CROOKSTON, Minn. — The East Grand Forks Sacred Heart volleyball program is one step closer to its hopes of a Minnesota state tournament berth.
The No. 1 seed Eagles cruised through Monday's Section 8A semifinals with a 25-13, 25-18, 25-7 sweep of No. 4 Lake of the Woods at Lysaker Gymnasium on the campus of Minnesota-Crookston.
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Sacred Heart advances to Friday's championship against No. 3 Fertile-Beltrami, which knocked off No. 2 Climax-Fisher 3-1 in Monday's other semifinal in Crookston.
Sacred Heart improves to 28-3 on the season. The Section 8A championship will be played at 7:30 p.m. at UMC.
Offensively, Sacred Heart was led by hitters Lexi Lawrence (10 kills), Lydia Riskey (nine kills) and Bryn Stevens (nine kills). Senior setter Finley Horken, who has more than 3,000 career assists, had 27 assists against Lake of the Woods.
Sacred Heart led the first set 8-1, fueled by two kills from Stevens. Lawrence would finish off the first set with a kill.
In the second set, the Eagles pounced out to a 7-0 lead behind two kills each from Lydia Riskey and Stella Riskey. Sacred Heart's Greta Effhauser finished the set with a kill.
Sacred Heart started the third set on a 9-0 ru...