The maturation process for the Mankato West volleyball team continued Saturday at Bresnan Arena as the Scarlets nearly pulled off a stunning upset of Class AA power Belle Plaine.

West (3-5) split its opening pool play match with Minnesota Valley Lutheran (25-22, 13-25) before downing Lake City (25-17, 25-12) and Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop (25-17, 25-16) to advance to the semifinals of its own tournament.

After a Jessica Henke kill gave the Scarlets a 25-22 win in Game 1, an ace serve from Henke produced a 24-22 advantage in Game 2. Belle Plaine avoided the upset when standout senior outside hitter Chelsea Fogarty’s kill sparked a game-ending 4-0 run.

Fogarty, who finished with 15 kills in the match, then fired a pair of ace serves to go along with freshman Abby Wolpern’s stuff of a long pass. The Tigers closed by taking Game 3 15-7 behind three kills apiece from Fogarty and sophomore middle hitter Sam Johnson.

“Not getting that last point kind of brought us down but we know we played well against them,” West senior setter Alex Hickok said. “We thought we could play up to their level and we did. We’re running quicker plays and defensively our serve receive has improved a lot since the beginning of the season.”

West dropped the third-place match to Le Sueur-Henderson 25-12, 25-22 as coach Dave Nixon’s Giants improved to 7-1. LSH, who got 88 set assists and 34 digs from junior Shelly Blaschko, lost in the semifinals to Windom Area 15-25, 25-11, 15-6. The top-ranked Eagles defeated Belle Plaine 25-13, 25-21 in the championship match.

Senior Ashley Veroeven and junior Chantel Peterson led the Scarlets with 20 kills on the day while Henke ripped 17. Hickok delivered 56 assists and junior libero Sammy Swenson collected 56 digs.

“I think we had them scared,” West coach Mary Nelson said of Belle Plaine. “We rose to the occasion and were able to take them out of their game.

“I am pleased with our progress so far this season. I have high expectations for them so as long as they keep moving forward they’re going to live up to those expectations. They know it takes 100 percent effort all the time and they’re getting closer to that.”

LSH breezed through pool play undefeated with wins over Winona (25-20, 25-13), New Prague (25-23, 25-9) and St. Peter (25-17, 25-10). Junior outside hitter Morgan Meger led the Giants with 29 kills. Natalie Wentzlaff and Kaitlyn Braun each had 23 kills and Braun also had 14 ace serves and 30 digs.

East went 2-2-1 in the tournament. In pool play they tied United South Central 14-25, 25-22, lost to Windom Area 25-15, 25-14 and defeated Sibley East 25-21, 25-22.

In championship round play, East lost to New Prague 25-13, 25-19 and then defeated Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop 25-15, 25-16.

Mariah Verkinderen led the Cougars with 37 kills and 12 blocks. Jenny Pruett added 20 kills and 28 digs and Haley Nourie had 72 assists. Karynn Sebesta helped out with 26 digs and Kelsie Milbrandt added 24.

Minnesota Valley Lutheran went 0-1-2 in the tournament. MVL started against Mankato West, tying 22-25, 25-13. The Chargers lost to GFW 25-22, 25-21 and tied Lake City 25-18, 23-25.

Amanda Burk had 17 kills and was 15 of 15 serving with three aces for MVL (3-3). Teammate Anna Biedenbender put up 27 assists and also had three aces.