Photo by Sam Thiel Minneota’s Lizzy Gillingham connects on a kill during their Class A championship match against Medford.

ST. PAUL – When the Minneota volleyball team exited the court after last year’s Class A state championship match (3-0 loss to Mayer Lutheran) with a bitter taste in their mouths, they decided to come up with a motto for the 2018 season.

That motto, later turned into a hashtag on its social media accounts, was “Can’t stop, won’t stop.” All year long, the Vikings knew they couldn’t and wouldn’t be done until their goal of a reaching and winning a state championship was complete.

On Saturday afternoon, Minneota was able to, at least for the moment, stop when they earned a 3-0 victory against Medford to take home the Class A title.

The championship is the second in school history as a volleyball program, with the only other one coming back in 2006. One person who knows a little about that year is head coach Hayley Fruin, who was a member of that title team 12 years prior.

Fruin said both experiences of being a player and a coach that’s won for the same program were special and was glad that she was able to share that same feeling with her players.

“Both moments were special of course; I don’t remember being this nervous that many years ago, maybe just from being a kid but definitely nerves (Saturday) and I’m so glad these kids went out there and battled tough,” Fruin said. “It’s still just as exciting.”

The Vikings had yet another dominant season, and only improved on their marks from last year. Minneota finished with an overall record of 36-1, with the lone loss coming to Northfield in the Southwest Challenge in September. Over the course of Fruin’s two seasons at the helm, the Vikings have posted an astonishing record of 65-7.

Minneota also returned its core group of players from last season, led by five seniors, including Lydia Sussner, Lizzy Gillingham, Morgan Kockelman, Brooklyn Nelson and Sydney Larson.

Kockelman said it’s a great feeling to finish their senior season with a championship and to be able to accomplish their goal they had set from the end of last year.

“It feels pretty great to have a state championship, especially as a senior,” Kockelman said. “I know all of the rest of the seniors, it’s what we’ve been looking forward to all year, we really wanted to make it to state and making it here, we really wanted to win the whole thing. So it feels really amazing to actually be able to do that.”