Three-time defending state champs too much to overcome as Stewartville volleyball falls in state semifinals

ST. PAUL — Over the course of the season, the Stewartville High School volleyball team had developed a reputation as the 'Cardiac Cats', showing the ability to come back from any deficit.

Unfortunately, the Tigers found their match in Marshall Friday morning.

No. 2 seeded and three-time defending state champs were simply too much for No. 3 seeded Stewartville to overcome an early deficit, coming away with a 25-22, 25-16, 25-16 sweep in a Class 3A volleyball state semifinal at the Xcel Energy Center.

Marshall (28-6) will now go for its fourth consecutive Class 3A title — and state-record 10th state title overall — against No. 5 Alexandria at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

Stewartville (27-5) will now play for third against top-seeded Delano (31-1) 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

Stewartville did start fast, jumping out to a 15-8 lead in set No. 1. But led by its two All-State selections in Reese Drake and Avery Fahl, Marshall came roaring back, taking 11 of the next 15 points.

In the end, Drake and Fahl were simply too strong throughout.

Drake — a 5-foot-7 junior outside hitter — had seven of her game-high 18 kills in the first set. She also had 11 digs and four assists. Meanwhile, Fahl — a six-foot junior middle hitter and setter — did a little bit of everything for Marshall.

She set the tone defensively at every level, finishing with a team-best 12 digs and also helped pace the offense with 19 assists. She also contributed 11 kills for a Marshall attack that recorded 53 kills on 122 total attacks for a hitting percentage of .361.

The Stewartville attack did their best to keep Stewie in it.

Junior Ella Theobald had a team-high nine kills — five of which came in set No. 1 — while junior middle hitter Dream Petersohn added six. But the Marshall defense was seemingly everywhere. It saw four finish with 11 more digs as Stewartville finished with just a .178 hitting percentage.