December 1st
Sleepy Eye Tip Off Tournament
Sleepy Eye 64, Murray County Central 60
Landon Wendinger 18 pts 15 rebounds 6 blocks
Brayden Heiderscheidt 15 pts 3 assists, 3 steals
Isaac Lendt 8 pts 7 rebounds 2 assists 2 steals
Eric Lozano 13 pts
Back row L to R: Jillian Mays, Bronwyn Sorenson, Anna Rossbach, Taylor Berkner, Kiera Lafferty, and Morgan Arnsdorf
Middle Row: Chloe Okerman, Amaira Brown, Tori Matter, Gabby Anderson, and Erika Wells
Front Row: Dani Junker, Alisyn Danielson, and Selene Krohnfeldt. Not pictured: Brissa Hernandez, Candela Pliego-Hernandez, Emma Contreras-Ramirez, Delaney Rex, and Reagan Moody, and Jaylin Brown
Varsity Letter Recipients: Back Row: Jillian Mays, Anna Rossbach, Taylor Berkner, Kiera Lafferty, Gabby Anderson
Front: Chloe Okerman, Selene Krohnfeldt, Erika Wells. Not pictured: Brissa Hernandez, Candela Pliego-Hernandez, and Emma Contreras-Ramirez
All-Conference Awards: Taylor Berkner received the Big South’s All-Conference Award and Brissa Hernandez (not pictured) received an All-Conference Honorable Mention
Senior Academic All-State Award Winners Kiera Lafferty and Gabby Anderson.
This award is for seniors who have maintained a GPA of 3.75 or higher and are important, contributing members of the section roster.
| 2023 Tomahawk All-Conference Volleyball Team | ||||
| Name | Hgt. | Year | Position | Team |
| Avery Carlson | 5-8 | 12 | Outside Hitter | Wabasso |
| Audrey Johnson | 5-2 | 10 | Libero | Wabasso |
| Alivia Olson | 5-10 | 11 | Outside Hitter | Wabasso |
| Hailey Hollar | 5-7 | 12 | Outside Hitter | Cedar Mountain |
| Aubrey Steffl | 5-5 | 9 | Outside Hitter | Cedar Mountain |
| Lily Hubin | 5-9 | 10 | Setter | Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart |
| Kristi Kottke | 5-9 | 12 | Setter | Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart |
| Kadence Hesse | 5-11 | 12 | Middle Hitter | Sleepy Eye |
| Breaunna Mertz | 5-10 | 12 | Middle Hitter | Sleepy Eye |
| Samantha Price | 5-9 | 10 | Outside Hitter | Sleepy Eye |
| Ava Munsen | 5-10 | 12 | Middle Hitter | Minnesota Valley Lutheran |
| Jenna Hotovec | 5-7 | 12 | Outside Hitter | New Ulm Cathedral |
| Shay Wilfahrt | 5-9 | 10 | Outside Hitter | New Ulm Cathedral |
| Taylor Schafer | 5-9 | 12 | Outside Hitter | Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop |
| Jenica Schroepfer | 5-8 | 12 | Outside Hitter | Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s |
| Brooklyn Sturm | 5-9 | 12 | Setter | Springfield |
| Honorable mention | ||||
| Sarah Carlson | 5-5 | 10 | Setter | Wabasso |
| Camryn Irlbeck | 5-8 | 10 | Middle Hitter | Wabasso |
| Kendra Erickson | 5-6 | 9 | Setter | Cedar Mountain |
| Kelsey Ulrich | 5-4 | 10 | Libero | Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart |
| Gabbie Bleick | 5-7 | 12 | Outside Hitter | Minnesota Valley Lutheran |
| Mackenzie Merseth | 5-9 | 12 | Outside Hitter | Minnesota Valley Lutheran |
| Marti Jacobson | 5-11 | 12 | Outside Hitter | Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop |
| Addie Hoffmann | 5-4 | 12 | Libero | Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s |
| Jalivia Richert | 5-6 | 12 | Middle Hitter | Springfield |
| Kadence Hesse, Hailey Hollar, Jenna Hotovec, Lily Hubin, and Brooklyn Sturm | ||||
| are repeat selections from the 2022 team. | ||||
| Hailey Hollar and Brooklyn Sturm are three-time selections as they were also | ||||
| selected to the 2021 team. | ||||
| Player of the Year — Hallie Hollar of Cedar Mountain | ||||
| Coach of the Year — Barb Johnson of Wabasso | ||||
| 2023 Final Standings | Won | Lost |
| Wabasso | 7 | 1 |
| Cedar Mountain | 6 | 2 |
| Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart | 6 | 2 |
| Sleepy Eye | 5 | 3 |
| Minnesota Valley Lutheran | 4 | 4 |
| New Ulm Cathedral | 4 | 4 |
| Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop | 2 | 6 |
| Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s | 1 | 7 |
| Springfield | 1 | 7 |
Section 2A Tennis Individual Meet
at St. Peter
River Valley Tennis
Taylor Berkner 3rd
Brissa Hernandez 4th
Match Score: River Valley – 2, Blue Earth – 5
Singles:
No. 1 – Addison Armstrong (Blue Earth) def. Taylor Berkner (River Valley), 6-4, 6-1
No. 2 – Brissa Hernandez (River Valley) def. Olivia Dutton (Blue Earth), 6-3, 7-5
No. 3 – Grace Hanson (Blue Earth) def. Candela Pliego-Hernandez (River Valley), 6-1, 6-4
No. 4 – Kiera Lafferty (River Valley) def. Abbey Lorenz (Blue Earth), 6-2, 6-1
Doubles:
No. 1 – Carol Schrader / Ashlyn Klinkner (Blue Earth) def. Erika Wells / Jillian Mays (River Valley), 6-3, 6-0
No. 2 – Mckinley Hanson / Lauren Survis (Blue Earth) def. Anna Rossbach / Gabby Anderson (River Valley), 6-3, 6-2
No. 3 – Addison Prescher / Erin Prescher (Blue Earth) def. Chloe Okerman / Emma Contreras-Ramirez (River Valley), 6-1, 6-1
Coach Comments: It was a hard fought match to end our team season against Blue Earth. Brissa Hernandez and Kiera Lafferty had great matches to get us some points out of the singles lineup but in the end it was just not our day. Congrats to Blue Earth!
