Photo courtesy of Dan Westby: (Left to right) front row: Kyah Pinckney, Reese Drake, Kennedy Drake, JaydaNedmarel. Adyson Fischer, Ali Pederson, Audree Larson, Lydia Moore. Back: Morgan Bjella, Brielle Riess, Avery Fahl, Mackenzie Olsen, Halla Casavan, Brooke Gillingham

MARSHALL — The Marshall volleyball team has been a dominant force in Class AAA for nearly two decades since their first state championship in 2004. Last season, they won their second consecutive championship to secure their eighth overall title, more than any other team in the state. While they’ve lost some of their key players from the championship run, the Tigers are looking to reload and come back strong again.

“We feel good about the kids coming back. Obviously, we lost some key pieces and we’re trying to replace those kids but the kids we’ve got coming back have worked hard and they’ve done the right things to get ready for the season. Like I said, we feel good about the kids that we’re going to put on the floor,” Marshall head coach Dan Westby said.

Brielle Riess will be returning to lead the front row for this year’s team. While the Tigers did lose Leah Jones and Randi Wendorff to graduation — the two had 402 and 225 kills respectively — Riess put together an impressive season in her own right in her junior-year campaign. She finished second on the team with 263 kills and, with an increased role this year, could see those numbers skyrocket. 

Morgan Bjella also comes in with significant varsity experience. She played in 33 of the team’s 35 matches last season, recording 129 kills. No other returning players had 10 or more kills last year.

“We’ve got a couple of hitters returning that we’re going to lean on heavily… and we’re going to try and get those kids as many swings as we can in the front row,” Westby said, adding that the less experienced players put in plenty of work to get ready in case their number was called last season. “Offensively, we’re not going to look the same as we did last year, but we feel good about those kids.”

In the back row, the Tigers have slightly less clarity. Caitlyn Christenson was sensational as Marshall’s libero last season, recording 522 digs. Jones finished second on the team with 218 digs while Lexie Bednarek and Lauren Wherry finished with 204 and 155 respectively. All of those players graduated in the spring, leaving a big hole for Kennedy Drake and Jayda Bednarek to fill.

“Kennedy played a lot for us last year and we’re probably going to look to increase her role as probably our libero,” Westby said. He added that Jayda Bednarek will also be looked at to fill a prominent role in the back row.

Drake finished last year with 163 digs, making her the only returner with more than 100, though Bednarek was productive with 75 of her own in just 44 sets played. 

Marshall has been the class of the class for the past 20 years. They’ve won 12 consecutive Big South Conference titles and have finished each of the past two seasons with a 33-2 record. Expectations are always high when a team has that level of dominance, a tall task for a team of largely inexperienced players, but it’s a task the Tigers are ready for.

“You can’t look at it as pressure. You’ve got to look at it as… there’s an expectation there that we need to come to practice every day and try and find ways to get better,” Westby said.

“Overall, our team defense [is an area we’re looking to improve]. You had mentioned Caitlyn Christenson. She took care of a lot of deficiencies for us on defense and I think we’ve come a long way in the past week and a half, but certainly, it’s a work in progress and we’re going to work every day and in practice to try and get to the level we were at at the end of last season.”

Aside from defense, the setter position also remains a question mark for the team. Lauren Wherry had been a key component of the Tigers’ success over the last two seasons. She had 1,093 set assists last season, more than 1,000 more than her next closest teammate. Now, Marshall has no returners with more than 10 assists in 2022.

Sophomores Avery Fahl and Brooke Gillingham will be splitting the role of setter this season, Westby said. While both lack experience at the varsity level, Westby said they’ve shown promise at lower levels and have made strides over the last few weeks of practice to get up to varsity pace.

The new-look Tigers will get the ball rolling on their 2023 season tonight with a home matchup against Willmar at 7:15 p.m. The game will function as a sort of measuring stick for the team.

“Last year, I think the group we had, we had so much experience out there that those kids just wanted to get the season started and kind of getting in that routine of practicing and playing matches… It’ll be interesting to see how this group reacts,” Westby said.