Mike Kraft/MDN Senior Eve Knutson and the Majettes seek a return trip to the state tournament for the first time since 2011. They are the No. 2 seed in the WDA Tournament and play No. 7 Mandan in the quarterfinal round on Thursday, Nov. 13, in Mandan.

The Minot High volleyball team may be the No. 2 seed in the West Region Tournament set to get under way on Thursday, Nov. 13, in Mandan, but it isn’t packing its bags for the state tournament prematurely.

The Majettes learned the hard way last season that a high seed in the regional tournament doesn’t guarantee an automatic spot as one of the final eight teams at state. They still need to go out and win two games over the course of three days, something they were unable to achieve last year as the No. 3 seed.

Minot High was in prime position to end a state tournament drought that dates back to 2011 when it last participated in the final week of the season. The Majettes opened the WDA Tournament with a win over Minot North, but dropped their semifinal match to No. 2 seed Bismarck High in four sets and fell in a state qualifying to fifth-seeded Bismarck Legacy in five sets to end their season earlier than anticipated..

“We have some returners, so they’ve been there and been through it,” Minot High coach Jesse Goertzen said. “They understand the emotional side of it. That’s going to benefit us this year with just understanding the pressures of what comes with postseason play. We have some tough matches coming up, but we’ve played every team twice at least, so we have some good reps against them.”

The Majettes’ roster features five seniors, all of which remember the emotion of getting as close to the state tournament without actually qualifying, falling three points shy in that fifth-set tiebreaker a year ago to the Sabers. One of those seniors was Mackenzie Dufner, who had a career year at the setter position. Not only did she lead the WDA in assists with 669 and assists per match with 37.1, but she eclipsed the 2,500-assist milestone during her senior campaign, setting a new school record. The UND recruit also averaged over an ace per match.

But it was a pair of juniors and a sophomore that Dufner was feeding the ball to over the course of the season. Junior Kynsli Gillmore led the Majettes in kills during WDA play with 12.1 kills per match. Sophomore Everette Deschamp (11.3) and junior Brooke Bedell (10) were second and third, respectively.

The defensive side of the net is where the senior leadership came into play this season. Camdyn Vardy was second in the WDA with 24.1 digs per match and Eve Knutson was Minot High’s block leader at 2.1 blocks per contest.

“They’ve been very confident in their abilities,” Goertzen said. “We’ve been trying to build up their confidence as coaches. Their camaraderie on the court has really improved throughout the season and just the atmosphere that we have, it’s a very calm confidence that we possess and I think it’s transferring down from not only our varsity but to our other ages as well. It’s a program-wide thing right now, but it’s this varsity team right now that’s exemplifying that and allowing that to be coached down to the younger levels.”

The Majettes open their WDA slate with a quarterfinal matchup with Mandan, a team they swept twice during the regular season. They won the first match on the road, 26-24, 25-20, 25-12, before completing the series sweep at home, 25-23, 25-15, 25-20. The two teams haven’t met since Oct. 2. The Braves won a play-in match against Williston to earn the No. 7 seed.

Minot High has at least one win over eight of its nine WDA opponents this season and swept the two meetings with Mandan, Williston, Minot North, Bismarck St. Mary’s and Dickinson. The Majettes split contests with Bismarck High, Bismarck Legacy and Jamestown. Bismarck Century was the only team the Majettes didn’t defeat during the regular season. The Patriots dropped just one conference match and seven sets all season.

“The teams that we lost to, we played OK or there was definitely some glaring errors we knew we had to fix if we wanted to compete with them,” Goertzen said. “In the matches where we’ve played solid and we’ve played together as a team and performed well all around, we’ve had the results that we’ve wanted. They understand what it takes to win and we have that confidence against all those teams.”

The Majettes are seeking their first quarterfinal round victory at the WDA Tournament since 2007, when they defeated Jamestown in four sets. They won the WDA title that year over Bismarck High and placed third at the state tournament. They have lost 14 consecutive matches in the quarterfinal round, including in 2011, which serves as the last time the Majettes advanced to state. That year, they won a loser-out match and then defeated Mandan in five sets to get to state, where they finished eighth. They have played in five state-qualifying matches since 2011, losing all five.

With the WDA field trimmed from 12 teams down to 10 with the implementation of the new three-class system that saw Watford City and Turtle Mountain move down to the new Class A, every team played each other twice. There were no double-counters, meaning more familiarity among opponents and more competitive matches. Now, a third matchup with WDA foes creates a layer of unpredictability.

“I loved it,” Goertzen said. “Every match was super competitive. There wasn’t any match on the schedule where you could take them lightly. Williston took a set from us and they were the 10th seed, so anyone could beat anyone on any night. You had to play well in order to win. Some of our matches really showed that, where when teams were able to take sets off us or win, a lot of times it was things that we were doing that we could control and be better at. We were able to look at that and look in the mirror and say that we need to do this better and if we do, the results have shown it will be on our side. I loved the WDA. I loved that there were no double-counters this year. We played everyone twice. If we lost to a team, it gave us another shot and if they lost to us, it gave them another shot. You really had to prove yourself every night.”

In WDA play, Minot High played in seven four-set matches and two five-set matches. The Majettes were 4-3 in four-set matches and 2-0 in five-set matches.

Minot High’s 2007 WDA Tournament title is its lone championship, yet it still ties them with four other teams for third-most in the conference. That’s because in the 21 previous years of the tournament, Century has claimed 15 championships, including the last 11. The Patriots are again the No. 1 seed heading into the tournament, winning the regular season title for the 18th time. They were undefeated through their first 22 matches before losing in the Fargo Metro tournament to West Fargo Horace on Oct. 11. Only Jamestown was able to best them in conference play, winning in four sets.

Minot North has the herculean task of trying to knock of the defending state champion after winning its play-in match against Bismarck St. Mary’s to earn the No. 8 seed. Jamestown is the No. 3 seed and will play No. 6 seed Dickinson. The final match features No. 4 seed Bismarck Legacy and fifth-seeded Bismarck High.

While Century’s dominance within the WDA this season has it as the heavy favorite to win the tournament, the real prize is winning those two games over three days and getting to play volleyball for another week.

“As far as making a state tournament, that would just be big for the program, big for the confidence of the girls who are on varsity now,” Goertzen said. “It would be good for the girls who are coming up to have that extra motivation to get back. Overall, it would be a big benefit for our program to see that pin finally fall and be able to make it to that state tournament and be able to compete there as well.”