Photo by Samantha Davis: Marshall junior defensive specialist Kezlyn Pinckney (10) cheers alongside her teammates after winning a point in the Class AAA semifinals Friday morning at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul. The Tigers swept Cretin-Derham Hall, and advance to the state championship for the fifth straight season. 

ST. PAUL — After booking its ticket to the Class AAA state championship match for the fifth consecutive season, the No. 1 Marshall volleyball team will look to bring back to southwest Minnesota the program’s 10th state title, fourth in five years, when it takes on a red-hot No. 2 Benilde-St. Margaret’s team tonight at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul.

The Tigers are on their 34th state tournament appearance, and will become the first program in Minnesota to reach double-digit titles upon a win today. Marshall is looking to finish the year out back on top after falling short to Alexandria in last season’s championship, but won three straight titles prior in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

“I don’t think anybody other than our coaching staff realizes the amount of time and energy they’ve put into this. Starting June 1st, we were in the gym four days a week all summer long,” Marshall head coach Dan Westby said. “They’ve just done so much, and I hope it’s not the case where they feel like they have to do it, versus they want to do it. I hope that’s the case.”

Marshall will take on the Red Knights today at 6:30 p.m. back at the Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, where the Tigers will look to string together one last resilient, well-balanced match for the crown.

The road to the big stage

Following Marshall’s semifinal win over No. 5 Cretin-Derham Hall Friday morning, senior setter Brooke Gillingham said the team met over the summer and were determined to make this season a special one, with a chip on their shoulders after the loss to Alexandria last year.

And, what a special season it has been for the Tigers.

Marshall has spent the entire year ranked No. 1 in Class 3A in the coaches polls, with its only two losses coming by No. 2 Class 4A Eagan and Class 4A No. 3 Lakeview South.

“When you have that, where people are genuinely excited for one another and nobody cares who gets the credit, you can do some special things,” Westby said. “I think that’s the way this group has been all year long.”

Both Marshall and BSM have swept its way through the state tournament to reach the championship.

The Tigers defeated No. 8 Big Lake and CDH in three sets, as did the Red Knights over No. 7 Grand Rapids and No. 3 Stewartville.

Reese Drake and Avery and Julia Fahl have continued to carry Marshall on the offensive end throughout the tournament run, all of whom finished with double-digit kills in Friday’s semifinal win.

The Tigers (32-2) are also heavily talented in the back row, where Drake, Kyah and Kezlyn Pinckney and oftentimes Avery Fahl, work to keep rallies going and have out-shined their opponents on the defensive end, continuously turning possession’s back to offense.

Avery Fahl in particular recorded a triple-double on Friday with 10 kills, 12 assists and 14 digs.

Senior setter Brooke Gillingham also continues to pace the offense, who has 45 set assists through the two games so far.

BSM (28-5) has also had an impressive season, and is currently riding an 11-game win streak, all of which have been sweeps. Four of the wins were in two sets at weekend tournaments.

The Red Knights were most recently ranked No. 3 in the last Class AAA coaches poll of the regular season, only behind Marshall and No. 2 Delano.

Although Marshall and Delano occupied the top-two ranks throughout the season, BSM swept its way through the Section 6AAA tournament, including an upset over Delano in the championship match in sets of 25-23, 25-22, 27-25 to reach the state tournament.

In the Red Knights’ semifinal win over Stewartville on Thursday, Avery Minor had a game-high 19 kills on a .333 hitting percentage, along with 12 digs. Sailor Friedly followed with another 16 kills and 12 digs. Darby Waters and Sydney Friedly shared a team-best of 15 digs.

This is BSM’s third appearance in the state tournament, most recently coming off a 2022 trip where the Red Knights finished as runners-up to Marshall, setting up a rematch this time around with some returning players on both sides.

In the 2022 title match, the Tigers won in three sets of 25-18, 25-11 and 25-18.

One last ride

Today will be the end of impressive high school careers from Marshall’s group of seniors, who have continued the program’s standards as a consistently state-recognized team and carrying on the dynasty of making the state tournament with adding two more, potentially three, state trophies to its name throughout their careers.

Marshall’s seniors include Avery Fahl, Drake, Gillingham, Kyah Pinckney, Makia Radtke, Halle DeVos, Bryn Webb and Trinity Brownlee

Where to watch

Those attending the state tournament can purchase tickets on the MSHSL website. Adult tickets are priced at $17, and student tickets at $11. MSHSL will also broadcast live stats online of all matches, and a live stream of the games can be found on NSPN.TV.