The great season for Central Lakes College volleyball ended today in the Region 13B tournament on the Brainerd campus. Northland defeated CLC, 14-25, 19-25, 15-25 to earn the national championship berth (The Elite Eight) for 2012. It is the second straight season that Northland has been the regional champion. One of the many things the Pioneers did was keep the ball away from CLC’s big boppers, Lindsay Monson (shown) and Alanna Hansen, as much as possible. The two combined for just 11 kills. Combined, they were averaging 5.55 per game. The Raiders did not play nearly as well as they had most of the season while building a Northern Division mark of 13 wins, 1 loss, said Coach Jane Peterson, who credited the Pioneers with showing why they deserve the regional trophy, “It’s too bad it has to end like this because people will forget we were almost 14-0,” she said. “We lost to (Northland) 15-13 (in the fifth game Oct. 17). We played good volleyball a lot of the season.” “It was an awesome season,” sophomore Carlie Sweet said. “I’m so glad that I got to be part of it. We all worked hard, we became a team.” The Raiders finish with a record of 22 wins, 7 losses. Northland is 24-7. CLC’s Sarah Miller and Lindsay Monson made the 6-player all-tournament team along with Ashley Lindgren and Bailee Walker of Northland, Morgan Hanson of Mesabi and Gabriella Feldt of Itasca.Images: http://www.flickr.com/photos/58518185@N04/
