Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall middle blocker Nora Holmgren (15) celebrates with teammates Julia (12) and Avery Fahl (1) after a point during a non-conference volleyball match against Watertown (S.D.) on Tuesday at Marshall High School. The top-ranked Tigers swept the Arrows on Tuesday to improve to 5-0 on the season.

MARSHALL — Heading into the season, the Marshall volleyball team was widely viewed as one of the top teams in the state. Through five matches, that seems to be an understatement. Hosting South Dakota Class AA No. 4 for a non-conference match on Tuesday, the Tigers claimed a 25-20 win in the first set and only got stronger from there, with a 25-13 win in the second game and a 25-11 win in the third to complete the sweep to remain perfect through five matches.

One of the key factors in Marshall’s ability to pull away in its second and third sets was its increase in aggression at the service line, Marshall head coach Dan Westby said. The Tigers had talked about applying pressure with the serve before the match because of Watertown’s depth, and Westby said he felt that things got much easier for the Tigers once they started to execute that aspect of the game.

Julia and Avery Fahl, Drake and Brooke Gillingham went a combined 45 of 47 from the service line, with a pair of aces each for Julia Fahl, Drake and Gillingham.

“[Julia Fahl’s] got a tough serve, and when she gets on a roll, it’s difficult for other teams to deal with,” Westby said. “We need her to do that. We’ve got six kids that generally serve, and all six of them need to do their part in terms of putting pressure on the opponent.”

Marshall started the first set in a rare deficit after Kynsee Russell and Reese Munger came up with an ace serve and an ace block to start the game. Avery Fahl responded with a kill to help the Tigers tie the game back up at 2 points apiece, but Watertown continued to build its lead up to 6-3.

A Julia Fahl ace and a Reese Drake kill helped Marshall start to shift momentum in its favor, taking its first lead at 7-all Watertown retook the lead on the next point, but a kill and an ace from Julia Fahl and a Nora Holmgren kill helped Marshall build its advantage to 12-8 when Watertown took the match’s first timeout in an effort to halt the Tigers’ 5-0 run.

Holmgren finished the match with a pair of ace blocks, and her five kills ranked fourth on the team. Leading the way, Avery Fahl finished with 11 kills and a block while Drake and Julia Fahl chipped in nine and seven, respectively.

Watertown scored the first point out of the huddle, but Marshall’s edge continued to grow to 6 points when Watertown called its second timeout after an Avery Fahl block made the score 21-15. The Arrows came up with back-to-back points shortly thereafter, but a Watertown hitting error and a Drake kill capped off the 25-18 win.

“I think it was a combination of good play by Watertown and just us getting into a little bit of a rut there where we made too many errors,” Westby said of the Tigers’ early deficit in the first game. “We were able to pull that one out, but it was kind of dicey there for a while.”

The Tigers got off to a sluggish start in the first game but were firing on all cylinders from the jump in the second.

A pair of service aces from Drake aided the Tigers in claiming 6 of the set’s first 7 points. Strong blocking up front and a quality service run from Julia Fahl allowed Marshall to extend its lead to 15-6 when Watertown called its second timeout of the set. Yet, the pressure only continued to mount as Marshall scored 3 unanswered points out of the break.

A series of serve-receive errors helped Pipestone trim the deficit back to single digits, 20-11, but the Arrows never got back within striking distance as another strong service run from Kezlyn Pinckney kept Marshall ahead and a Julia Fahl kill finalized the 25-13 win.

Pinckney and Gillingham tied for second on the team with seven digs each, trailing only Drake’s 10.

The Tigers and Arrows traded points to start the third set, with the score tied at 3-3 before a 5-point service run from Julia Fahl brought Marshall’s lead to 8-3. Just as the Arrows started to find some momentum, Reese Drake served up another 6 unanswered points.

Marshall never looked back from there, running away with a 25-11 victory to clinch the match.

Practice makes perfect

Through their first five matches of the season, Marshall has played four ranked teams, including Class 4A No. 5 Chanhassen, Class 3A No. 4 Willmar and Class 2A No. 8 Jackson County Central. Despite the strong competition, the Tigers are still yet to drop a set this year, winning each of the 15 games they’ve played. Two of those teams even moved up after losing to Marshall, with Chanhassen starting the season at No. 7 and JCC opening at No. 9 in the preseason poll.

Marshall started the season ranked No. 1 in 3A and has maintained its position for a reason, now commanding 13 of the 15 first-place votes in the latest Minnesota Volleyball Coaches Association poll. The other two first-place votes went to No. 2 Delano, which has swept each of the two matches it has played so far against unranked teams.

Up next

The Tigers’ road doesn’t get any easier anytime soon. Marshall goes on the road to take on Class 2A No. 4 Belle Plaine on Thursday at 7:15 p.m., and then hosts the Southwest Challenge on Friday and Saturday, including 10 teams ranked in the latest coaches poll. Marshall will open the two-day tournament against Fergus Falls on Friday at 5 p.m.

“I thought our kids did a nice job of focusing tonight, but we’ve just got to continue to come to practice every day and figure out ways to get better,” Westby said of the team’s goals ahead of the tournament.