Minneota gals cash in BIG

Minneota fell one match short of winning a state prep volleyball title last fall. Lydia Sussner and Natalee Rolbiecki, both members of that runner-up team, weren’t about to let that happen again.
Sussner, who will be a senior this fall, was a middle hitter on the Southwest Minnesota Junior Olympic team that captured the 18-and-Under title at the 45th annual AAU Junior National Volleyball Championships last Sunday in Orlando, FL.
Not to be outdone, Rolbiecki, a freshman-to-be, was an outside hitter on the Southwest Minnesota JO team that garnered first place in the 16U division four days later in Orlando.
The tournament featured over 1,000 JO teams from across the nation, ranging from 10U to 18U teams. Matches were held at the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex and the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando from June 16-28.
The SWMN 18U team, coached by Tyler Boddy, went 13-0 in the tournament and lost only two of 28 sets along the way. Only twice did an opponent take them to a three-set match, including the championship match when the Southwest MN team had to rally to defeat COA-Red of Indiana 23-25, 25-16, 15-10.
Rolbiecki's Southwest Minnesota 16U team coached by Mike Dalager (also an assistant on the 18U team) had similar success, winning all 15 of its matches en route to capturing their tourney crown. They won 14 of the 15 matches in straight sets and finished 30-1 in sets played.
They defeated Arkansas Juniors Storm 25-22, 25-19 in the championship on Thursday.
 
Dark horse gallops to title
Despite being seeded No. 42 out of 78 teams in the 18U division, the Southwest Minnesota team dominated the field.
“It might have given us a little motivation,” Sussner said about the team’s low seed. “But I don't think it really mattered that much to us. Our goal was to win the tournament.”
Southwest Minnesota was pitted against No. 4-seeded Prime Time Blue of Illinois in its opening match and prevailed in three sets, 25-23, 22-25, 15-7. That win against a much higher seed proved to the players on the SWMN team that they could compete against any of the teams in the field.

Several of the players on the SWMN 18U team have been together on JO teams and have played against one another during the high school season.
“Several of us have been playing JO together for the last three years,” said Sussner, an All-State hitter who has over 1,000 kills in her prep career with Minneota. “Two years ago, we played on the 16s team in Florida and finished in the top half.”
Two years later, they emerged as champions.
The players on the SWMN 18U championship team were: Meeghen Dalager, Yellow Medicine East; Alexis Ferrell, Luverne; Maddy Guetter, Wabasso; Erica Jones, Marshall; Miah Kunkel, Adrian; Whitney Schwartz, Marshall; Sydney Schwitters, MACCRAY; Lydia Sussner, Minneota; Ellie Thein, MACCRAY; Ahlea Wright, Canby.
In the championship last Sunday (June 23), Sussner’s team lost the first set for first time in the tournament.
“We had to sit around for two hours between the semifinal and championship match,” said Sussner. “That gave us too much time to think about things and I think we got caught up in the moment a little.”
“(COA-Red) was an excellent defensive team and didn’t let too many balls hit the floor. We just made too many errors in that first set. But then we got things going again after that.”
SWMN’s first 10 matches were played in the Orange County Convention Center, while the final three were played at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex.
Sussner was battling tendinitis in her left knee at the tournament, an injury sustained late in the high school basketball season. But she said it didn’t hamper her play too much.
“It wasn’t really sore, but it would get a little stiff sometimes,” Sussner said.
Sussner iced the knee between matches, but fell asleep with a bag of ice on her knee one time and developed a case of frostbite.
“It blistered up a little,” she said.
It might be one of the few times anyone can admit they got a case of frostbite in Florida.
 
16s also rise to the top
The SWMN 16U team was in a huge 183-team field, yet still emerged on top.
Playing with all but one of the same players as last year’s team that finished in 24th place in the national tournament in Minneapolis, the SWMN 16U team was only taken to three sets once in the four days.
“It was really exciting,” said Rolbiecki about playing in the prestigious tournament sponsored by ESPN.
 After playing in the Orange County Convention Center, the top 18 teams advanced to the final two days that were played in the impressive Wide World of Sports Complex.
“It was a lot like Xcel Energy Center,” Rolbiecki said. “It was really big with a curtain in the middle to divide the courts. And it was so exciting because the best teams were playing there.”
Rolbiecki’s family was on hand to watch all the matches at the two sites. They returned to Minneota late Saturday night.
It didn’t take Rolbiecki long after getting home to display her championship medal.
“It’s in my room,” she said. “I hung it up right away.”
Members of the SWMN 16U team: Paige Andries, Marshall; Kalleigh Carr, Russell-Tyler-Ruthton; Alyssa Groves, Madison Hinz, Yellow Medicine East; Slayton; Sophie Johnson, Hendricks; Bria Morris, Marshall; Natalee Rolbiecki, Minneota; Mia Schnaible, Marshall; Logan Sherman, Marshall; Leeann Stensrud, Marshall; Charlotte Wright, Canby.