5 October 2023
Lakeville North marched into hostile territory and took down conference rival Eagan in five sets Wednesday night.
In a back-and-forth match, the Panthers won 22-25, 25-19, 16-25, 25-12, 15-10.
Lakeville North clawed its way to the win in the fifth set after losing the first three points.
Eagan was ranked second in Class 4A and Lakeville North fifth.
Lakeville North head coach Jackie Richter commended the opponent’s program and her own team for playing hard against an opponent they knew would challenge them.
“Eagan is a remarkable program, and this is a very tough gym to play in,” Richter said. “We have the ultimate respect for Mckenna and Kathy, and I’m proud of our girls for enduring. The conversation before the fourth set was to play aggressively. That’s the only way to have a shot against Eagan, is to play aggressively.”
Eagan coach McKenna Melville said preventing mistakes was a focus coming into the game for the Wildcats and will continue to be for the rest of the season.
“They put a lot of balls back in our court,” Melville said. “They’re a very low-error team, and we knew that coming in, so we had to minimize our errors, and tonight, we did not. Moving forward, every team is out to beat us. Every team knows our weaknesses at this point. So we have to turn our weaknesses into strengths as quickly as possible.”
Eagan hosts Rosemount on Tuesday. Lakeville North hosts Farmington on Tuesday.