19) in three, winning 25-11, 25-19 and 25-6, third-seeded Rosemount (21-7) also won in three over visiting Two Rivers (10-10-1) by scored of 25-7, 25-14 and 25-15. Finally, second-seeded Eagan (20-8) dispatched Woodbury (5-23) with scores of 25-10, 25-8 and 25-16.

“I think we did good with our energy, like keeping it consistent the whole game, just staying up,” said junior setter Hannah Maxwell. “I think our serve receive was a little rough at times but toward the end we picked it up.”

“We’ve reached four out of five goals,” said Lind. “We’re all so proud of ourselves. Like every time we get one of the goals we just get so excited and I think this is one of the best years in that we’ve reached almost all of our goals.”