Conference volleyball races tight heading into the final week
By Post-Bulletin staff
sports@postbulletin.com
The races to the championships in the four area volleyball conferences will come down to the final week — the final matches in most cases — of the season.
And there are no clear-cut favorites at this point in any of the conferencers.
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Chatfield controls its fate in the Three Rivers Conference after picking up a key 3-1 victory over Wabasha-Kellogg on Tuesday.
The Gophers are now 7-1 in conference play, but a group of four two-loss teams is lurking right behind them.
Caledonia’s victory over St. Charles on Tuesday was key in the standings, too. A St. Charles victory would have kept the Saints tied for first place, but now Caledonia, St. Charles, Fillmore Central and Wabasha-Kellogg all have two losses in conference play.
Chatfield plays at Dover-Eyota on Thursday, then closes the conference portion of its regular season next Tuesday at home against Fillmore Central. Victories in those matches would give the Gophers the conference title.
• Goodhue has the inside track to the Hiawatha Valley League championship, but the Wildcats have difficult matches remaining against Kenyon-Wanamingo, Cannon Falls and Kasson-Mantorville. K-W sits in third place in the conference at 9-2, while Cannon Falls is 7-4.
Goodhue is the only HVL team to have beaten second-place Stewartville this season.
Stewartville plays its final HVL match of the season Thursday at Triton.
• Mabel-Canton and LeRoy-Ostrander head into the last week of the regular season tied with one loss atop the Southeast Conference standings.
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M-C defeated the Cardinals in a conference match early in the season, though L-O returned the favor by beating the Cougars at the Southland Invitational.
Both teams are 11-1 with two conference matches remaining.
Subsection playoffs begin Oct. 22.
Report compiled by Jason Feldman.
• Volleyball roundup, C4
