Photos by Samantha Davis: Minneota senior Abby Rolbiecki goes in for a dig in the second set against Renville County West Tuesday night in a Camden Conference prep volleyball match. The Vikings swept the Jaguars. Below: Minneota senior Sarah Gruenes goes up for a hit in the second set. Below: The Minneota volleyball team cheers one another on after rallying back to win the first set.

MINNEOTA — Jaylyn and Leah Coequyt, Eden Meagher and Sarah Gruenes combined for 43 kills to power the No. 2 Minneota volleyball team in a sweep over Renville County West Tuesday night in a Camden South Conference matchup. The Vikings defeated the Jaguars in sets of 25-23, 25-12 and 25-11.

With one home match remaining in the regular season, Minneota took time prior to the match to honor its pair of seniors in Abby Rolbiecki and Gruenes.

“I told myself I wasn’t going to cry, but I ended up crying,” Rolbiecki said, laughing. “It’s just a big part of your life when you come in and you play volleyball here for a long time with these girls, so it’s just really sad and I don’t want this season to be over.”

“They’ve [Rolbiecki and Gruenes] both been huge leaders for us on this team, both in the captain role as well. Their role on the court, I think they really take control … They really help keep the momentum of the game, and just keep the girls moving in the right direction,” Minneota head coach Kaley Buysse said. “They’re both amazing leaders. They’re going to [leave] big holes next year, for sure.”

Jaylyn Coequyt and Meagher shared a team-high 12 kills, while Gruenes finished with 10 and Leah Coequyt followed with nine kills. Libby Sussner and Sophie Gillund paced the offense with 23 and 18 set assists, respectively.

On the defensive end, Rolbiecki led with 11 digs, while Autum Anderson and Brynn Rost followed with four and three.

Minneota faced some early adversity in the first set and trailed for a large portion, but was able to find an answer to eventually tie the set up at 22-22 after a back-to-back Gruenes kill and service ace.

“It’s been fun to watch Sarah this season, I feel like she really came alive. She just [has] contributed in a whole new way when it comes to putting the ball away, and her kills and blocks,” Buysse said. “We threw on the outside, so she’s been swinging and still getting out there, and just doing a lot of good things. [She’s] willing to play whatever role we need her to play.”

A pair of Meagher kills and an RCW hitting error gave the Vikings the come-from-behind first set victory.

Jaylyn Coequyt, Gruenes and Meagher started the offensive momentum early, all finishing with five kills each in the opening set.

Prior to tying up the score, the set began with the Vikings and Jaguars trading points until RCW built a 14-11 lead, becoming 18-14, after continuing to hit the ball into empty spots on Minneota’s half.

But, Gruenes and Jaylyn Coequyt were able to end a pair of RCW runs with kills to get Minneota’s rally started.

“I think we started off a little bit slow tonight, but other than that, we just got to clean up a little bit of those unforced errors,” Rolbiecki said. “At the end of the day, we can just play our game and clean those things up, then it gets us to play our game in the second and third set.”

Leah Coequyt was Minneota’s spark in the second set with a string of kills while occupying the middle of the net. The Vikings changed the tempo from the first set, and didn’t allow the Jaguars to come back within reach.

Two kills from both Meagher and Leah Coequyt helped the Vikings bolster an 8-3 start, which quickly grew to 18-6 after a continuous aggressive blocking effort and the Vikings’ versatility on the offensive end flustered RCW.

“I think it’s definitely a benefit to us, and I give credit to our setters for doing a really good job of moving the ball around. They know that we have all those options, and we should continue to utilize those options,” Buysse said of Minneota’s offensive strength. “Definitely using that to our advantage, but all those girls are just really smart hitters and they do a good job of putting the ball away.”

Gruenes also led the Vikings with four blocks, while Leah Coequyt finished with another three.

Up 22-10, a Jaguars’ hitting error and another pair of kills from Leah Coequyt put Minneota up two sets on the night.

Much like the second set, Minneota cruised to a comfortable lead in the third and limited RCW’s opportunities to stage a comeback.

A Meagher service ace and pair of Jaylyn Coequyt kills began an early 10-5 lead, which built up to a quick 10-point advantage, 18-8.

Meagher had two aces, while Gruenes and Anderson each had one.

After grabbing three more points, Minneota secured its sweep with a pair of Meagher kills, a final kill from Leah Coequyt and an assisted block by both Jaylyn and Leah Coequyt.

“It’s kind of been a head-game lately, I feel like. We’ve kind of been battling and just pushing through some adversity, and some little injuries here and there,” Buysse said. “So, it felt good to fight through that first one [set], they did it and they finished it, and really showed up in sets two and three.”

Minneota (22-6, 9-1 CC) has one match left of the regular season when it hosts Yellow Medicine East (5-16) at 7 p.m.

“I think we got to go into it like every other game,” Rolbiecki said about finishing the regular season. “YME, they got some good hitters and they got some really good defenders, so just treating that like a normal game, playing our best and just finishing up the season strong before we head into playoffs.”

The Vikings will head into the postseason looking to repeat as Section 3A Champions and earn a state tournament berth for the fourth time in the last five years. They returned to the championship last season after winning the 2022 title, and finished as runners-up to Mayer Lutheran, currently ranked first in the Class A coaches poll.

“I think me and Sarah both have a lot of experience, so that’s really good for us. So, just taking the little ones under our arms and just being like, ‘Guys, we’re just going to play our game and we’ll go out and just have fun at the end of the day,'” Rolbiecki said regarding how her and Gruenes can lead the team in the postseason. “We play our best when we just have fun and we play together.”

The section tournament seeding will be released this week, and is slated to begin on Monday with the play-in rounds and the first rounds will start next Friday at the higher seed.