Vikings earn top seed in 3A-South volley tourney

Minneota earned the No. 1 seed for the Section 3A-North volleyball playoffs, while Russell-Tyler-Ruthton is the top seed in the South half.
Minneota (27-3), the Class A state runner-up last season, will open the playoffs next Friday at home against Dawson-Boyd or Central Minnesota Christian.
The 10-day layoff allows the Vikings to rest and get healthy heading into the post-season.
“I think the long layoff is just what we need before we start post-season,” said Minneota coach Hayley Fruin. “We went hard and played a lot of games to end the season. Now it’s time to get healthy and work on key areas that we are struggling with. We will definitely be taking advantage of these 10 days or practice to get better in every way we can.”
The extra days off also gives the players a chance to work on some parts of their game that may need refining.
“I think these next few days are very crucial practices because if you keep winning, we have very little time to prepare for the next team,” Senior Ireland Stassen noted. “So, during these practices we need to work on fine-tuning some things we have noticed as issues in past games and really make ourselves ready both physically and mentally.”The Vikings had some hard-fought matches as the regular season wound down, including a five-set victory over RTR that saw three of the five sets extended beyond the point limits, as well as a four-set victory over a solid MACCRAY team.
“I’m most proud of this team for battling against some really good team and winning those five-set matches,” said Minneota coach Hayley Fruin. “We could’ve folded many times and these girls always regroup and battle back. Those W’s are important in those big games because you then know the kids are mentally tough.”
“Playing teams like RTR and MACCRAY really give us a good look at what we need to work on and what we need to sharpen up come playoff time,” Stassen echoed. “Those big games really give us the motivation to want get better so we can finish the season strong.”
Section 3A is one of the stronger sections in the state and earning a repeat trip to state will require the team to be at its best.
“We just need to focus on ourselves and not worry about what others are doing,” Fruin said this past weekend. “We need to keep getting better and really grind this week in practice.”
Minneota lost several veteran starters from last season’s team, but have surprised a few people with how well they are doing with a young squad. The Vikings have only three seniors on the roster.
“I knew it was going to take time with an inexperienced team until we got to our full potential,” Fruin noted. “The month of August and September were important that the girls didn’t get frustrated. When October came, we put it all together and could see the growth we made. We’ve cruised since then, but it’s so important that we don’t hit the brakes.”
The players were motivated by wanting to prove they could continue the program’s success despite losing some key players.
“I think going into this year we all heard the ‘talk’ about how our program was going to be after losing so many seniors,” said Stassen. “With that, we had many girls ready and wanting playing time.”
The players weren’t able to just step in and chalk up wins. It took dedication and hard work.
“Obviously, we have had to work a lot harder this year to have the success we have had so far due to most of us never playing together before,” Stassen said. “After we were able to build that connection, we were able to get in groove and have fun with it at the same time.”
The Vikings have had several attackers such as Ella Johnson, Elivia Faris, Megan Krog, Emma Bottelberghe, and hitter/setter Ireland Stassen, step up down the stretch which makes it tougher for the opponents to defend. Johnson has been the “go-to” player of late and has been leading the team in kills over the past several matches.
“Ella is really serving a big role for us offensively this year,” said Fruin. “She is finding ways to score on the outside even with a closed block and is getting a lot smarter with her shot selection, which has really helped her late in the season.”
Stassen is one of the top all-around players in Class A, able to set with precision, hammer down a kill, or play solid defense.
Defense has also been a marked improvement over the course of the season despite the Vikings graduating some outstanding defensive players.
“We lost a lot of defense from last year,” said Fruin. “McKenzie Tolk, Natalee Rolbiecki and McKenna Yost were all great defender that we had for many years. (Sophomore libero) Lyzah Sussner has really stepped in and is taking charge in the back row. I am so impressed with the amount of court she covers in a night.”

SECTION 3A-NORTH
Results Tuesday
1. (8) Dawson-Boyd vs.
(9) CMCS
2. (7) Yellow Medicine. East
vs. (10) Lakeview

Quarterfinals Oct. 28
3. W-1 at Minneota, 7 p.m.
4. (5) RCW at
(4) Wabasso, 7 p.m.
5. W-2 at (2) MACCRAY,
7 p.m.
6. (6) Lac qui Parle Valley at
(3) Canby, 7 p.m.

Semifinals Nov. 1
at SMSU
7. Winner-3 vs. Winner-4,
5:30 p.m.
8. Winner-5 vs. Winner-6,
7 p.m.

Final Nov. 3
at SMSU
9. Winner-7 vs. Winner-8,
7:30 p.m.

SECTION 3A-SOUTH
Results Tuesday
1. (8) Edgerton vs. (9)
Red Rock Central
2. (7) Murray County Central
vs. (10) Hills-Beaver Creek
Quarterfinals Oct. 28
3. Winner-1 at RTR, 7 p.m.
4. (5) Southwest Christian at (4) Westbrook-WG, 7 p.m.
5. Winner-2 at (2) Tracy-Milroy-Balaton, 7 p.m.
6. (6) Adrian-Ellsworth at
(3) HL-Okab./Fulda, 7 p.m.

Semifinals Nov. 1
at Worthington
7. Winner-3 vs. Winner-4,
5:30 p.m.
8. Winner-5 vs. Winner-6,
7 p.m.

Final Nov. 3
at SMSU
9. W-7 vs. W-8, 5:30 p.m.
SECTION 3A
Championship
Nov. 5 at SMSU
North winner vs. South winner, 5 p.m.