Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN

Freshman hitter Katelyn Cavalco led Wabasha-Kellogg past Kingsland on Wednesday night in the Section One, Class A East title match at Mayo Civic Center's Taylor Arena.

A gallery of photos from the game

The outside hitter helped lead the fourth-seeded Falcons to a surprising sweep of third-seeded Kingsland. The scores were 25-23, 25-16, 31-29.

Cavalco was less of a factor in an earlier victory over top-seeded LeRoy-Ostrander, with three kills.

In her second appearance, she posted four of her seven kills in the second game and put away two of the final three points in the marathon third that sealed the Falcons' victory.

"There was really good energy and it brought out my confidence," Cavalco said.

Kingsland had defeated the Falcons early in the season, but the Knights were on their heels most of the night. W-K stormed to leads in each of the first two games and closed just as strong. It scored the final four points to take the first game and pulled away in the middle of the second game to take control of the match.

"I thought that they played an awesome game and really keyed in on our hitters," Kingsland coach Lisa Bicknese said.

"This is a different team than we saw earlier in the year." Junior Jade Schmidt had 19 set assists and 10 digs, while senior Erin Bernard finished with 10 digs and seven kills.

The Falcons have now won 11 of 12 since losing to Kingsland on Sept. 29.

W-K freshman Kalyn Biever called that 3-1 loss her team's worst performance of the year, though it made Wednesday's win all the sweeter.

"We wanted revenge this game and we got it," said Biever, who had 24 digs and 44 set assists to move over 1,000 for her career.

The final game wasn't lacking for drama. With the Falcons smiling and joking as they took the floor, the Knights finally got off to a good start. Junior captain Hanna Losey used three of her team-high 12 kills to lead her squad to a 5-2 lead. The momentary lapse brought back painful memories for K-W coach Tara Biever, who watched her team blow a two-game lead in the subsection finals last year against Mabel-Canton.

"I did see the girls relax a little bit there," she said. "Thankfully, we came back and finished strong." The teams essentially exchanged points the rest of the way. The Knights fought off five match-points -- and had two chances to extend to a fourth game -- before Cavalco's flurry set up a showdown with top-ranked Bethlehem Academy.

W-K senior Nicole Peters had 16 kills and 13 digs. Junior Emily Huth added 10 kills.

Kingsland wraps up its year at 23-7. It won a share of the Three Rivers Conference title and upset second-seeded Mabel-Canton to reach the subsection finals.

"It's really disappointing, but you can't change it now," Losey said. "I wouldn't change a thing from the season." W-K turns its sights to the Cardinals, who have played in a record seven straight state championship matches since 2002. The teams squared off for the section title in 2007, where the Falcons took the first game and dropped the next three by a combined six points.

"They're beatable," Kalyn Biever said. "If we play to our abilities, we can beat them."

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