Minneota captains Ireland Stassen (left) and Lyzah Sussner (right) raise up the Minnesota Class A Volleyball Championship trophy in celebration with their teammates following the Vikings' 3-2 win over Mayer Lutheran Saturday evening

Coming off a 2021 state championship loss to Mayer Lutheran, Minneota volleyball head coach Hayley Fruin had sleepless nights. She said she never wanted to leave a game thinking, “I wish I would have….” again. Heading into the 2022 season, this was a different team. They set the goal early to return to the state championship, to make the season a year of redemption.

The Vikings came into the first practice of the season wanting to set standards for the team. Fruin wanted the coaches to be more communicative, watch more film and be more involved with the team this season.

“We worked on a lot of individual stuff and had a lot of conversations with the coaches and players about goals of the season,” Fruin said. “We knew that there were a lot of positions we needed to fill but we wanted to focus on becoming a team and growth in getting better each day. We also knew that this year it was going to be tougher to get to state. We wanted to go above and beyond with our team to give them the best chance to do so.”

The Vikings started the season as the defending Section 3A champions. However, at the Southwest Minnesota Challenge in early September, they didn’t look anything like it.

“At the Southwest Challenge, we lost and didn’t play our best volleyball from day one,” Fruin said. “We learned and grew from that loss. Our roles were still being established and we wanted to take it day by day. We ended up winning our final four matches of the tournament. We had conversations about continuing to improve in October. We want to be peaking.”

As late September came, there was a team in Tyler, Minn. that was also ascending like the Vikings. The Russell-Tyler-Ruthton Knights defeated the Minneota Vikings in a Class A showcase tournament in three sets.

The Knights were the No. 1 team more than halfway through the season and the Vikings dropped to third. These two titan teams were on a collision course. They would meet again on Oct. 11 in arguably the best volleyball match of the season.

Both teams came in with two losses and a combined record of 43-4. It was a measuring stick for the Vikings to see if they could beat the No. 1 team in the class.

The Knights had won a couple of tournaments and were 24-2 coming into the match but they weren’t tested like the Vikings were. The Vikings had gone through several five-set matches where the contest could have gone either way but found a way to win. The Vikings would win this two-hour, 45-minute match and build the confidence needed to know they could be a top team.

“We wanted to fix a few things before the match with RTR,” Fruin said. “We knew that everyone was focused on RTR and we wanted to prove to ourselves that we can compete with anybody. We were pretty confident heading into that match and wasn’t nervous about the environment because of previous contests we’ve been in.”

After that win versus the Knights, the Vikings went on a roll. They completed an undefeated season in the Camden Conference to be named champions and only dropped one more contest for the remainder of the season before heading into the playoffs.

The Vikings had earned the No.1 seed in the North bracket of the Section 3A playoffs. This allowed the Vikings to have 11 days off from their regular season finale to their first playoff match against the Dawson-Boyd Blackjacks.

Minneota won their first two matches of the playoffs in straight sets over Dawson-Boyd and Wabasso. It then set up a third match of the season with the MACCRAY Wolverines.

The Vikings had defeated them for the conference championship just 17 days earlier and in Clara City earlier in the season. The Vikings left no doubt and defeated the Wolverines in straight sets to advance to the finals. They had the team from Tyler waiting for them.

The Vikings came into the section championship without dropping a set in the postseason. Both teams had won a match and four sets each in their previous two matchups. The classic October match was a prelude for things to come, this time with a championship and a trip to St. Paul on the line.

“We knew how talented a team RTR is,” Fruin said. “We also wanted to just focused on what we were doing and, if we could execute the game plan, we would give ourselves the best chance to win.”

Most fans knew that these were the best two teams in the section. Many also thought RTR had a chance to knock off the defending section champions.

However, in the words of hall of fame basketball coach Rudy Tomjanovich, “don’t ever underestimate the heart of a champion.”

The match started out as anticipated with RTR winning the first set and controlling most of the second set.

Then the Vikings responded.

As in the last matchup between these two teams, the Vikings stormed back in set two to win. They then captured set three, putting RTR down two sets to one.

The Knights wouldn’t fold easily though. Despite facing match point in set four, RTR would score three straight points to force a deciding fifth set. The pressure was mounting for both teams, but it was not an unfamiliar situation for the Vikings.

Though the Knights were a formidable opponent, they couldn’t unseat the Vikings from the section championship and heading to the state tournament.

The Vikings arrived in St. Paul and faced New Life Academy and Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa in their quarter and semifinal matches. Both matches were straight-set wins, setting up an epic rematch with Mayer Lutheran for the state title.

The finals matchup against Mayer Lutheran was a back-and-forth affair. The Vikings won the first two sets and the championship was in sight.

Then the Crusaders came back.

The Crusaders would go on to win the following two sets to force a deciding fifth set, seizing all the momentum.

“We just talked about whoever was the most disciplined would win the game,” Fruin said. “We talked about having patience and everybody was dialed in. In the fifth set, we made some adjustments. Sometimes when you see change, panic occurs, but it didn’t with this team. This year makes it so much more special because we have grown so much from September and we clicked at the right time. These girls deserve the recognition.”

The players on the team carried a chip on their shoulders from the previous championship loss. They heard the talk throughout the towns of them not getting back to the state tournament for a number of reasons. That didn’t stop them from putting in the work and being able to do their talking on the court

“I just think we really connected this year and we all really wanted it because we heard a lot of people talk about us not making it back,” Minneota libero Lyzah Sussner said

“As a senior, it was all the girls that made it a special season,” middle blocker Megan Krog said. “We connected as a team and had no drama on the team all season.”

“I enjoyed the teammates that I played with making this season special,” Elivia Faris, a right-side hitter for the Vikings, said. “We work so hard and got it done. We were able to prove people wrong who doubted us.

Stassen had a conversation with Fruin at the end of the 2021 season that fueled the 2022 championship season.

“We had several talks after the loss in ’21 and throughout this season,” Stassen said. “Hayley and I are very close, we have a great relationship. This Minneota program wouldn’t be what it is without the coaches and head coach Hayley Fruin.”