---

By way of North Branch’s wins over St. Francis on Becker over the last week, Monticello’s triumph over Becker and Princeton’s upset loss to Zimmerman, the Magic and Vikings volleyball teams will remain tied at the top of the Mississippi 8 Conference, but Monticello dealt NB their only loss in M8C play this year.

After a flurry of activity the week prior, North Branch had a tame schedule last week, sweeping St. Francis on Tuesday, October 8 before losing a five set affair to non-conference opponent Rush City on Thursday, October 10. The Vikings finished out their regular season schedule with a win over Becker on Tuesday, October 15.

The win leaves them at 8-1 in the conference. Monticello was also 8-1 while Princeton was 8-2. North Branch will also find their seeding out for sections this week, and it will be an interesting bracket.

The Vikings seem destined for the top seed, but there is competition. They were 22-5 on the year and 5-1 in the section. Their one section loss was to Grand Rapids, but it was the first game of the season. Their QRF ranking, which is a formula used by minnesota-scores.net and is used to seed many sections, is fourth in the state in Class AAA, nearly 20 points higher than the second place team.

But, Hermantown lurks at 20-5 and a 3-0 mark in the section and Princeton was 22-4 on the year, but two of their losses came to North Branch, so they’d be hard pressed to pass the Vikings. Grand Rapids, who beat the Vikes, ended the season 18-10 with a 3-2 record in section play, so although they have the head to head, NB’s overall resume is much more impressive.

With how good the top four teams are, seedings will matter in this section. The top team will get a bye, and then it will be a gauntlet after that. The first round of sections will be on Wednesday, October 23 and regardless of where North Branch gets placed, they will have a home game to start (unless they get the bye). Quarterfinals will be on Monday, October 28 at the high seed and section finals will be on All Hollow’s Eve, Thursday, October 31 at 6 p.m. at a neutral site to be determined.

---