Volleyball: Tigers take Mayo to the limit

Emma Fahning 21 kills, 21 digs, 12 serve receptions (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Fifth-seeded Farmington threw a Halloween Night scare into top-seeded Rochester Mayo in a 3-2 loss Thursday night in the Section 1AAA semifinals played in Rochester.

The Tigers led 2-1 after three games before eventually falling by scores of 25-21, 19-25, 25-18, 22-25 and 13-15.

To show the closeness of the contest, each team finished with an identical 104 points over the five-game set.

"We got off to a lead with a solid offense they (Mayo) didn't have an answer for in games one and three and three," Tiger coach Mike Woody said. "Mayo's offense caught fire in games four and five, and we were fighting to stay in it.

"The rallies in those closing games were fabulous. It was one of those matches where it was a shame someone had to lose. I told the girls after the match that I could be happier, but I could not be any prouder."

Kenzie Hesse 23 kills, 21 serve receptions, 18 digs (photo by Jim Lindquist)

The ever-improving freshman attacking  tandem of Kenzie Hesse and Emma Fahning continued to lead the Farmington offense. Playing off the passing of setter Ruthie Schmitt (49 assists), Hesse finished with 23 kills, two more than Fahning.

On the defensive end, senior libero Diana Comes had a big night with team-highs in serve receptions (38) and digs (24).

Comes had plenty of help. Fahning recorded 21 digs while Hesse and Schmitt finished with 18 and 14 respectively.

Hesse totaled 21 serve receptions. Fahning added a dozen and Hanna Baer had 11. Vanessa Garske came up with four blocks, one more than Morgan Cecchittini.

The section loss left the Tigers with a final season mark of 19-12, their highest win total since their state tournament team finished 20-12 in 2009.

Diana Comes 38 serve receptions, 24 digs (photo by Jim Lindquist)