SHARP RESPONSE - Pioneer Press

STATE VOLLEYBALL

SHARP RESPONSE

After dropping 1st set, Roseville players regroup and reach semifinals

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Roseville’s Leah Biyadglign (16) and Kadence Davison (24) celebrate with their teammates after the Raiders defeated St. Michael-Albertville during a quarterfinal match at the Class 4A State Volleyball Tournament on Wednesday at Xcel Energy Center. CRAIG LASSIG — SPECIAL TO THE PIONEER PRESS

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By Jace Frederick

jfrederick@pioneerpress.com

Roseville dropped the first set of its Class 4A state volleyball quarterfinal Wednesday at Xcel Energy Center to St. Michael-Albertville.

Nerves were present, which is not unusual in that atmosphere. So what did Raiders coach Greg Ueland say after Set 1?

Nothing. It wasn’t required. It rarely is with this team. After each set, Ueland tends to overhear what’s being discussed by his players before he makes his entrance into the huddle. The student-led message is often spot on.

“I don’t even need to speak, right?” Ueland noted at a post-match press conference carried by his players’ words. “They just have something, there’s just something special about them.”

So a few tactical adjustments were made, and the players took it from there. Roseville took the next three sets to win the quarterfinal 20-25, 28-26, 25-23, 25-23 over the fourth-seeded Knights.

The fifth-seeded Raiders (27-5) will take on top-seeded Lakeville South at 9 a.m. Thursday in a semifinal.

“I feel like our hitters were just way more aggressive and we were reading the court better,” said senior setter Kadence Davison, who finished with 48 assists. “I feel like the first set, we just got our nerves out and then we turned it around and played Roseville volleyball the next sets.”

The offensive adjustment was to play more through the middle hitters, which worked to perfection. Outside hitters Logan Cregan and Leah Biyadglign still paced the team in kills, but middle blocker Cara Gruis added eight of her own.

“I feel like we started getting our middles going,” Biyadglign said. “Our passing was really good, too, so that helped out a lot, and I feel like that brought confidence to our other hitters and just opened it up for everybody.”

The Knights fought tooth and nail the rest of the way. The second set featured five lead changes and 12 ties with St. Michael-Albertville even having a set point to potentially go up two sets to zero.

The third set featured six lead changes. In Set 4, St. Michael- Albertville (24-8) scored six straight points after trailing 23-16 before the Raiders closed the deal.

Every time Roseville needed to deliver Wednesday, it did.

“Honestly, I think our team is really good when we’re close and we’re going point for point, because no matter if we lose the point, we’re still supporting each other, telling each other, ‘We’re going to get this next point, it’s not over,’ ” Davison said. “I feel like we just have really good urgency, and we really want to finish it off.”