Jackson County Central advanced to the state volleyball tournament for the third time in school history as the Huskies rallied to beat Paynesville 3-2 in the championship match of the Section 3AA tournament Saturday at the R/A Facility at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall.
Set scores were 25-27, 25-17, 10-25, 26-24, 15-10.
It was the first five-set match of the season for the Huskies.
JCC did have five best-of-three matches go the distance and were 3-2 in those matches with wins over Worthington, Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda and Caledonia and losses to Southwest Christian and Sioux Falls Roosevelt.
The Huskies were seeded fourth for the state tournament and will play fifth-seeded Annandale at 9 a.m. Thursday at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
Jackson County Central also went to the state tournament in 1999 and 2003, winning the state title each time.
JCC-PAYNESVILLE STATS
SERVING: Maci Farmer 17-17 (2 aces), Taylor Post 5-5 (1 ace), Elese Paplow 2-2, Sadie Voss 11-12, Georgianna Wenzel 19-21 (2 aces), Alexis O’Reilly 11-13, Emma Haren 17-21 (5 aces), Andria Benson 6-9 (1 ace).
BLOCKS: Peyton Hanson 3, Taylor Post 1, Georgianna Wenzel 1.
DIGS: Sadie Voss 18, Georgianna Wenzel 14, Maci Farmer 8, Sydney Osterberg 7, Emma Haren 6, Taylor Post 2, Andria Benson 2, Peyton Hanson 1.
SET ASSISTS: Maci Farmer 45, Alexis O’Reilly 3, Sadie Voss 1.
KILLS: Sadie Voss 19, Emma Haren 17, Georgianna Wenzel 8, Maci Farmer 5, Peyton Hanson 4, Andria Benson 1.
STATE CLASS 2A PAIRINGS
Thursday
At Xcel Energy Center
9 a.m.
No. 1 Southwest Christian (29-3) vs. Mounds Park Academy (26-4)
No. 4 Jackson County Central (27-6) vs. No. 5 Annandale (25-4)
11 a.m.
No. 2 Cannon Falls (27-5) vs. Hawley (27-5)
No. 3 Sauk Centre (30-1) vs. Greenway (22-6)