Top-ranked Vikings expect another deep run

Now in his 20th season as coach, Chad Johnston is averaging 22 wins per season. Not even a shortened season is likely to cut into that average as the Vikings return all but one player from a team that reached the state semifinals before the season was shut down due to the pandemic.
"We have a lot of experience back from last season's state tournament team," Johnston said. "We only graduated one player, Morgan Hennen, from that team."
Minneota is ranked No. 1 in Class A for the second straight year.
Abby Hennen, who has over 1,600 career points, leads four starters back for a Vikings' team that finished 31-1 last season. Hennen, a 5-9 senior guard, utilizes her quickness and ball-handling abilities to drive inside or score from the outside. She averaged 18.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 3.8 steals last season. Hennen, the Camden South Conference Most Valuable Player last season, connected on 57 three-pointers.
Abby Rost, a 5-8 senior guard; Natalee Rolbiecki, a 5-10 junior forward; and Jeren Rost, a 5-10 junior post; are the other starters back. Four other letterwinners returns, as well as some promising newcomers.
"This group has played a lot of basketball together and has good balance," Johnston said. "We have the ability to attack the paint, hit the outside shots, and get the ball inside."
Johnston, who had a career record of 423-111 entering the season, is assisted by Alan Panka and Dale Kockelman.
Rolbiecki started the season with 782 career points and could join Hennen as 1,000-point teammates in basketball after the two each reached the 1,000-kill mark in volleyball. Rolbiecki averaged 14.8 points and 4.0 rebounds a game last season while draining 29 threes.
Abby Rost averaged 7.0 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game a year ago. Jeren Rost averaged 4.8 points and 5.1 rebounds.
Other letterwinners back are: McKenna Yost, a 5-7 junior guard who averaged 4.9 points and hit 29 three-pointers; McKenzie Tolk (1.6 ppg), a 5-7 junior guard; Kennedi Jurrens (2.7 ppg, 2.3 rpg), a 5-11 junior post; and Ireland Stassen (5.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg), a 5-8 sophomore forward.
Four others that are expected to see some varsity playing time are: Megan Krog, a 5-9 sophomore post; Grace Hennen, a 5-7 freshman guard; Kenadi Arndt, a 5-11 freshman forward; and Morgan Moorse, a 5-10 junior post.
Even though Minneota has been a dominant for many years, Johnston cautions his team about not taking things for granted.
"This group also needs to understand that nothing is going to be handed to them based on their past," he said. "They need to work hard and prepare well for each opponent."
Johnston also pointed out that the team has not had the chance to play together as much as normal over the off-seasons.
"With the shortened season, we are not going to be able to incorporate some of the strategies that we normally would," he noted.