BY JEREMY WALTNER  |  COURIER EDITOR & PUBLISHER You don’t have to remind the Freeman High School girls of the old cliché, “There is no ‘I’ in team.” They proved it Thursday night.

Freeman High School swept its way past Irene-Wakonda in the second round of the Region 5B Volleyball Tournament in Freeman Tuesday night, Nov. 3, beating the Eagles 25-19, 25-13, 26-24. The No. 3 Flyers are now one win away from their third-straight SoDak 16 appearance and a spot in the state tournament; they play again Thursday night at No. Gayville-Volin, which defeated Menno 25-21, 25-16, 25-14 on Tuesday.

Seventh-seed Menno advanced to the second round of the Region 5B Volleyball Tournament with a 3-0 win over No. 10 Viborg-Hurley while No. 11 Freeman Academy/Marion lost to No. 6 Irene Wakonda 3-0 in the first round of postseason play Monday night, Nov. 2.

The Region 5B Volleyball Tournament bracket it set. Freeman Academy/Marion and Menno will both play Monday night, Nov. 2; Menno is the No. 7 seed and will host No. 10 Viborg-Hurley while FA/Marion is the No. 11 seed and will travel to Irene-Wakonda. If Menno wins on Monday, the Wolves will travel to No. 2 Gayville-Volin on Tuesday.

Revenge, they say, is best served cold. To that end, Canistota/Freeman is hoping next Friday night is downright frigid.

JEREMY WALTNER  -  PUBLISHER The final cross-country race of Morgan Edelman’s career is one she will remember, not for the finish, but for the weather conditions she and the 119 other runners competing in the Class B field endured. “I only fell once,” the Menno senior said following her 55th-place finish in her seventh and final state cross-country meet held in snowy, slippery and cold conditions at Hart Ranch Golf Course just south of Rapid City Saturday morning, Oct. 24. “It was not fun; I couldn’t feel anything.”

Freeman Public will go into the region tournament riding a nine-match winning streak. The Flyers haven’t lost since Sept. 26 when they dropped two matches at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls and finished off their regular season with a 3-1 victory over Alcester-Hudson in Alcester Tuesday night, Oct. 27.

JEREMY WALTNER  - PUBLISHER The 2020 State Cross-Country Meet will be remembered for the wintery weather conditions that moved across the Black Hills Saturday morning, Oct. 24. Freeman Academy runners and fans will remember it for something else, too: One of the best all-around finishes in recent memory, if not program history.

Menno had no trouble with Freeman Academy/Marion in volleyball action in Marion Thursday night, Oct. 22, downing the Bearcats 25-19, 25-5, 25-9. The win moved the Wolves to 7-10 while FA/Marion dropped to 0-11. Jesse Munkvold had 11 kills, 10 digs and three aces for Menno while Kylie Harriman had a great all-round game with four kills, 12 set assists, five digs and seven aces. Grace Nusz added 10 set assists and three aces and Bridget Vaith had three kills and a block.