MARSHALL — On its first signing day of the season, Marshall High School had five student-athletes sign their letters of intent to continue their athletic careers at the Division II level on Wednesday morning. The Marshall volleyball team had Reese Drake and Avery Fahl commit to play at Southwest Minnesota State University, while Brooke Gillingham will also play in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference next year as a member of the Minnesota State University-Moorhead volleyball team. The Tigers also had Taleigha Bigler commit to SMSU womens basketball and Dayton Webskowski commit to SMSU womens golf.

Bigler brand grows at SMSU

Taleigha Bigler will be continuing her athletic and academic career at SMSU next year, the same university that her father –Brad Bigler — has been the mens head basketball coach at since 2009.

While the family ties are there, they aren’t the lone reason Taleigha Bigler decided to remain in Marshall, citing the general community at SMSU.

“I think even visiting other places, SMSU was the only place that really felt like home,” Bigler said. “I’ve always been around it, so I’m excited to be a part of it now.”

SMSU has been a successful program in recent years, reaching the Division II national tournament last season and being ranked No. 18 in the latest Division II coaches poll. Getting to play with a talented team is something that Bigler said she’s excited about as the Mustangs come off a 28-5 season with a pair of wins in the NCAA tournament last season.

“It’s exciting to be on a competitive team. It’s a lot of fun winning and just playing with a lot of good girls,” Bigler said.

As a junior last season, Bigler averaged 16.7 points, 3.9 assists and 4.8 rebounds for the Marshall girls basketball team, as well as 2.9 steals per game, to earn Independent All-Area first-team honors.

Her play helped Marshall reach the state tournament for the second time in her three years on the team, culminating in a Class AAA runner-up finish last season.

Bigler said she is yet to decide on a major.

Drakes reunite across the road

Reese Drake also won’t have to relocate far to continue her volleyball career, going just across the road to join the SMSU volleyball team. She joins her older sister Kennedy, a 2024 Marshall graduate, on the team.

Beyond Kennedy, Reese Drake is plenty familiar with the current Mustang volleyball squad. In addition to growing up watching the local team, she was teammates with All-NSIC outside hitter Leah Jones in Jones’ senior season at Marshall, and she will be joined by current teammate Avery Fahl on the team.

“It definitely helped having a player’s perspective of the college rather than just everyone else,” Drake said. “It’s really nice to be able to ask them questions about the volleyball part of it and having people who have gone through what I would be going through.”

As she prepares for her collegiate career, Drake said she’s excited to play with her sister again — who attended the signing day — as well as taking on a new environment.

Drake finished her final regular season as a Tiger volleyball player with 351 kills, 257 digs and 46 service aces. She earned her second consecutive All-State and Independent All-Area first team selections, and was a finalist for the Ms. Baden Volleyball Award, recognizing career excellence for the top Minnesota senior volleyball player. She also caps off her career with four state championship appearances and three wins, as well as All-Tournament honors in the last two of those runs.

Drake also has one more prep season ahead of her with girls basketball season just around the corner. As a junior, Drake averaged 19 points, 4.6 assists, six rebounds and 3.5 steals to lead the team in all categories. She was also named the Independent’s Player of the Year for volleyball and girls basketball in her junior season.

“I’ll definitely miss [basketball. Although volleyball is my favorite one, I’ll miss basketball,” Drake said, adding that she doesn’t think that the change in training will affect her too much as she focuses on one sport at a time as a multi-sport athlete right now.

Fahl follows father’s footsteps

Avery Fahl will be one of four former Tigers on the SMSU volleyball team next season after signing her letter of intent on Wednesday. She’s looking to be the latest Fahl to make an impact on Mustang athletics after her father, Jacob Fahl, finished his career on the SMSU mens basketball team in 2003 as the program’s all-time leading scorer with 1,638 career points.

