Girls volleyball 2026 state tournament preview

State championship matches in all four classifications will take place on Saturday, Nov. 14.

This year’s field includes:

• Three teams seeking championship repeats, including two after three-peats. Mayer Lutheran (Class A) and Lakeville South (Class AAAA) have won the last two state titles in their classes, while Marshall has claimed four of the last five in Class AAA.
• Two teams from the city of East Grand Forks making their first state tournament trips. The East Grand Forks Green Wave in Class AA and the Sacred Heart Eagles in Class A hail from the northwest Minnesota city of 9,176.
• Five teams nicknamed the Eagles and five teams nicknamed the Tigers, including three of the top five seeds in Class AAA: Marshall, Princeton and Stewartville. Class A’s Pine River-Backus and Class AA’s Rush City also have Tiger pride, while the Blaine Bengals are a bonus answer to this bit of trivia in Class AAAA.

Here is a class-by-class preview of the tournament.

Class A

• The top seed, Minneota (29-4), has played for a championship in its last six appearances, all since 2017. The Vikings won three titles in that span and are back in the tournament after a one-year hiatus.
• Second-seeded Fillmore Central (25-6) is here for the third year in a row after winning the consolation bracket last season.
• Third-seeded Mayer Lutheran (19-12) has won the last two state championships and has three All-Tournament seniors back from last year’s squad: outside hitters Hallie Hunter and Courtney Tuttle and middle hitter Ada Hahn. The Crusaders are 13-2 in the last five tournaments with three titles and two runner-up finishes.
• Guided by 16th-year head coach Emily Vonasek, No. 4 Sacred Heart (29-3) is making its state tournament debut. It swept through the Section 8A Tournament after its only best-of-five loss, 3-2 to Class AA qualifier East Grand Forks.
• No. 5 Chisholm (28-3) advanced for the first time since its breakthrough appearance in 2007.
• No. 6 Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa (20-8) took the first set before falling to eventual champion Mayer Lutheran in last year’s semifinals and finishing third. The Jaguars are back with first-year head coach Holly Breitbach.
• Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s (25-4-1) carries the No. 7 seed in its first state tournament, but the Knights won’t be shy on the big stage. Multiple contributors from the girls basketball squad that won the 2026 state championship are on this roster, including starters Olivia Schieffert, Morgan Mathiowetz and Brynne Ibberson.
• Eleven of the 15 players on the Pine River-Backus (19-9) roster are juniors. The No. 8 seed won three consecutive four-set matches in the Section 5A Tournament.

Class AA

• New Life Academy of Woodbury (26-1) returns as the top seed following a third-place finish a year ago. The Eagles’ only loss this season was to Esko in a two-set invitational format.
• Second-seeded Southwest Christian (24-8) won the consolation bracket in 2025. The Stars battled past Belle Plaine in a thrilling Section 2AA final, 24-26, 25-19, 25-19, 21-25, 20-18.
• A historic season for Minnewaska Area (30-1) continues as the No. 3 seed in its first trip to the state tournament. The Lakers are tied with Cleveland for most wins in the state. Their only loss was 2-1 to Southwest Christian.
• Fourth-seeded New London-Spicer (26-1) overturned its only loss of the season with a four-set victory over Jackson County Central in the Section 3AA final. The Wildcats are state bound for the third consecutive season.
• No. 5 Dover-Eyota (28-3) cracked the coaches poll top 10 for the first time in program history this season and proved worthy of that distinction by advancing to its first state tournament.
• No. 6 Rush City (28-3) is back after three consecutive appearances from 2022 to 2024, including a runner-up finish in 2023.
• Seventh-seeded Watertown-Mayer adds to the Wright County Conference representation with its first trip to state since 2019. The Royals tied for second in the West Division, behind New London-Spicer. Southwest Christian topped the East Division.
• Eighth-seeded East Grand Forks (22-10) upended the top two seeds in Section 8AA on the way to its first state tournament. The Green Wave, No. 3 in the section, topped Thief River Falls in a five-set semifinal and swept Barnesville in the final. The historic run also included a five-set quarterfinal victory over Wadena-Deer Creek.

Class AAA

• Three All-Tournament players return for top-seeded Benilde-St. Margaret’s (28-3), the runner-up a year ago. Seniors Sydney and Sailor Friedly and junior Avery Minor hope this is the Red Knights’ year. They defeated all three of the other top four Class AAA seeds in best-of-three invitational matches this season.
• Second-seeded Marshall (26-5) has won four of the last five state championships; last season’s was its state-record 10th overall. This is the Tigers’ 35th tournament appearance.
• No. 3 Princeton (26-5) was unranked in the preseason but quickly emerged as a contender. The Tigers are state bound for the first time.
• The fourth seed, Cretin-Derham Hall (25-7), is here for the third year in a row, coming off a fourth-place finish. The Raiders have a five-set win over Benilde-St. Margaret’s on their resume.
• No. 5 Stewartville (24-6) won the 2025 third-place match and meets Cretin-Derham Hall again in the 2026 quarterfinals. The Tigers, also making their third consecutive appearance, are second among Class AAA qualifiers with 27 state berths all-time.
• Sauk Rapids-Rice (19-7) returns as the No. 6 seed after winning the consolation bracket last season.
• Seventh-seeded Totino-Grace (25-6) is back for the first time since 2002. The Eagles rallied past Big Lake in the Section 5AAA final, 19-25, 25-15, 22-25, 25-15, 15-12.
• Back-to-back five-set wins made Hill-Murray (19-6) the Section 4AAA representative. The Pioneers, seeded eighth at state, used extra points to beat Mahtomedi, 16-14, in the fifth set of their semifinal, then pulled off a reverse sweep against Chisago Lakes, 27-29, 14-25, 25-21, 25-17, 15-11.

Class AAAA

• After back-to-back state championships, Lakeville South (27-3) is once again No. 1 in the Class AAAA field. Coach Steve Willingham was inducted into the Minnesota Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Fame last year.
• Second-seeded Eagan (25-3) handed Lakeville South a five-set defeat during the South Suburban Conference schedule on Sept. 29. Coach McKenna Melville led the Wildcats to state titles as a player in 2015 and 2016. Her head coach for those runs was her mom, Kathy Gillen Melville, now an assistant coach and a member of the Minnesota State High School League’s Hall of Fame Class of 2026.
• Trailing 12-7 in the fifth set of a Section 5AAAA semifinal against Rogers, Champlin Park (21-9) scored eight straight points to advance and rode that momentum to a sweep of the section’s top seed, Maple Grove. The Rebels earned the No. 3 seed in this bracket.
• The Nos. 4 and 5 seeds meet again after Apple Valley defeated Roseville Area for third place in 2025. Both teams have star seniors back from that four-set battle: Ginny Gores (17 kills) and Sophia Cowan (16) for Apple Valley and Sophia Gholson-Johnson (14) and Leah Biyadglign (10) for Roseville.
• Waconia and Chanhassen (20-11) upset the top two seeds in the Section 2AAAA semifinals. Chanhassen, seeded third in the section and now sixth at state, beat reigning state runner-up Prior Lake, then earned the program’s first state tournament bid with a four-set win over Waconia.
• No. 7 Blaine (19-8) avenged a regular-season loss to Centennial with a sweep for the Section 7AAAA title.
• No. 8 Alexandria Area (22-5) is making its 13th appearance and first since winning the 2024 state title.