Their timing was impeccable.

Huh?

Well, the Eden Prairie High School volleyball team waited for Halloween night before becoming scary good, upsetting No. 2 seeded Bloomington Kennedy in the Section 6AAA semifinals in three straight games.

How did this happen?

“We played smarter this time than last time,” said Eden Prairie Head Coach Chad Becker, of the avenging of his team’s only Lake Conference loss of the season. “If you look back at that first match, the team that lost each game was the team committed the most unforced errors.

“Acknowledging that that’s what happened,” he adds, “we didn’t attempt to win every point by ripping the ball to the floor; instead, we just tried to keep the ball in play and force them make the mistakes.”

Tuesday, it worked to the tune of a 25-18, 25-23, and 29-27 victory.

Although it’s hard to find fault with team that wins a match it’s not supposed to win, Becker wasn’t exactly thrilled with how his team finished.

“We had 19-9 lead in the last game and then just kind of quit,” he said. “We won, but it shouldn’t have been 29-27. Who knows what happens if we lose that game.”

As a reward for winning, Eden Prairie now plays No. 1 seed and No. 1 ranked Chaska.

The matchup is hardly something new as the two teams have now met in the section finals in each of the last five years.

As if it matters, Chaska won three of the four section championships. Along those same lines, it doesn’t matter a lick that Eden Prairie defeated Chaska in four games during the regular season.

“They’re going to say they weren’t at full strength,” said Becker, of beating Chaska without one of its top players. “If that’s the case, we’re gong to want to see if we can beat them at their best.”

Game on.

When asked about strategy, Becker talked about the importance of winning the first game.

“I’m not going to say we can’t beat them if we don’t win that first game,” he said, “because that’s how we beat them last time. It’s just that it makes it a whole lot tougher, especially in a section match like this.”

In reality, Becker sees game No. 1 as a mental test.

“If we don’t play too nervous,” he said, “I really like our chances.”

The Section 6AAA finals take place Saturday beginning at 7 p.m. at Prior Lake High School.