Prime Time Player

PEQUOT LAKES - ESPN color commentator Dick Vitale would've been in heaven at Thursday's Section 7, Class 2A volleyball championship match between Pine River-Backus and Crosby-Ironton.

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With a packed gym at Pequot Lakes High School, dueling chants of "Go PR-B" and "Go, C-I, Go", to go along with intense, spine-tingling action, Vitale would've been screaming, "I can't believe it baby!"

He also would've had a PTPer (Prime Time Player) in the Tigers' Erin Cusac, who led PR-B to its second consecutive section title, beating the Rangers 25-21, 26-28, 31-29, 25-18.

Pine River-Backus players Chelsey Dabill (left) and Erin Cusac celebrated after a point in their Section 7, Class 2A championship match against Crosby-Ironton Thursday at Pequot Lakes.

Brainerd Dispatch/Nels Norquist

Cusac, the Tigers' main offensive weapon, put on a hitting clinic as she finished with a game-high 29 kills and came up with clutch kill after clutch kill.

"When we needed a point Erin's our go-to player," PR-B coach Tom Lupella said. "Without a player like that we wouldn't have won. In order to make it this far you need to have a player like Erin."

The fact that Cusac, last year's Brainerd Dispatch player of the year, was going to see a lot of balls set to her wasn't lost on C-I coach Jill Kovatovich.

"What killed us is Erin Cusac," Kovatovich said. "There's no getting around it, she's just that good. With a hitter like her she can get off the ground so far and she split our block just about every time. Once you do that it's hard for our defense to come in and cover."

After PR-B won game one, the second game was a see-saw affair in which there would be 14 lead changes.

The Rangers seemed to have the game in hand, led by middle hitter Annie Adams, who's nickname "Super Freak" was shouted every time she touched the ball. She had eight kills and two blocks in the game and finished with a team-high 17 total kills.

Pine River-Backus players Chelsey Dabill (left) and Erin Cusac celebrated after a point in their Section 7, Class 2A championship match against Crosby-Ironton Thursday at Pequot Lakes.

Brainerd Dispatch/Nels Norquist

After C-I's late 23-20 lead dissolved, both teams traded points down the stretch before kills by Chelsea Lundgren and Maggie Sandberg gave the Rangers the win. Lundgren would finish the match with 16 kills for C-I.

"Crosby picked it up in the second game and we got tentative," Lupella said. "We were thinking too much. We got a little jittery out there. The key is that our girls had to rely on their instincts and we settled down for the third game."

C-I looked to break the match open in game three as it shot out to an 18-12 lead on an Adams kill. But the Tigers climbed back into the game as a block and two consecutive kills by Naomi Anderson gave PR-B a 23-22 advantage.

Cusac came up big time and again, pounding down two straight kills for a 26-25 lead and another kill for the game-winner.

"The third game was very challenging," Cusac said. "I like being trusted by my teammates to put the ball on the floor. It took a lot of heart. It takes a lot of mental toughness to win close games like these but we were able to get the big points when we needed them."

Kayla Hamilton, who finished with 13 kills for the Tigers, had a block and a kill for PR-B's final two points in game four.

Lupella pointed to experience in big games as a key factor in his squad's ability to come back when the chips were down.

PR-B 3, C-I 1

The key: PR-B's Erin Cusac had 29 kills to lead the Tigers to their second straight Section 7 championship.

Records: PR-B 23-7, C-I 21-7.

Next: PR-B in Class 2A state tournament at Xcel Energy Center, 7 p.m. Thursday in St. Paul.

"The experience of this team helps a lot because I don't think you get the jitters as much," he said. "We've been in section finals a few times and in a few semifinals and that helped us last year as well as this year."

Pine River-Backus statistics

Laura Laposky 9 digs

Chelsey Dabill 2 kills, 1 block, 30 digs, 4 set assists

Chelsea Christensen 8 kills, 18 digs, 1 block

Brianna Erickson 2 kills, 1 block, 11 digs, 41 set assists

Krystle Hamilton 1 ace serve, 10 digs

Erin Cusac 29 kills, 3 aces serves, 15 digs, 3 set assists, 1 block

Naomi Anderson 5 kills, 2 blocks, 1 dig, 1 set assist

Kayla Hamilton 1 ace serve, 13 kills, 3 blocks, 8 digs

Venetia Degeest 1 block

Overall - PRB 23-7. Next match - Pine River-Backus vs. Lake of the Woods/Wadena-Deer Creek winner at Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, 7 p.m. Nov. 10.

Crosby-Ironton statistics

Andre'a Wynn 3 ace serves, 2 kills, 34 set assists, 20 digs, 1 block

Shayna Foote 1 ace, 1 kills, 3 set assists, 19 digs, 2 blocks

Chelsea Lundgren 16 kills, 6 digs, 3 blocks

Jena Larson 1 kill, 4 block

Maggie Sandberg 2 ace serves, 4 kills, 1 set assist, 26 digs, 1 block

Annie Adams 17 kills, 7 digs, 4 blocks

Carissa Steuck 2 ace serves, 11 digs

Overall - C-I finishes 21-7.

TROY GUNDERSON can be reached at troy.gunderson@brainerddispatch.com or at 855-5865.