Avery finished her prep volleyball career with back-to-back All-State selections, three state championships, two All-tournament selections and four state championship appearances. She was also a first-team All-Area selection for the Independent in each of her final two seasons.

“It feels great [to be committed], not stressed or anything so I’m really excited,” Fahl said.

Fahl finished her senior volleyball season with 293 kills, 162 digs and 39 ace blocks. While she primarily played middle blocker her first two seasons with the team, she developed as a talented setter in a 6-2 rotation with Gillingham for her last two seasons and logged 416 set assists as a senior.

Fahl also was a key part of Marshall’s run to the state girls basketball championship last season, averaging 6.7 points per game and providing a key defensive interior presence.

“I feel like I’ll have more free time, but also not because it’s college, but I’m excited just to do one thing,” Avery said of transitioning to a one-sport focus.

When asked if her dad gave her any sort of sales pitch for SMSU, Avery said that he didn’t, but did provide her with some extra motivation to leave her mark on the program.

“I do want to be better than him, but that’s kind of hard,” Avery said with a laugh.

SMSU volleyball was ranked 14th in the latest Division II coaches poll and has made the NCAA tournament in back-to-back years, something Fahl said excites her about joining the program.

Gillinghams’ athletic tradition grows

Brooke Gillingham left her mark on the volleyball program at Marshall, earning three All-Tournament selections, an All-State selection and three state titles. She’ll look to continue that trend in Moorhead next year, where she joins former Marshall teammate Brielle Riess on the Dragons’ volleyball roster.

“It’s exciting to start a new chapter in my life. Obviously Marshall volleyball has done so much for me, and it’s been a huge part of my life for the past 10 years, but Moorhead’s three-and-a-half hours away now and I have to start a life independent of my family,” Gillingham said. “It’s kind of scary, but it’s exciting to start something new and just keep playing volleyball regardless.”

Brooke is the latest member of her family to put together a memorable athletic career but far from the first. In her first season as a setter, Gillingham logged 1,128 set assists, ranking fourth in Minnesota prep single-season history. Her oldest sister, Maysa, logged 1,201 to rank second in single-season history back in 2021. Her other older sister, Paige, is also a two-sport collegiate athlete, competing for the Dakota State womens basketball and track and field teams, though an injury will force her to redshirt her freshman year in both sports.

“Sometimes when I was growing up, I felt like [succeeding in athletics] was expected, but obviously the pressure has been taken off as I’ve gotten older and you realize that you can shape your own life,” Brooke said, adding that her cousins Lizzy and Emily Gillingham both also played collegiate sports and her grandfather went on to play for the Green Bay Packers after competing for the University of Minnesota at the collegiate level. “Sports is kind of in my blood. Not to be cheesy… but it’s just kind of always been a part of my life. Knowing that there are people above me that have filled that legacy, it just really makes it that much more special for me to go on and play at the collegiate level.”

Gillingham finished her senior season as Marshall’s set assists leader with 516, while also contributing 131 digs. She also has one more prep season ahead of her as a thrower for the Marshall track and field team.

As she gets ready to turn the page in her life, Gillingham said that she’s unsure of the specifics of what she will study in Moorhead but is looking primarily at STEM fields.

“It has a good nursing program, and right now I’m just thinking like science or math-related fields,” Gillingham said. “Maybe medical, maybe financial, something like that, but I’m not really 100% [certain.].”

Webskowski continues career in Marshall

After being a state tournament for the Marshall girls golf team, Webskowski will look to continue to make a name for herself in the golf game as a member of the SMSU womens team next year.

“I’m excited because I already know some of the players on the team, and I’m excited to stay at home and be close to family,” Webskowski said.

Dayton’s dad, Ross Webskowski, has been the head coach at the SMSU womens team for 22 years. The Mustangs have won a pair of conference championships and reached six NCAA regional tournaments during his tenure as the head coach.

As she heads into college, Webskowski says she intends to major in marketing because she feels like it gives her an ability to be creative in a way that she finds enjoyable.