170 miles separate Barrett, Minnesota from St. Paul where the West Central Area Knights will compete in the MSHSL girls’ volleyball state tournament for the first time in school history this week.
The Knights, seeded 5th in Class A, face 4th seeded New Life Academy of Woodbury on Thursday afternoon inside the Xcel Energy Center. The state tournament berth was an immediate goal for head coach Melissa Foslien, who took over the program just five years ago.
“When we sat down in the gym on the first week of practice we talked about what we were missing in the gym,” Foslien said. “We’re missing a volleyball banner. We’d never won a subsection title.”
West Central Area’s last subsection volleyball game was in 2007. That all changed this year when the Knights won their first three games in the Section 6 tournament to advance to the final against Underwood.
West Central Area took an early 2-0 lead in set play before Underwood took the third set 25-21. It was the fourth set where the Knights won 25-21 ultimately punching their ticket to the state tournament.
Foslien says a tournament performance just before the section tournament was when she knew her team had what it took to make a run.
“We had a tournament late in the season and I would say our girls hadn’t peeked,” Foslien said. “We had seen moments of greatness in the season, particularly in our conference game against Melrose and early on in our conference game against Minnewaska, but we just hadn’t hit a level play. We were kind of up and down.”
That changed in mid-October during the Blocktober Fest Tournament in Fergus Falls. The Knights tallied two wins early on in the tournament, which set them up in a match against Detroit Lakes out of Class 3A.
“I hadn’t talked about going to state or winning big games all season,” added Foslien. “I told them to picture this as the game to go to state. Something just clicked and they were on fire.”
For the Knights, the state tournament appearance is about more than just keeping their volleyball season alive for a few more games. It’s a way to bring the Barrett community of less the 400 people together.
“Our section and subsection games we had a full house, but that was in the Fergus Falls High School gym, so the Xcel is much larger scale” Foslien said. “I feel that our community will come out back especially alumni who played volleyball in their high school days and just a lot of family and friends who will come out and support these girls. I anticipate a big crowd.”
As for the journey to St. Paul, the West Central Area coaches and student-athletes arrived in St. Paul on Tuesday for a state tournament qualifier banquet. Melissa’s daughter, Mya, made the All-State team.
The Knights plan to practice Wednesday at nearby Bethel University before ultimately taking the floor in Thursday’s quarterfinal game.
“We’ll practice Wednesday and then go to watch the 3A and 4A teams play to experience being a spectator at the Xcel Energy Center. Some of our girls have never gone to the volleyball state tournament. We’ve had success with wrestling in our district and so they’ve been there for that, but never for volleyball.”
As for what to expect on Thursday, Foslien’s asked for some advice from a few coaches who’ve been to state.
“If you get a choice on where to serve from, serving at the curtain is easier than serving towards the ends where the crowds are,” Foslien said. “You just have to let them settle-in, play their game, and try to focus on the court and not what’s outside because it’s big out there.”