Vikings winning trail goes right past Windom

On the wall in the Minneota gymnasium is a color photo of the Minneota Vikings girls volleyball team.

The newly-decorated gymnasium has become home to exactly what the photo implies — a team.

Now 29-1 and ranked No. 1 in Class A, this group of talented volleyball plays has certainly "melded" together as a TEAM.

Thursday night they did what they've been doing all year — dispatching other good teams — and again, in three straight sets.

And the final scores were their usual, 25-8; 25-15; 25-15.

Windom is just one of the many schools with good volleyball teams that have gone up against Minneota.

Ranked No. 9 in Class A, Windom brought a 21-7 record into the game. They've beaten teams like Pipestone and New Life Academy.

Yet, they offered little resistence to a team loaded with talent. "We just don't have a weakness. We put six strong players on the court," Coach Hayley Fruin has said.

Ranked teams in Class A that Minneota has beaten include No. 3 Mayer Lutheran; No. 4 Wabasso (twice); No. 6., Mable-Canton (twice), and now Windom.

And the only loss this year was to Northfield, in three sets at the tournament in Marshall in September. And that loss was just a two-point loss in the third set.

Amng Minneota's many assets is the fact opponents find it hard to hit a spot where Minneota isn't defending. The Hennen sisters, Abby with 19 digs and Morgan with 15 — plus Lizzy Gillingham with nine, clean up about everything hit to them.

Fact is, little hits the floor before Minneota gets a hand on it.

The entire show is run by Morgan Kockelman, a senior setter who seems to have an automatic switch to set to the exact right hitter. Thursday night she set the ball up 63 times and 37 of those times her hitters smacked the ball for points.

While there are at least three hitters who can lead the team at any time, Thursday night it was their all-state hitter Lydia Sussner who banged down 15 kills to keep Windom off balance.

The rest of the kills were spread around to just about everyone else, Natalee Rolbiecki with six; Morgan Hennen with five and Sydney Larson and Lizzy Gillingham with four each.

Opponents like Windom also find out they can't discount the Viking block game. Sussner stuffed four hits back at Windom for points and all the Vikings kept up a steady line of defense at the net.

While nobody wants to look ahead to far into the playoffs, it is possible Minneota could play Windom again in the Section 2A finals. Both teams received No. 1 rankings, Minneota in the North and Windom in the south.

But coach Fruin will tell you that won't happen if the Vikings can't dispatch Wabasso or Yellow Medicine East. They will play each other and one could play the Vikings in the North Secti9on 2A Finals.

Here's the tournament pairings:

SECTION 3A VOLLEYBALL
TOURNAMENT
North
Monday, October 22, 7 p.m.
Dawson-Boyd (9) at Central MN Christian (8)
Renville Co. West (10) at Lakeview (7)
Lac qui Parle V. (11) at Russell-T-R (6)
South
Heron Lake/Okabena (9) at Hills-Beaver Creek (8)
Edgerton (12) at Murray Co. Central (5)
Fulda (10) at Westbrook/WG (7)
Ellsworth (11) at Southwest MC (6)
Friday, October 26, 7 p.m.
CMC or Dawson-Boyd at Minneota (1)
Canby (5) at MACCRAY (4)
Lakeview or RCW at Wabasso (2)
RTR or LqPV at Yellow Med. East (3)
South
Hills/BC or Heron L.-O at Windom (1)
MCC or Edgerton at Red Rock C. (4)
WWG or Fulda at Adrian (2)
SWMC or Ellsworth at Tracy-M-B (3)
North Semifinals
Tuesday, Oct. 30 at SMSU, Marshall
Top bracket, 6 p.m.
Bottom Bracket 7:15 p.m.
South Semifinals TBD
Top Bracket 6 p.m.
Bottom Bracket, 7:15 p.m.
North Section 3A Championship
Thursday, November 1 at SMSU
7:30 p.m.
South Section 3A Championship, 6 p.m.
SECTION 3A CHAMPIONSHIP
Saturday, October 3, 6 p.m.
at SMSU, Marshall

Minneota 3, Windom 0

Windom     8     15    15

Minneota   25    25    25

KILLS: Lydia Sussner 15; Natalee Robiecki 6; Morgan Hennen 5; Sydney Larson and Lizzy Gillingham 4 each.

SERVING: (No., good, aces) Morgan Hennen 22-22-2; Abby Hennen 10-10-0 Natalee Rolbiecki 11-11-1.

DIGS: Abby Hennen 19 Lizzy Gillingham 9; Morgan Hennen 15.

BLOCKS: Lydia Sussner 4; Sydney Larson 1.

SET ASSISTS: Morgan Kockelman 37.