Can the Prior Lake volleyball team make an impact in the Section 2AAA tournament?

That will depend on what Lakers' team shows up. Prior Lake's two best wins in the regular season are against No. 7-ranked Minnetonka in four sets back on Sept. 5 and a two-set win over No. 10 Lakeville South (25-23, 25-19) in the Bachman Invitational at Lakeville North on Oct. 12.

Prior Lake ended the regular season Oct. 15 losing in three sets at home to No. 5 Shakopee (28-26, 25-19, 25-22) in South Suburban Conference play.

The Lakers (11-17 overall, 4-5 in the SSC) earned the No. 7 seed in the section and will play host to 10th-seeded Chanhassen (12-15) in the first round Oct. 23 at 7 p.m.

Shakopee (22-5), Minnetonka (22-6) and New Prague (21-7) earned the top-three seeds respectively and earned byes in the first round.

Other first-round matches Oct. 23 include: sixth-seeded Waconia (16-12) versus 11th-seeded Mankato West (14-11), fifth-seeded Hutchinson (17-11) against 12th-seeded Mankato East (10-16) and eighth-seeded Chaska (11-12) against ninth-seeded Willlmar (15-8).

The quarterfinals are Oct. 25, and the semifinals are Oct. 29. The higher seed is at home in the first three rounds. The title match is Nov. 2 at a site to be determined.

For section brackets, go to mshsl.org. Shakopee is the defending champion.

Prior Lake won two of five matches at the Bachman Invitational. The Lakers also beat Hill-Murray (25-20, 25-21), before losing to Rochester Century (25-23, 25-19) on the second day of the competition.

Prior Lake opened the invite Oct. 11 with losses to No. 4 East Ridge (23-25, 25-18) and Stewartville (25-12, 25-12), ranked No. 1 in Class 2A.

Sophomore Julia Hanson led the Lakers at the invite. She finished with 51 total kills in the five matches, along with 18 digs, four blocks and seven ace serves. Senior Rachel Ring had 24 kills to go along with her five aces, eight digs and three blocks. Junior Camille Libert contributed 22 kills and six blocks.

Junior Shannon Wallskog paced Prior Lake's offense with 46 setting assists in the five matches, adding two blocks. Junior Emmy Benson had 37 set assists with nine digs and three aces.

Senior Dezirae Spratt finished with 25 digs and seven aces, while sophomore Courtney Haugen had 16 digs and six aces.

In blocks, junior Isabella Westerholm had four blocks, while sophomore Alex Lloyd had three. Senior Kate Heimel chipped in eight digs, while junior Lainey Van Hecke had six assists and junior Annika Evenson had five ace serves.

Stats for the Shakopee match have not been made available.

Prior Lake won the Section 2AAA crown three straight years from 2014 to 2016. The team finished second, fifth and third, respectively at state those three seasons. The Lakers fell in five sets to Eagan in the title match in 2014.

Last year, Prior Lake lost in the section semifinals to Minnetonka in three sets.

This year’s Class 3A state tournament is scheduled for Nov. 7-9 at the Xcel Energy Center in Minneapolis. Champlin Park is the defending champion, beating Eagan in the title match last year.