Photo by Samantha Davis. Marshall's Laurel Ryks goes up for a kill in the third set against Stewartville in the Class AAA semifinals with the Marshall football team in attendance at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul Friday afternoon. The Tigers swept Stewartville and advance to Saturday's championship match.

ST. PAUL — In a fiery, hard fought battle between the Tigers with the stands of the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul filling up on both sides, 50 total assists and a .361 hitting percentage helped power the No. 2 Marshall volleyball team to a three set victory in scores of 25-22, 25-16 and 25-16 over third-seeded Stewartville Friday afternoon, and will now advance to the Class AAA state championship in search of a fourth consecutive title.

“I think the fact that we’ve been here so many times … One of the things that really works to our favor is the younger kids come here and watch the older kids play,” Marshall head coach Dan Westby said. “I think that’s one thing that’s helped this Marshall program over the years. The younger kids want to aspire to do what the older kids do. I think that’s really beneficial.”

Marshall reached the semifinals after a sweep over No. 7 Monticello in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, as did No. 3 Stewartville after taking down sixth-seeded Cretin-Derham Hall in four sets.

“They [Stewartville] still do a great job of keeping balls alive and making things difficult for the opponent,” Westby said. “That certainly was the case here in this match as well. So, hats off to them again for a great season.”

Stewartville was held to a .178 hitting mark with just 30 total assists. Avery Fahl had a triple-double performance with 11 kills, 19 assists and led the team with 12 digs. Brooke Gillingham also had a near triple-double with a team-high 24 assists, 11 digs and nine kills followed by a double-double from Reese Drake with a team-high 19 kills along with 11 digs.

The first set began rocky for Marshall, who committed four service errors in the set, but eventually found its footing to rally back from a 6-point trail.

“The first one, we were all just a little bit nervous,” Kyah Pinckney said. “But, we eventually got it together and figured it out.”

Stewartville came out with offensive intensity to jump to a 12-6 lead, including four straight points from two kills, and a bad set and attacking error from Marshall. Wetsby called a timeout after another two kills.

Marshall began to grow out of its early onset nerves with three straight points after the reset, including a pair of kills from Laurel Ryks.

Ryks finished with seven kills and three digs.

Cutting into a 19-17 deficit, Marshall’s Gillingham and Drake each hit a kill to tie the set up and force a Stewartville timeout.

Marshall continued on a 5-0 run for a 22-19 advantage with another two kills from Drake and a Stewartville attacking error.

“Marshall is super solid all the way around,” Stewartville head coach Sammy Pedersen said. “The adjustments we made at times, they were able to make adjustments to counter those adjustments.”

Despite another three kills from Stewartville, Marshall secured the set after a kill from Halle DeVos.

“I think we kind of went away from that [finding a routine] for a while in that first set,” Westby said. “But, to our kids’ credit, I thought we righted the ship in terms of our serving and did a much better job.”

Gillingham and Drake continued to pace the offense as several Marshall players stepped up on defense in the back court. Along with Fahl, Drake and Gillingham, Kezlyn Pinckney tallied another 11 digs as well.

In an effort to not repeat the start of the second set like the first, Marshall grabbed an 8-4 lead, four points of which came from kills. But, Stewartville didn’t let the advantage grow much more with two kills and a service ace consecutively.

The remainder of the set was in Marshall’s control through a full team effort in its rotations. Ryks, Fahl, Drake, Gillngham all hit kills in small pockets that challenged Stewartville’s defense in getting to.

The final two points came from an Audree Larson and Gillingham kill, and Marshall was one set away from earning a spot in the title match.

“I think we just uplift everyone,” DeVos said in regards to approaching sets two and three. “Being positive to everyone really helps.”

Eager to finish the day in a sweep, Marshall went on an 8-2 run to begin the third, between kills from Drake, Fahl and DeVos and a few Stewartville errors.

Not slowing down, Marshall stayed aggressive at the front of the net and defensively to create a 10-point lead at 20-10.

Stewartville was struggling with attacking errors, while Marshall continued to increase its hitting percentage with limited mistakes.

Marshall held Stewartville to just a .121 hitting percentage in the third, to its .405 mark.

Up 23-15, Marshall finished the match off with a Drake and Gillingham kill.

“I didn’t always feel like the pace of the match was at the pace that we like to play, but at the same time, we always preached to our kids that there’s no style points,” Westby said. “You just have to figure out a way to get it done this time of year and put yourself in a position to play for a state championship. We’ve done that, and again, that’s the ultimate goal. We feel fortunate about the fact we’re moving on.”

The Marshall football team was in attendance to support, who just came off a state quarterfinal win Thursday night in a 21-0 shutout over Byron, which the volleyball team was also at.

“It’s really fun. Honestly, this is like the first time they’ve made it in a really long time [since 2016],” DeVos said. “It’s fun to see them succeed, and them coming to support us and us going to support them.”

Although Marshall is known to compete in the state tournament and has nine titles since 2004, the feeling of getting to the Xcel Center is always a moment of reflection for the players who have dreamed of playing on this stage from watching generations of Marshall volleyball.

“My family would always come up when I was little and watch the state tournament,” DeVos said. “It’s so fun to see those girls be successful, and you just want to follow in their shoes.”

Kyah echoed the same feeling.

“Even in town, we would look up to the older kids, and we’d see them practicing and watch from the other gym,” Kyah said. “So, when they came up here, everyone wanted to see what they were doing playing wise. I just think it was really inspirational.”

Marshall will next play in the championship Saturday against No. 5 Alexandria Area with a 6:30 p.m. first serve on Court 1 at the Xcel Energy Center.

Alexandria swept top-seeded Delano Friday morning, which would have been a title rematch with Marshall, in scores of 25-22, 25-17 and 25-14.

“We play a red-hot Alexandria team tomorrow, and we played them about a month ago [on Oct. 10 and won in three sets], but you can throw that match out the window,” Westby said. “That was a long time ago and a lot of things have changed since then. They’re peaking at the right time. We’re going to have to be ready to go.”