Photo by PhotoWorks The 2024 Marshall volleyball team includes (front row, left to right) Makia Radtke, Kezlyn Pinckney, Trinity Brownlee, Kyah Pinckney, (middle row) student manager Salem Frost, student manager Bella Gossen, Halle DeVos, Brooke Gillingham, Ali Pederson, Audree Larson, Brynn Webb, (back row) assistant coach Terry Culhane, assistant coach Amber Altheide, Reese Drake, Avery Fahl, Laurel Ryks, head coach Dan Westby, assistant coach Alex Boddy and student manager Sara Dallman.

MARSHALL — Winning culture is something every sports program strives for, but few have achieved it to the extent that the Marshall volleyball team has. The Tigers have won three consecutive Class AAA state championships and haven’t lost a best-of-5 match to a team in their class or lower since 2019. While this year’s team is younger than previous seasons — Marshall rosters just two seniors compared to seven last year and eight the year prior — the No. 4 Tigers once again have high expectations.

“I think there’s an expectation there and I think those kids [who didn’t get as much experience last season] are willing to do what it takes to get there,” Westby said of his younger players being along for the ride for the last three state titles. “That’s always a good thing when you have kids that want to be there every day, want to get better and know what’s at stake.”

Marshall’s two seniors, Ali Pederson and Audree Larson, showed great leadership and attitude early on, Marshall head coach Dan Westby said. He added that while the team isn’t as senior-heavy as it has been, they have plenty of experience to lean on; Avery Fahl has been a contributing member of each of the last two state championship runs while Brooke Gillingham and Reese Drake were each named to the Minnesota State High School League’s Class AAA All-Tournament team last year.

Gillingham was also a member of the Independent’s All-Area second team last season, finishing the year with 1,128 set assists, 218 digs and 30 service aces. Her assist total ranked her fourth in Minnesota single-season history, 73 shy of her older sister Maysa’s second-ranked total of 1201. 

Drake returns as the team’s leading outside hitter with plenty of kills up for grabs. Brielle Riess and Morgan Bjella led the team with 468 and 307 kills respectively last season but with both gone, Drake has plenty of room to pad her numbers. Even last season as the team’s third-leading hitter, Drake earned Independent All-Area third-team honors after logging a balanced 298 kills and 269 digs. She was also effective from the service stripe with 34 aces on the season.

While Reese’s older sister Kennedy graduated out of the libero role, as did Jayda Bednarek out of the defensive specialist role, Fahl helps anchor the Marshall defense’s moving pieces with her play up front as a middle blocker while also splitting time with Gillingham as a setter. Fahl finished last season with a team-leading 37 solo blocks and started this season with a team-leading 17 set assists in the opener against Willmar on Thursday. Still, they’re figuring things out in the back row as a team.

“They two Pinckney girls have kind of battled for that spot [as libero],” Westby said. “Kyah is a junior and Kezlyn is a sophomore, so those two have kind of shared time at that position, but we’ve been so fortunate over the years to have been solid in the libero position and we need that again this year too.”

The duo got off to a strong start early on with Kezlyn finishing with 26 digs in the season opener and Kyah adding another 14. 

“I think the good thing is that they’ve really supported one another,” Westby said. “I think that’s been good and I think that it’s helped both players.”

After three straight state championships, seeing the Tigers ranked No. 4 in the state almost feels like lowballing the team after what they’ve accomplished as of late. Still, they remain among Minnesota’s top teams.

“We don’t take a whole lot of stock in those polls. I think we’ve been number one for the last two seasons, I don’t think we’ve dropped out of that spot, but I think a lot of that stems from the fact that we did have a lot of seniors who played a lot the last two years,” Westby said. “We just don’t have that now, but that doesn’t mean that the expectations have changed. We want to get where we were the last couple of seasons. But it is what it is, there are some teams ranked ahead of us and that’s okay. As I’ve always said, rankings, that just means that teams are going to play hard against us.”

Westby added that he and the rest of the coaching staff are looking forward to coming into the gym every day and working to get better on a consistent basis.

Marshall opened its schedule with a win over Willmar on Thursday night. It will go on to face Belle Plaine in New Ulm as part of the Big South Cross-Over event on Saturday morning before hosting New Ulm for its home opener on Tuesday at 7:15 p.m.