Photos by Samantha Davis. The Minneota volleyball players and coaches huddle together after being named the 2024 state Class A runners-up Saturday afternoon at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The Vikings fell to Mayer Lutheran, and finishes its season 26-11 overall. Below: The Minneota volleyball team groups together after receiving their second place medals and plaque.

ST. PAUL — The energy of the crowd’s applause was contagious in the Xcel Energy Center on Saturday as the No. 2 Minneota volleyball team took the court alongside top-seeded Mayer Lutheran in the Class A state championship match. Despite cleaning up early errors and fighting back in deficits, the Vikings fell to the Crusaders in straight sets of 14-25, 25-27 and 17-25 to finish as state runners-up.

“It didn’t end the way we wanted it to, but I’m just really proud that we are here,” senior Nevaeh Hennen said. “It’s such a big accomplishment to even make it to state, so I’m really proud of us.”

Jaylyn Coequyt, Faris and Rolbiecki were all named to the Class A All-Tournament team, marking the first selection for each player. Coequyt finished the tournament with 32 kills, Faris logged 30 and Rolbiecki had 49 digs through the three games.

Minneota and Mayer Lutheran have a long, competitive history of meeting for a state title. Saturday’s match marked the 10th time the two have faced off in the championship match.

“There have been moments through the season, especially in September, [people would say] we’re going to be a five-seed and we were going to lose immediately in the first round of the playoffs,” Minneota head coach Hayley Fruin said. “This group just did not give up, which is just so cool, because this was our end goal — to be here.”

The two teams had similar runs in the tournament to get to this point, both sweeping their opponents in the quarterfinals followed by a 3-1 semifinal win. They were also both undefeated this season in their respective conferences.

Mayer Lutheran’s offense challenged the Vikings throughout the match. The Crusaders finished with a .246 hitting percentage, 39 assists and four aces, to Minneota’s .092 mark, 28 assists and no service aces.

The Crusaders also held a height advantage with three players standing at least 6-foot-flat and another six players over 5-foot-10. Minneota, meanwhile, only had two players standing above 5-foot-8 and none taller than Jaylyn Coequyt at 5-foot-10. That height advantage translated to seven Crusader blocks compared to Minneota’s four.

“They have size. They always do,” Fruin said. “What I was happy to see is we still took really hard swings up there. When we were in system, we were scoring. But, it came down to passing today, and unfortunately, we just were out of system too often.”

Hennen said that she navigates height as a setter by keeping an eye on where the tallest girls are standing, and tries to set her teammates up for smart shots. Hennen had 13 set assists and 10 digs in the match, along with Libby Sussner’s 13 assists and seven digs.

The Crusaders jumped to a 5-0 start in the first set behind three Minneota errors.

Jaylyn Coequyt brought some spark to cut the 9-5 deficit with a pair of kills and a block, along with a Sarah Gruenes kill. However, the Crusaders carried on with a 7-2 run to keep their lead when Fruin called a second timeout.

Coequyt had five kills alone in the first set with one error and finished with a game-high 16.

Throughout the tournament, the Vikings showed their resiliency when trailing by going on runs of their own. It overcame 7-point deficits on two separate occasions in the semifinals over Fillmore on Friday.

That’s exactly what Minneota began to do, with three consecutive kills by Coequyt, Eden Meagher and Elivia Faris to cut Mayer Lutheran’s advantage to 17-11.

Meagher had 10 kills and eight digs, while Faris tallied five kills and five digs.

But, the Crusaders finished the set off by bringing in six more points from kills.

The Vikings had nine errors between attacking and serving in the set, to Mayer Lutheran’s two.

Minneota ended with a total of 29 errors in attacks, service, and serve receptions compared to the Crusaders’ 21.

Looking more settled and communicative, Minneota did not let a large deficit take place again to begin the second set.

The Vikings went on a 5-1 run with a Faris kill and five Mayer Lutheran errors to tie it up 10-10.

Coequyt continued to be efficient at the net and hit another two kills along with one from Hennen to stay within four points midway through the set. But Mayer Lutheran again continued to spike the ball down after a solid defensive recovery to climb back 23-15.

Abigail Rolbiecki had a team-high 13 digs, followed by Autumn Anderson with another 11.

Minneota responded with an 8-1 run to tie it all up at 23 with combined kills from Faris, Leah and Jaylyn Coequyt and Meagher as the Vikings fan’s cheers filled the arena.

The end of the set went point-for-point until Mayer Lutheran was able to hit two successful kills to take the extended 27-25 set win.

“It’s all about momentum, that is the game of volleyball,” Fruin said. “We had our chances. It’s hard when you lose those, but you’re hopeful that you’ve gained some momentum for set three. But, them winning that one at the end there, I think the momentum stayed on their side.”

Minneota kept a 1 or 2-point edge through the start of the third set, and Jaylyn had three kills in the Vikings’ first eight points.

A string of kills and blocks built up a Crusaders 20-15 lead, who had four blocks alone in the third set which put pressure on the Vikings. Mayer Lutheran finished the set on a 5-2 run to finish the afternoon off.

After receiving their plaque and medals, Fruin hugged each of her players, filled with emotion, individually down a line before bringing them all in for a huddle.

“We could easily not be sitting in these chairs [at the state tournament],” Fruin said. “They have so much to be proud of.”

Minneota will graduate its two seniors in Hennen and Faris, who were on the 2022 state champion team. The duo leaves the program feeling prideful in leading the Vikings’ young roster.

“I’m just very grateful to be a part of this team and Minneota volleyball,” Hennen said.

Gruenes added that Hennen and Faris had a huge impact on the team, and that next year’s roster will miss them. Fruin also acknowledged the two in leading the team and helping to bring them back to state, after losing eight seniors last year.

“I’m happy that we’re here, and that I was able to play volleyball with all of these girls,” Faris said.

The Vikings finish their 2024 campaign 26-11 overall and will bring in a large group of returners next year. In total, Minneota has now been to the state championship match 16 times since 2001, including four titles and 12 second-place honors.

“As much as it hurts right now, and as much as I think the girls are really sad, I want them to understand how proud this whole community is of them,” Fruin said with emotion. “I just hope they know how proud everybody is of them, especially myself. It’s been a fun year.”