Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall's Hale DeVos (far left) and Avery Fahl celebrate a point as they walk toward the huddle during a non-conference volleyball game against No. 3 Willmar on Thursday in Marshall. The top-ranked Tigers started their season strong with a straight-sets win over the Cardinals.

MARSHALL — The top-ranked Marshall volleyball team wasted no time easing its way into the season this year. The Tigers hosted No. 3 Willmar in their home opener on Thursday night, but looked like a championship-caliber team from the first set. Marshall opened with a 25-18 first-set win and only got stronger from there, claiming the second set 25-15 and the third 25-17 to start the season with a statement.

“It’s always good to play good teams, and that’s certainly the case for us to start the season tonight,” Marshall head coach Dan Westby said. “Willmar’s got some good pieces there, they’re a good team. We didn’t look all that crisp, I didn’t think, overall, but I think Willmar had something to do with that and it was good to get the win.”

After committing a service error to start its season-opening match, the Tigers were sharp from the jump. They responded to the opening miscue with 3 unanswered points and went on to build their lead up to 8 points, 14-6. They didn’t trail the rest of the night.

Just as Marshall started to pull away, the Cardinals snapped back into form. Consistent back-row defense allowed Willmar to withstand long rallies to cut Marshall’s lead down to 18-16 and prompt a rare Marshall timeout.

“We had a bad stretch in set one where we just didn’t pass very well, and then all night long, serving was an issue for us,” Westby said. “We certainly have a lot to work on, but I think our assistant coaches have done a great job of…. Not trying to give our younger kids too much. They’ve given them just enough right now and we’ll gradually work those kids in more.”

Marshall finished the night with four service aces, two from Reese Drake and one each from Avery Fahl and Kezlyn Pinckney. In terms of setting, Fahl and Brooke Gillingham led the team with 18 and 17 set assists, respectively.

Coming out of the huddle, Marshall found its rhythm again with four consecutive kills from four different players. The Cardinals were able to get a point after calling a timeout of their own, trailing 22-16, but the Tigers held on with kills from Drake and Chika Nwakama capping off the first-set victory.

Drake tallied 13 assists on the night, followed by 10 from Avery Fahl and another six from Julia Fahl in her debut as a key member of the rotation.

All night long, Willmar was effective in its ability to extend points and make Marshall work for its kills. As such, there were plenty of digs to go around. Drake finished with a team-high 13, while Avery Fahl and Pinckney finished in double figures with 10 each.

“I think we kind of wore [Willmar] down a little bit, especially at the end of the third set, but they’re a good team and they’re going to make plays,” Westby said. “We had our stretches where, fundamentally, we weren’t as sound as we typically are, so we certainly have a lot to work on.”

The Tigers rode that momentum from the first set into the second with four unanswered points to start the set. A service error finally interrupted the Marshall run, but Avery Fahl came up with ace blocks on two of the next three points, and Julia Fahl came up with another shortly thereafter, to keep Marshall in control with a 10-4 lead.

Avery Fahl finished the night with a team-high three ace blocks, while also getting in the way of many other clean looks for Willmar, while Julia Fahl tied Laurel Ryks for second on the team with two.

“We need her to do that. She’s one of our most experienced players and we need her to make plays, plain and simple,” Westby said of Avery Fahl.

Marshall’s lead never waned to fewer than 5 points in the set from there. The Cardinals remained on the cusp of striking distance until back-to-back errors by Willmar gave Marshall a 17-9 lead, prompting a Willmar timeout. Still, Marshall only continued to extend its lead before settling for a 25-15 win.

Avery Fahl ended consecutive long rallies with emphatic spikes to give Marshall each of the first two points of the final set. After the teams traded service errors, Reese Drake came up with a service ace and Laurel Ryks and Fahl came together for a block as Marshall’s lead expanded to 6 points.

Back-to-back Marshall hitting errors and back-to-back Cardinal kills brought Willmar back within a pair of points, 7-5, before an Avery Fahl kill stopped the bleeding.

The Tigers’ lead hung around 5 points from there until a series of Marshall hitting errors allowed Willmar to get within 3 points, 17-14. Yet, consecutive Marshall points made Willmar call a timeout, trailing 19-14 with the match within reach for Marshall.

Willmar and Marshall traded points coming out of the break, but the Tigers held off the Cardinals down the stretch to complete the sweep.

The Tigers’ opening-week schedule doesn’t get any easier after Thursday’s ranked win. The Class 3A No. 1 Tigers will go on the road tonight to take on Class 4A No. 7 Chanhassen at 7 p.m.

“They’ve got a lot of talent,” Westby said of Willmar. “They didn’t have a single roster on their roster last year, so they’ve got everybody back. They’re a very good team, so they’ll be another good challenge for us.”