On 10/6, we took this season’s top 6 players to the Individual Section Tournament at the Swanson Tennis Center at Gustavus in Saint Peter. Here are the results of Day1 of this section tournament:
Our Top Doubles team of Candela Pliego-Hernandez and Kiera Lafferty ended up losing to a Maple River team that advanced to the Final Four:
Madison Ward/Kelsey Jaeger (Maple River) def. Kiera Lafferty/Candela Pliego-Hernandez (River Valley) 6-4, 6-1
Our Second Doubles Team of Erika Wells and Jillian Mays lost to eventual Final Four contenders from Blue Earth:
Olivia Dutton/Grace Hanson (Blue Earth) def. Erika Wells/Jillian Mays (River Valley) 6-1, 6-0
Taylor Berkner and Brissa Hernandez were the top 2 singles competitors from River Valley. Both had great days and advance to the Final Four:
Round 1: Taylor Berkner, seeded #2, received a first-round BYE
Round 2: Taylor Berkner (River Valley) defeats Maya Kulseth (Saint James) 6-1, 6-2
Brissa Hernandez received the #5 seed
Round 1: Brissa Hernandez (River Valley) defeats Brooke Reuter (Maple River) 6-1, 6-0
Round 2: Brissa Hernandez (River Valley) defeats Lily Ciske (Saint James) 6-7, 6-0, 6-3
Coach’s Comments (Brandon Andrews): It was a great day for our team at the Individual Section Tournament! Sadly, some player’s seasons and careers came to an end. Erika Wells, Kiera Lafferty, and Candela Pliego-Hernandez all had their careers as River Valley Wildcats come to an end with losses in the Doubles Tournament. Jillian Mays will be back with the Wildcats as a senior next season. Both Taylor Berkner and Brissa Hernandez made it through the first two rounds and advance to the Final Four of the Section Tournament! Such an amazing accomplishment for our team and those two girls to have 2 players from one team advance to the Section Semifinals. Both will play on Wednesday, October 11th, with chances to advance to the State Tournament! Those two girls are more than deserving of these accomplishments. They’ve put in an incredible amount of work to put themselves in this position and I am so proud of both of them. Regardless of what happens on Wednesday, this was a season that I’ll never forget!
September 28th
at Sleepy Eye
Sleepy Eye 3 St. Mary’s 2
21-25, 24-26, 25-21, 25-23, 15-8
For Sleepy Eye, Kadence Hesse had 13 kills, 20 digs and 9 blocks
Paige Haala had 11 kills, 15 digs, 4 blocks and 3 aces
Sam Price had 10 kills
Lydia Helget finished with 31 set assists and 15 digs
Sleepy Eye plays in the Nicollet Tournament on Saturday
St. Mary’s
Reese Hoffmann 15 Kills
Amelia Schwartz 9 Kills
Kailey Nelson 8 Kills
Jenica Schroepfer 8 Kills and 27 Digs
Natalie Fischer 8 Kills
Josie Helget: 52 Set Assist and 20 Digs
Addie Hoffmann: 26 Digs
Spetember 26th
at Springfield
Sleepy Eye 1 Springfield 3
25-17, 21-25, 20-25, 19-25
Kadence Hesse had 12 kills, 15 digs, 7 blocks and 2 aces
Sam Price had 13 kills and 5 blocks
Breaunna Mertz had 12 kills and 7 digs
Lydia Helget finished with 32 set assists and 9 digs
Sleepy Eye hosts St. Mary’s on Thursday
