Owatonna Draws Farmington for Volleyball Playoffs

Owatonna goes to Farmington to open the Section 1AAA volleyball playoffs Wednesday at 7PM on KRFO AM 1390. The Huskies (11-16) got the No. 9 seed while the Tigers (9-18) are No. 8 and beat OHS 3-1 in the season opener August 24 in Owatonna.

The Huskies have won five of their last seven matches and finished their final match with a rally from behind in the fifth set against Mankato West. Coach Whitney Ordal said, "It was impressive to see we are going to battle. You can't ever count Owatonna out of the hunt."

Farmington went 3-4 against Big Nine Conference teams this season with wins over Owatonna, John Marshall and Red Wing and losses to Northfield, Century, Faribault and Mayo. The Tigers went 1-8 in the tough South Suburban Conference. Owatonna went to Farmington in the quarterfinal round in 2015 and upset the Tigers.

The winner of Wednesday's match plays at top-seed Lakeville North Friday October 27 at 7PM for the quarterfinals. North (26-2) got the top seed over defending section champ Lakeville South (24-2). Big Nine champ Northfield (26-2) is the third seed. Century (21-6) earned the fourth seed and final first-round bye.

Other matches on Wednesday include Albert Lea at Faribault, Austin at Rochester Mayo and Winona at Rochester John Marshall. Semifinals and finals are at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester November 1 and 4.

Blooming Prairie opens their volleyball playoffs at home Monday night at 7:30PM versus Glenville-Emmons in Section 1A. Medford has a first-round bye. NRHEG plays Springfield in New Richland Monday night at 7PM in Section 2A. Triton opens on Thursday at top-seed Stewartville in Section 1AA.