Mike Kraft/MDN The Our Redeemer’s Christian School volleyball team is looking to begin a new era of Class B volleyball with a return trip to the state tournament after being knocked out early in last year’s region tournament.

The Our Redeemer’s Christian School trophy case has expanded quite a bit over the past decade, thanks in large part to the accomplishments of its volleyball program.

Which is why last season was such an anomaly for the Knights, who for the first time since 2013 had no championship hardware to show for a season in which they sported a 28-12-1 record. ORCS finished runners-up to South Prairie-Max in the District 12 tournament before being eliminated by an upstart Surrey squad in the Region 6 semifinal.

As a result, the Knights could only watch as South Prairie-Max claimed the Region 6 title and the automatic spot at the state tournament, where they would go on to the championship match, ultimately falling to Landon Area/Munich. The way last season ended was a bitter pill for the Knights to swallow, but also served as a valuable lesson that past success doesn’t entitle you to future riches.

“I think that come postseason time anything can happen,” ORCS coach Kara Nunziato said. “It definitely wasn’t what we hoped the outcome would be, but on a night where we didn’t play our best, Surrey came in and had a phenomenal performance. They played assertively and they kept their error rate low and they definitely deserved to win that match.”

A Region 6 championship match without the Knights may be an unusual sight, but it’s nothing compared to the shakeup that volleyball in North Dakota went through in the offseason, moving from a two-class system to a three-class system. ORCS moves from District 12 and Region 6 of a former Class B level that featured six districts and five super regionals (regions without districts) with 98 total teams to District 6 and Region 3 of a new Class B level that features eight districts and four regionals with 75 total teams.

Among the teams from the Knights’ old region that departed to form the new Class A level were Des Lacs-Burlington, Bottineau, Rugby, Nedrose and – ORCS’ biggest rival over the past few years – South Prairie-Max.

“The three-class system has definitely changed the landscape,” Nunziato said. “I have been telling our AD that I need to live through the season of change. It’s sad to see South Prairie and DL-B leave our district, but we’re also really excited for the new competition that’s on our schedule. We’re keeping the same tournaments, so there hasn’t been too many changes, so we’re looking forward to some of the games we played last season and some of the new competition this season.”

The Knights will now contend in a district that features Surrey, Bishop Ryan, Glenburn, Newburg-Westhope, Drake-Anamoose, TGU, Velva, Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood and Lewis & Clark-Berthold. The other district making up Region 3 are Alexander, Divide County, Kenmare-Bowbells, Lewis & Clark North Shore, Trenton, Parshall, Powers Lake-Burke Central, Ray, Tioga and Williston Trinity Christian. The region has 33 state tournament appearances between them, with ORCS and Kenmare-Bowbells leading the way with 11 each.

“We are just going to focus on our game and not change anything about what we do depending on who we play, but just keep ourselves comfortable,” ORCS senior middle hitter Brooklynn Roedocker said.

Roedocker is one of six seniors on the ORCS roster this season. At 5-foot-11, she is the second tallest member of the Knights, an inch shorter than junior middle hitter Lauren Strom, who stands at an even 6 feet. ORCS has senior leadership at most positions on the court, including middle hitter, setter, libero and outside hitter. Defensive specialist is the lone exception, with freshman Tessa Carlson being the lone defensive specialist listed on the roster.

“We have a lot of different personalities that work well together,” ORCS senior setter Grace Olson said. “Some people bring the energy but some people bring the focus aspect of it, so it’s really cool to see everyone come together and work for one goal to play together and to win, but more than winning to play hard and our best.”

The Knights believe their strengths are on the defensive side of the court, sporting a solid block at the net. Like most teams across the state with new players on the roster, the first few weeks have been about developing chemistry.

“This summer we’ve worked extremely hard at gelling as a new team,” Nunziato said. “We did graduate five people from our program. I would say that our strengths are our scrappy defense and we do have some height and the ability to put up a pretty big blocking team this season.”

The Knights will learn right from the start of the season how they stack up with the rest of the state. They open the season at home against Kenmare-Bowbells on Thursday, Sept. 4, before playing in the Volley in the Valley tournament as well as the Valley City tournament. Sandwiched in between those two tournaments is a match up with South Prairie-Max.

But ORCS is more focused on itself than the opponent on the opposite side of the net.

“The details matter on our side of the court,” Olson said. “The little things at practice that we work on. It doesn’t matter who’s on the other side of the court, but if we come to each game and perform and make sure those fine-tuned details are working well then we can do well.”

The Knights just don’t want a repeat of how last season ended, as it still lingers in the back of their mind.

“It’s going to be a big motivator,” Roedocker said. “Nobody wanted to be done that way. We’re going to do our best to not end that way again and just keep our eyes set on the goal.”

Surrey teeming with confidence, optimism after last year’s postseason run

South Prairie-Max isn’t around to defend its region title now that the Royals are part of Class A, but that doesn’t mean that the rest of the field is just going to lie down and hand Our Redeemer’s the championship.

