MINOT, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Last one out turn out the lights. That’s the message to the people of Oakes. As the Oakes Tornado volleyball team continues their great post season run, more and more fans have come to Minot to watch the team advance to the State Championship match Saturday Night.

Friday night, the Tornadoes used a 17-5 run to close out the fourth set and defeat top seed Langdon Area/Edmore/Munich in the semifinals 3 to 1. The Cardinals, who enter the Friday night match with a 12 match winning streak, took the first set 25-17. The Cardinals had a .297 hitting percentage while holding the Tornadoes to a .066.

But then in the second set, Oakes started looking like a team that had won six straight post season matches while losing only three sets in the process. Oakes had just three attack errors in the second set, a .333 hitting percentage to take the set 25-16. It was only the second set the Cardinals had lost in the post season, and only the third set lost in the last 13 matches.

Set three was no different, a .315 hitting percentage and great defense led to a 25-19 Oakes win.

Then in the fourth set, Langdon Area/Edmore-Munich looked like they were ready to take the match to a fifth set. With a 14-8 lead, Coach Shari Christiansen looked like she was ready to call a timeout, but she decided to wait until the media timeout which would come when a team gets to 15 points. But that didn’t happen, as the Tornadoes rattled off seven straight points to take a 15-14 lead. After the time out, the comeback, now complete, turned into a “we are going to the semifinal celebration at center court.” After the 25-19 fourth set win, the Tornadoes punched their ticket to their first volleyball championship . A meeting with the number two seed Thompson Tommies.

Nicole Schmitz led the offense with 18 kills and added 10 digs for a double-double. Sadie Hansen also had a double-double with 42 set assists and 15 digs. Emily Cox was also in double figures in digs with 11 as the Tornadoes had 74 digs for the match. Marisa Garza added 14 kills for Oakes and Abby Cox had eight.

Callie Ronningen led the Cardinals with 24 kills abd 28 digs. Lexis Olson and Madison Pritchard also had double-doubles. Olson had 10 kills and 13 digs. Pritchard had 36 set assists and 13 digs. Kaitlynn Scherr had 27 digs for L/E/M. As a team, the Cardinals had 92 for the match.

Oakes, now 33-7 on the year, lost four matches to Langdon Area/Edmore/Munich and Thompson during the season. They have avenged two of those losses. The Cardinals move into the third place match Saturday afternoon with a 42-4 record. They will face Northern Cass.

Thompson, 38-1-1 on the year, await the Tornadoes in the title match at 7pm. You can hear that match on 1220 AM/95.9 FM The Tornado with the pregame at 6:30.