The volleyball season is over for the Sabers.
Eden Prairie rallied from two sets down to beat the Sabers in five sets in the Class 3A, Section 2 semifinals at Eden Prairie High School on Tuesday night.
Shakopee won the first two sets but couldn’t keep that momentum going as Eden Prairie rallied to win the final three sets to stun the Sabers 25-20, 25-16, 21-25, 20-25, 9-15.
The Sabers started the match on fire as they jumped out to a 9-4 and 17-12 lead in the first set.
Eden Prairie cut the lead to 22-19 before the Sabers closed out the set 25-20 to go up 1-0.
The second set was all Sabers as they built an 18-11 lead on their way to a 25-16 second set victory and a 2-0 set lead.
Shakopee didn’t trail in either of the first two sets but things changed in the third set as Eden Prairie picked up its game.
The Eagles forced an early Sabers timeout in the third set as they grabbed a 6-3 lead.
Shakopee responded and grabbed a 17-16 lead, only to see Eden Prairie win three straight points for a 19-17 lead. They carried that momentum to a 25-21 third set victory.
The fourth set was much like the fourth as Eden Prairie scored six of the first eight points for a 6-2 lead.
Shakopee cut the lead to 18-17 but the Eagles finished the set by winning seven of the last 10 points to win 25-20 and force a fifth and deciding set.
In that fifth set, Eden Prairie grabbed an 8-6 lead in the fifth set to force a Sabers timeout.
The Eagles won the first two points out of that timeout for a 10-6 lead, forcing another Sabers timeout.
Eden Prairie would finish the comeback by winning the fifth set 15-9.
Quarterfinals
The section playoffs started out well for the Sabers as they defeated New Prague in the quarterfinals.
The No. 3 seeded Shakopee Sabers defeated the No. 6 Trojans 23-25, 25-18, 25-20, 25-15 at Shakopee High School last Friday night.
The third set was the big turning point in the game.
With the match tied at 1-1, New Prague jumped out to an 8-1 lead to start the third set, forcing head coach Matt Busch to take a timeout.
That timeout worked as the Sabers responded and outscored New Prauge 24-12 to win the set 25-20.
“The general message was that it needs to turn around now,” Busch said.
That momentum carried into the fourth set as the Sabers won the set 25-15 to close out the match in four sets.
“In the first half of the game we were out of sync,” Busch said. “Second half, we played the way we hoped to at the start of the game.”
Junior Rachel Kilkelly had a great all-around game as she finished with 21 kills, 20 set assists and 15 digs.
Ella Karst added 13 kills and Maddie Fratzke finished with 12 kills.
Payton Marker had 19 set assists. Sam Sullivan had 18 digs, Maddie Wherley finished with 14 digs and Julia Weiler added 12 digs. As a team, Shakopee had 70 digs.
In the other quarterfinal matches, Prior Lake defeated Hutchinson, Minnetonka defeated Waconia and Eden Prairie defeated Chaska.
Section
Eden Prairie will face Prior Lake in the section championship game on Saturday, Nov. 4, at 6 p.m. at Shakopee High School.
The Lakers defeated Minnetonka in its semifinal match 25-23, 25-23, 25-18.