Photo by Samantha Davis: The Marshall volleyball team crashes to the court after winning the 2025 Class 3A state championship Saturday night at the Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul. The Tigers defeated Benilde-St. Margaret’s 3-1 for the program's 10th state title.

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ST. PAUL — Crashing to the court with immediate celebratory tears dropping, the No. 1 Marshall girls volleyball team has officially taken the reins back and won the 2025 Class 3A state championship Saturday night, bringing home the program’s 10th title. The top-seeded and top-ranked Tigers defeated No. 2 Benilde-St. Margaret’s 3-1 in sets of 25-20, 25-15, 27-29 and 25-17.

Along with its already decorated case of nine other titles, the Tigers’ 10th championship serves as an honorable milestone for numerous reasons. Marshall, who already held the most volleyball titles of any other school in the state, is now the first program in Minnesota to win double-digit championships.

This is also Marshall’s fourth title in five years, and marked the program’s 34th overall state tournament appearance and 8th straight.

Seniors Brooke Gillingham, Reese Drake, Avery Fahl and junior defensive specialist Kezlyn Pinckney were all named to the 2025 Class 3A All-Tournament Team following the win.

Drake and Avery Fahl finished their high school careers with another double-double performance, sharing a game-high 21 kills along with Drakes’ 28 digs and Avery Fahl’s 21 assists. Gillingham led with 27 assists, as did Kezlyn Pinckney with 24 digs. Julia Fahl also had a trio of service aces to her nine kills.

BSM was able to take the third set away from Marshall in extra points behind a late rally, but the Tigers’ defensive pressure and offensive power was too much for the Red Knights the rest of the way, including a 10-point win in the third set.

Drake and Avery Fahl accounted for the two first points of the match with back-to-back kills.

BSM came out with fire to take a 9-7 lead, but a pair of Red Knights attacking errors tied the set up as Drake served an ace and Avery Fahl hit a kill to give the Tigers the lead.

A Drake kill off the left side of the net put Marshall up 18-15, which Nora Holmgren followed up with a kill of her own. Two straight kills by Drake and a Julia Fahl kill put the Tigers ahead 23-19, to which an Avery Fahl kill and service ace wrapped up the opening set.

Marshall controlled the entirety of the second set with a .333 hitting percentage while holding BSM to a .162 mark, bolstering a 12-3 lead with kills from Drake, Julia and Avery Fahl, Halle DeVos and a string of defensive diving saves.

Both teams put over a few bad serves midway through the set, yet Marshall didn’t fluster as it continued to a 10-point edge, 23-13. The Tigers took a 2-0 lead following Holmgren and Laurel Ryks kills.

The Tigers were battle-tested throughout the third set with a 10-10 tie to start, and had a 24-19 lead before BSM went on a 5-0 run to tie the score up 24-24.

The two traded points between kills to 27-27, and the Red Knights forced a fourth after two straight kills.

Marshall quickly took back comfortability on the court in the fourth, cruising to a 14-6 lead with the help of Halle Devos and Nora Holmgren blocking, a pair of Julia Fahl service aces and one from Gillingham, and more hits from Avery Fahl and Drake. A kill each from Avery and Julia Fahl gave Marshall a 17-7 lead.

The Tigers finished off the game, officially clinching the title, with an assisted block by Holmgren and Ryks, a Ryks’ kill and match point came from an Avery Fahl kill down the middle, as the team immediately fell to the court and shared hugs with one another for several minutes after.

The ride to the title

Following Marshall’s semifinal win over No. 5 Cretin-Derham Hall on Friday, Gillingham said the team met over last summer after its championship loss to Alexandria last season to set the serious tone early, and they collectively decided the word to follow this year was ‘dedicated.’

And, dedication is exactly what Marshall played with through all 35 games to reach the big stage once again.

Marshall finishes its season 33-2 overall, and maintained a No. 2 ranked-status all year in the Class 3A coaches polls. The Tigers also started out the year on a 16-match win streak, 14 of which were won in straight sets.

The team set in stone early the lengths it could go this season at the Southwest Challenge tournament Marshall hosts annually in the beginning of September, where the Tigers won the tournament’s championship for the first time in 16 years after defeating four Class 4A teams, three of which were all ranked top-10 in the state over Prior Lake, Lakeville South and Chanhassen, along with wins against 4A’s Andover and Class 3A Fergus Falls.

Prior Lake and Lakeville South were playing on the opposing court of Marshall at the same time for the Class 4A championship.

Through Marshall’s state tournament run, Drake recorded a double-double in all three matches between kills and digs, as did Avery Fahl, including a semifinal triple-double in kills, assists and digs.

Kezlyn and Kyah Pinckney also made significant contributions on the defensive end throughout the tournament, and season, while Julia Fahl and Holmgren also developed over the year and into the tournament on the offensive side to help pace the Tigers.

Gillingham also continued to find the open looks for her hitters, logging over 20 assists in all state matches. Her and Fahl split setting duties throughout the season.

In familiar territory, the Tigers also met BSM in the girls basketball state championship game last season, as they did the same with Cretin-Derham Hall in the basketball semifinals and the volleyball semifinals on Friday.

Winning under Westby

All 10 championships have been brought back to southwest Minnesota under Westby’s leadership, who took over the program as head coach in 2004, when Marshall won its first title.

From there, the Tigers have made it a program standard to reach the tournament, specifically with maintaining realistic goals of getting to the last day of the volleyball season in the state.

Along with its 10 titles under Westby, Marshall has finished as state runners-up another eight times, most recently last season after the Tigers won the prior three straight.

Westby has also been the Marshall girls basketball coach since 2009, with another eight state tournament appearances and four runners-up finishes under his belt.

A perfect senior finale

Capping off their high school careers with a perfect ending, Saturday was the final day Marshall’s group of eight seniors played in a Tigers’ uniform, who have upkept the program’s winning culture and continued to add to the dynasty with several conference and section championships, and most notably, more state titles.

Marshall’s senior class includes Avery Fahl, Drake, Gillingham, Kyah Pinckney, Makia Radtke, DeVos, Bryn Webb and Trinity Brownlee.

Last year, Drake, Avery Fahl and Gillingham were selected to the Class 3A All-Tournament Team at state as juniors, and were all named to this year’s Class 3A All-State Teams by the Minnesota Volleyball Coaches Association. Avery Fahl and Drake were on the 2024 All-State teams as well.