Independent file photo: Wabasso's Camryn Irlbeck (10) attempts to hit the ball past a Minneota defender during a Sept. 5 match against the Vikings at Wabasso High School

WABASSO — After winning the Tomahawk Conference championship in 2018, the Wabasso Rabbits volleyball program has had to endure some growing pains over the past several years.

But losing the school’s most prolific hitter in Maddy Guetter to graduation in the spring of 2019 was bound to hurt. Guetter remains the school’s all-time leader in kills with 1,719.

The Rabbits had to replace more than just Guetter, however. Jenna Frank was another key player and setter from that team that had 848 set assists to go with Guetter’s school-record 531 kills in 2018. Frank graduated that school year also.

Before the 2018 conference title, the Rabbits won at least a share of the conference from 2013 to 2017, finishing 2017 as sole champions.

After that 2018 season, the Rabbits dropped to 8-20 overall and 5-3 in the conference in 2019.

But now five years after that 2018 season, the Rabbits are sitting pretty on top of a talented Tomahawk Conference again as they recently became the conference champions outright.

Now in her 15th season as head volleyball coach, Barb Johnson is happy to see her team back on top.

“It was a really high goal of ours to win the conference title,” coach Johnson said. “It’s been since 2018 and in between that, I think we have one player, I think Avery [Carlson] was a manager or maybe in seventh grade at that time. So we only have one player that really remembers it — winning a title. So throughout this five years or whatever it’s been, we’ve had COVID and we’ve had all kinds of things going on that kind of distracted people, but I feel like for us anyway, this is the first year that we’ve really been able to get back to a normalcy type of thing and it felt really good.

“And last year we had a really great season as well, we just didn’t end up winning the conference that year. So it was a really big goal of ours, really high up on our list, so it felt great to be able to win it.”

Wabasso guaranteed itself a share of the conference title after finishing its conference schedule with a sweep at Springfield on Oct. 3, giving the Rabbits a final 7-1 conference mark.

But earlier this week, news broke about Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart having to forfeit what was previously a four-set conference win over New Ulm Cathedral on Sept. 19 for having a player play too many sets that night.

Outside of tournaments, a player is allowed to play five total sets in one day between Junior High, B-squad, JV and varsity.

After coach Johnson found out her Rabbits were the sole conference champions, she said she did feel bad for BLHS and thought the rules could use an adjustment.

“I guess I had heard the rumblings about it before Monday night,” coach Johnson said. “It’s just one of those things where, as a coach, I can understand how that could have happened. You’re in the heat of the game … and you’re playing varsity and you want to get people in there, and I can understand how that uncommon mistake can happen.

“And to be honest, it’s one of those rules that, in my opinion, needs to be changed because volleyball is the only sport that you don’t get an extra game. Basketball, you get three halves, volleyball you get five games no matter what, and our varsity match could go five games. So it’s the only sport where you don’t get to play extra if you so choose.”

It wasn’t the ideal way the Rabbits wanted to win the conference outright, but after years of building back up and climbing the conference ladder again, the Rabbits are going to enjoy this title as they continue to put together their best season in years.

And the conference championship was also a testament to the dedication seniors Avery Carlson and Natasha Doubler have put in over the years to lead a young team.

Coach Johnson said they had a lot of players quit during the COVID season and never return, but Carlson and Doubler stuck with it and are now a key part of the team during their senior year.

“They’ve been around for a long time, they’ve both been starting since their freshmen year, I think Avery was even the year before,” coach Johnson said. “So it’s kind of a special group in that case because you don’t usually get four full years with players on varsity. So they’ve gotten to know me very well, I know them very well, and they’ve been really good mentors for these younger girls that we have. We have four sophomores that are starting on varsity. Last year they started as freshmen with the same juniors in the starting lineup.

“It’s been really fun to see these girls grow, the older girls and the younger girls, just how they’ve grown, how they’ve become better players, how they’ve become better competitors out there also — that’s been a really big one we’ve been working on because when you start so young, you’re just focused on the basics and doing what you can. As you get older, you can focus on winning and competing and becoming better players in general.”

Before Thursday’s home match with Redwood Valley, the Rabbits have been led this season by sophomore outside hitter Alivia Olson’s 209 kills, while Avery Carlson had 134 kills, 228 digs and a team-best 40 aces and Doubler had 144 digs and 25 total blocks. Sophomore middle hitter Camryn Irlbeck had 102 kills and a team-best 61 total blocks, while sophomore setter Sara Carlson had 551 set assists and 165 digs, sophomore libero Audrey Johnson had a team-best 272 digs and sophomore middle hitter Lyla Kittelson added 86 kills and 41 total blocks.

The Rabbits, also the No. 9-ranked team in Class A, still have a a nonconference game left in the season at Cleveland on Tuesday before playoffs begin. The playoffs don’t get any easier for the Rabbits, however, as they leave a conference full of Section 2A teams for the Section 3A playoffs.

Section 3A has five total teams in the top 10 of the MNVBCA Coaches Poll for Class A.

Of those Section 3A teams, Minneota is the top ranked team in Class A, while Russell-Tyler-Ruthton is No. 3, Canby is No. 6 and Renville County West sits behind Wabasso at No. 10.