2A volleyball: Marshall, Hibbing reach semifinals, and know the drill

When Marshall and Hibbing meet in the semifinals of the Class 2A volleyball tournament today at Xcel Energy Center, it will be a matchup of programs that know all about playing at state.

Hibbing coach Gail Nucech has been on the job for 40 years and has accumulated more victories than any coach in Minnesota history. The Bluejackets are at state for the 23rd time and Marshall is making its 21st appearance in the tournament.

The two schools have never met in a championship match, but they have faced each other many times at state.

"It seems like every year we come down here, we get matched up with Hibbing," Marshall coach Dan Westby said. "And they're a great team with a great tradition."

Unseeded Hibbing (21-11) proved it belongs by rallying from a 2-1 deficit for a 3-2 victory Thursday over fourth- seeded New London-Spicer (32-2).

After Hibbing won the first game 28-26, New London-Spicer won the next two, 25-16 and 25-22, and looked to be in control. But the Bluejackets won Game 4 25-21 and advanced by taking the fifth game 15-11.

Hibbing's 11 losses are the most for any team in any class at state. "I don't think a lot of people probably thought we would get this far," Nucech said.

The stars were many for Hibbing in the quarterfinals. Kate Lange led the way with 32 kills, 11 assists and 12 digs, Courtney Wirtanen had 33 assists and 15 digs, and Laicee Grahek had 32 digs. New London-Spicer was led by Taylor Thompsen with 25 kills and 14 digs, Justine Dammerman had 45 assists and 15 digs, and Cassie Ziemer had 22 digs.

Top-seeded Marshall (29-3) had an easier time, defeating Wadena-Deer Creek 25-11, 25-21, 25-11. Unseeded Wadena-Deer Creek (28-5), which has only one senior on the roster, lost to Hibbing in last year's quarterfinals.

For Marshall -- the 2A champ in 2007 and last year's runner-up -- Kayla Wallerich (23) and Kelsey Deragisch (15) combined for 38 kills and Jessica Baker had 10 kills. Wadena-Deer Creek's Courtney Volkmann had 31 assists and 10 digs and Kelsi Crawford had 14 kills.

Delano 3, Byron 0: Molly Kreklow and Kayla Koenecke did most of the damage in a 25-16, 25-11, 25-14 victory for second-seeded Delano (28-3). Kreklow had 14 kills and 23 assists, while Koenecke had 23 and 14. Erika McRoberts had five kills for Byron (26-6).

LeSueur-Henderson 3, Minnehaha Academy 0: The third-seeded Giants (29-3) came up big against Minnehaha (24-9), wining 25-23, 25-13, 25-15. Shelly Blaschko had 23 assists for LeSueur-Henderson, Kaitlyn Braun had 14 kills and Tayler Kahlow had 14 digs. Sarah Winter had nine kills and nine digs for Minnehaha Academy.