​ALBANY, Minn. — Peaking at the right time for playoffs is every team’s goal, but few can actually obtain that feat. Between injuries, easier non-conference slates and plain-old fatigue, a lot of teams with good records get eliminated early in sectionals.More: VOTE | St. Cloud Times Athlete of the Week, Sept. 28 – Oct. 4More: St. Cloud State volleyball alum Sam Zimmerman settling in nicely at TechThen there is St. John’s Prep, which has won 8-0 in consecutive games against Walker-Hackensack-Akeley and Albany on back-to-back nights. The Johnnies have won five of their last seven, with the two losses coming in a hard-fought 1-0 defeat to Little Falls and a heartbreaking 3-2 loss to Cathedral — the top two teams in the conference.“We have really figured some things out together over the past two weeks,” St. John’s coach Kris Fremo said. “We’ve played some really good and close games against a couple of really good teams in our conference; we know we can play with all of them and it’s an exciting position to be in.”The shutout against Albany was the icing on the cake as the Johnnies have just one remaining game against Melrose on Oct. 8 before playoffs begin.Fremo has seen her young team grow into one with confidence, taking and making difficult shots all night long against the Huskies.Junior Lauren Lenzmeier led the way with a hat trick and freshman Lucy Gardner had two goals. Juniors Maia Fremo, Claudia Ruzanic and Kylee Kron rounded out the scoring for St. John’s Prep.“Both [Lauren and Lucy] are developing a better sense of how to touch the ball as they move up the field to give themselves the optimal opportunity to shoot the ball,” Fremo said. “Even though we had a better record last year, in the past week and a half, we’ve been playing the best soccer I’ve seen out of these kids in the past two years.”The Johnnies went 10-6 last season before losing to Cathedral in the sectional semifinals. This year, they just eclipsed the .500 mark, improving to 7-6 after their win against Albany.Last year, the momentum heading into the playoffs was different. St. John’s had dropped three consecutive matches after a 7-2 start and relatively struggled in wins against a 3-12 Albany team and 0-15 Melrose squad in the last two contests before sections. Quite the difference a year can make in that regard.This Johnnies team played nearly perfect against Albany; scrapping from beginning-to-end and looking like a team that knew they were going to win 8-0 from the time the first whistle blew.“I was thrilled with the persistence of my team tonight,” Fremo said. “We wanted to treat this line a tune-up for playoffs. We’ve been working to peak at the right time, and we did a lot of things that we set out to do. They never took their foot of the gas.”As sectional drawings get finalized Oct. 9, the Johnnies will be awaiting the luck of the draw, though likely getting yet another first-round match against Albany.More: With alum