Surrey didn’t do it last year and the Mustangs don’t intend to do so this season either. The Mustangs are loaded with experience and confidence coming off a memorable postseason run that saw them come within one victory of advancing to the state tournament for the first time in program history. Surrey’s 12-player lineup consists of seven seniors and five juniors under third-year head coach Michaela Martin.

“We do have a lot of upperclassmen this year, but a lot of them have been a part of the varsity team the last year or two years,” Martin said. “So they come with a lot of knowledge and experience with the varsity team and have really helped the other upperclassmen who have recently joined us really get into the mold that we’re looking for to be a competitive team this year.”

The Mustangs had one of the more improbable tournament showings last season after winning just one district match in 2024. It looked as if Surrey would be exiting the district tournament early after dropping its first match in straight sets and then losing the opening set to Bishop Ryan in an elimination game. But then it was as if a lightbulb went off because the Mustangs became a different team entirely. They won the final three sets of their match against the Lions and then battled back from two sets down to complete a reverse sweep of Berthold to advance to the regional tournament for just the second time. Entering the district tournament, Surrey had won just three district tournament matches in 23 years.

The magical run wasn’t done, as the Mustangs won their first regional tournament game ever, knocking off Rugby, before posting arguably the biggest victory in program history, defeating ORCS in five sets. It’s a victory the team still talks about.

“It’s still unreal,” Martin said. “The returning players from last year bring it up at least once a week. It’s still almost a disbelief a year later, but I think that’s one thing we can carry into these big matches this year is there is no winner and there is no loser set; you have to play until the final whistle is blown and that’s what they did last year and I’m confident it’s something we can do again this year.”

The Mustangs missed out on an appearance at state by a single match, but they are feeling optimistic about their chances this year due to the changes in the sport. With fewer teams and fewer regions, there are more opportunities for teams to advance to the state tournament, no longer being required to win their region tournaments as the only entry to play in the final weekend. Now, a team has a chance to advance to state by finishing second or third in the region, needing to win a state-qualifier against a team from another region to advance. There will be four state-qualifiers pitting the regional runner-ups against the third-place winners from another regional.

“That’s something we’ve talked about, too, because a lot of these kids have never even thought of state as an opportunity, so last year making it to the regional tournament and then making it to the regional championship, it really opened their eyes that they can do this,” Martin said. “State is a real big goal of ours but it’s not something we have to only put first. We’re going to have to put the team first and make changes along the way if our team isn’t doing what it needs to do to be successful in the postseason.”

Martin supports the move to a three-class system, believing it gives smaller schools a better opportunity to be competitive.

“I’m not saying it makes our chances easier, but being from a small school who just started gaining traction in volleyball, it’s nice to be able to get a chance along with all the other small schools like ours that don’t always get a lot of new athletes every year,” Martin said. “It gives us more of an opportunity and leveling the playing field because the district and region we played in last year and every other year has been so tough and been dominated by bigger schools, so now with some schools moving up a class and being spread out throughout the district and region, it just levels the playing field a little bit for everybody.”

Bishop Ryan vies to contend with senior-loaded roster

Bishop Ryan head coach Sierra Bosch picked an opportune time to take over the Lions program and is hoping to find the same success as her cousin Brody has with the boys basketball team, guiding them to a Class B state title last year.

Bosch takes over a program with eight seniors on a roster loaded with chemistry, talent and experience. Now it’s just about tying all three together on the court and maximizing their potential as they begin life anew with a new region and some new opponents.

“I have a lot of leadership on the team, which I’m very grateful for,” Bosch said. “I got Tochi (Udekwe), who has been playing since I believe eighth grade, so she’s brought a lot of leadership to the team. She’s one of our captains, along with Bentley Schneider and Anne Fricke. Both awesome leaders. We’re very senior-heavy this season, which is a blessing and a curse.”

The Lions are coming off a season in which they finished 13-16 and placed sixth in the district during the regular season. They did not advance to the Region 6 tournament and haven’t won a region tournament match since 2022.

Bosch is new to the Minot area, having made the move from Linton a couple years ago. While this is her first head coaching position, she has spent time working as an assistant. The Linton area is no stranger to volleyball success as Linton-HMB has appeared at the state tournament seven times, advancing to the state title game four times and claiming two championships. She is hoping to bring that level of expectation to the volleyball program at Bishop Ryan.

“I’m trying to set it pretty high for them,” Bosch said. “They come in every day with such great attitudes and they have a willingness to work hard, which is awesome to see, and they really influence those younger girls to work hard and push themselves harder. “My expectation is having the girls help me build a better foundation for this program and to bring volleyball into the spotlight a little bit more at the school.”

Bosch has senior leadership at most positions, but two of the three defensive specialists on the roster are sophomores. Senior Mia Braunberger is the lone upperclassman at the defensive specialist position on the roster, meaning she will play a pivotal role on the court to help lead the younger players. The lone libero on the roster – Cambree Zwak – is a sophomore.

With the capability of sending as many as three teams from the region to the state tournament, Bishop Ryan would like to think they have the roster to make it happen this year for the first time in program history. The Lions have advanced to the region championship three times in the past (2004, 2013, 2021) but were unable to punch their ticket to state all three times.