By Mike Simmons, sports writer

The top-ranked volleyball team in Class 1A came to Albert Lea Tuesday night for Parents Night and proved they have earned the ranking in beating the Tigers 7-25, 10-25, 21-25. The Windom Area Eagles came into the match with a 13-1 record, and had won 31 of 34 games and 10 consecutive matches.

In game one the Tigers fell behind 5-0 in the early going and never recovered. Annika Smed had two kills for the Tigers while four Eagle players had two each.

The second game was a little better for A.L. but it still struggled with the depth and athleticism of the Eagle front line that rotated big hitters in and out at will. The Tigers did hold their first lead of the match at 1-0, but quickly lost that and trailed by 14 at the end of the game.

A different looking Tigers&8217; team came on the floor in the third game and pushed the score to 2-0 on kills by Nichelle Klatt and Smed. A.L. held

small advantages throughout but couldn&8217;t put the Eagles away as the Tigers led at 11-7, 13-9, and 17-13 before Windom evened the score at 17 each on a Courtney Ysker kill.

The Tigers played their hearts out in game three and were on the verge of handing the Eagles only their fourth loss of the season but couldn&8217;t hold onto their momentum.

&8220;We came back and played a lot better in game three, but there are still a lot of things we still need to get better at,&8221; said Tigers head coach Lisa Deyak. &8220;I think we&8217;re making progress, but I think we need to start getting things going in game one instead of waiting until game three like we did tonight. But we are getting better every match and that&8217;s what we are looking for right now.&8221;

With the loss the Tigers fall to 3-7 on the year and will go on the road to Mankato for a Big Nine match against Mankato West Thursday.

Lake Mills 3, North Iowa 0

LAKE MILLS, Iowa &8212; It may still be early in the volleyball season but the Lake Mills Bulldogs

clinched at least a share of the North Iowa Conference crown Tuesday night by beating North Iowa 3-0 (25-10, 25-6, 26-24).

&8220;We served aggressive tonight, that is something we have really worked on in practice,&8221; said Bulldogs head coach Jim Boehmer. The Bulldogs were led at the net by Jordynn Brackey and Sammy Nelson with 14 and 12 kills respectively. Cassie Christianson had a hand in all of those kills with an impressive 29 assists and also collected three service aces.

With the win the Bulldogs continue their

dominating win streak in the NIC that now stands at 45 consecutive matches. Lake Mills improves to an impressive 21-1 overall and 6-0 in the NIC and can clinch the conference title out right next week with a win at West Hancock.

G-E 3, Lanesboro 2

GLENVILLE &8212; The Glenville-Emmons volleyball team overcame an error-filled first game to down Southeast Conference foe Lanesboro 18-25, 25-16, 12-25, 25-22, 15-13 Tuesday night.

The Wolverines were up 11-7 in the final game when Lanesboro stormed back to tie it at 11, 12 and 13. However, G-E would regroup getting Lanesboro to hit out on point 14 while Jordyn VanRyswyk ended the match with a kill.

&8220;The girls were very excited and I have to give credit to my bench for accepting their role, being loud and cheering on the girls,&8221; Wolverine head coach Lisa Ziebell said.

G-E put on a serving display hitting on 95 percent of its serves on the night.

Danielle Cooper led the Wolverines going 18-for-18 serving with four aces, VanRyswyk had 15 kills and three blocks, Molly Kral dished out 25 assists and Karissa Olson had 14 kills and 14 digs.

NRHEG 3 B.P. 0

NEW RICHLAND &8212; New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale Geneva made quick work of Blooming Prairie winning 25-16, 25-22, 25-16 Tuesday.

The result was a reversal from the last time the two teams met and NRHEG lost in five.

Kelsey Christensn led the team with six aces, Emily Dahle had 12 assists and Cailin Timm had 12 kills and three blocks.