Tiger volleyball finish 3-2 at Marshall Tournament (updated)

Hutchinson head coach Dennis Piechowski and assistant Tim Carroll entered the Southwest Minnesota Volleyball Challenge with a goal of going 3-2. That is exactly what they got.

After going 1-1 Friday night, the team finished 2-1 Saturday, including a 25-22, 25-22 win over Bismarck Century for 13th place.

The SWVC featured 32 teams, including six of the eight Class AAA state tournament teams from a year ago, as well as teams from North and South Dakota. It is the biggest volleyball tournament in the history of the state.

Friday recap:
Having faced Class A No. 1 Bethlehem Academy, Class A No. 2 Windom Area and Class AAA No. 10 Alexandria already this season, the Class AA No. 3 ranked Marshall squad was ready for Hutchinson Friday during round two of the Southwest Minnesota Volleyball Challenge.

After dispatching Lincoln HI in the first round, the Tigers knocked off previously unbeaten Hutchinson by the scores of 25-16 and 25-20.

Hutchinson, which beat BOLD 25-12 and 25-16 to advance to round two, hadn't played a team of Marshall's caliber yet this season.

In the second game against Marshall, Hutchinson trailed 18-13, but got within a point at 18-17 before Marshall coach Dan Westby called a timeout. He regrouped his squad, and they responded by winning seven of the next 10 points.

Saturday recap
The Tigers fell for the second straight match, 31-29 and 25-10 to Class AAA No. 5 ranked Woodbury squad, which was upset by perennial power Owatonna Friday.

The teams were back and forth in game one from 20-all, but the Royals got two kills in a row for game one. In game two, Woodbury scored 10 straight points to take a 11-1 lead.

For the second season in a row, Hutchinson defeated a team from the Fargo area as the Tigers got back in the winning ways with a 25-16 and 25-13 victory.

Hutchinson defeated Bismarck Century to finish out the tournament.

Host Marshall and St. Michael-Albertville, who beat former Hutchinson player Ashley Murtha and the Eastview Lightning in the semifinals, were slated to play in the championship match.

Eric Kraushar is the sports editor at the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sports@hutchinsonleader.com.