Nathan Beitler/MDN Hattie Heer averaged four kills and three blocks per match this season for South Prairie-Max, which earned the top seed in the Class A state tournament. The Royals will play Hazen in the quarterfinal round on Thursday, Nov. 20, at 3 p.m. at the Bismarck Events Center.

Since its inaugural season in 2015, South Prairie-Max always believed inside its locker room that they would one day be looked at as one of the top volleyball teams in the state.

The Royals’ kept believing during the first few years of growing pains. They lost their first 12 district tournament games over the first six seasons. In that first district tournament, South Prairie-Max recorded fewer than 10 points in five of its six sets.

They’d win their first district tournament match in 2021 and advance to the Region 6 tournament for the first time in 2022, finishing third. The next year saw the Royals playing for a region championship and a chance to make it to their first state tournament, but were knocked off by Our Redeemer’s in four sets, but at this point the rest of the volleyball landscape was starting to take notice of South Prairie-Max.

Last year, the Royals finally broke through, and in a big way. They won their first district title and followed that up by claiming their first region championship, earning them a spot at the state tournament. Instead of just being happy to be there among the final eight teams, South Prairie-Max announced itself to anyone that may still have doubted its talent, advancing to the title match and coming within two sets of a championship, ultimately falling to Langdon Area/Munich in four sets.

In 2025, the Royals moved up to the newly constructed Class A, but picked up right where they left off to end the previous season and are right back at the state tournament for a second straight year. This season, not only are the expectations high for South Prairie-Max within its own locker room, the expectations for the program are at its apex on the outside as well.

“I told the girls that this time at the state tournament is where you have to play your best volleyball and that’s what most of the teams are doing,” South Prairie-Max coach Lisa McQueen said. “Everyone’s going to be coming out gunning for us, but instead of focusing on that pressure we’re going to go out and focus on our volleyball game and do the best that we can to play our game.”

The Royals enter the state tournament 33-3-1 overall and completed an undefeated run through Region 3. To top it all off, they were awarded the No. 1 seed in the state tournament based on a vote from the other seven coaches. The Royals open the tournament against No. 8 seed Hazen at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 20, at the Bismarck Event Center’s Exhibit Hall. South Prairie-Max defeated the Bison twice during the regular season, the first coming in a straight-set win at the Carrington Tournament and the second being a 3-0 victory during a jamboree event it hosted on Oct. 24.

Hazen is the Region 4 champion after entering the regional as the No. 3 seed. The Bison swept both Killdeer and Shiloh Christian before upsetting top-seeded and fifth-ranked Dickinson Trinity in the championship in five sets. This is Hazen’s sixth appearance at state and first since 2016.

“We’ve played them a couple times this year,” McQueen said. “They have a few good hitters and can be pretty scrappy on defense. They must be playing some good volleyball coming at No. 1 in their region and we’re just going to have to stay focused and play our best volleyball – passing, serving – and let our offense take shape.”

South Prairie-Max hasn’t lost a match since Oct. 4, winning its last 18 contests. It’s only lost one non-in season tournament match this year – a five-setter against Our Redeemer’s on Sept. 9.

The Royals are led offensively by Keira Francis and Skotti Beck. Francis leads the team with 11 kills per match, totally more than 400 this season, while Beck averages around nine kills per match. Both are also a key part of the defense, with Beck leading the way with over 400 digs this season. Francis has dug out close to 300 balls this season. Bailey McQueen and Reagan Trudell each average around 14 assists per match. Hattie Heer and Abby Mikkelson anchor a solid block, combining for nearly 200 blocks this year.

While this isn’t the Royals’ first rodeo at the state tournament in terms of the players on the court, it is the first time McQueen will be coaching in the marquee event. The first-year head coach is looking forward to the new challenge and knows that her team will be ready to handle the bright lights.

“It does help having some experience being in a state tournament, not only in volleyball but a lot of these girls play basketball, too, so they’ve been in some of the basketball state tournaments,” McQueen said. “They’re still going to be nervous and excited, but knowing you’ve been there before and experienced the whole thing, there’s just so much more to it than playing a game. They’ll be a little more settled and used to a little bit more of those high-pressure games.”

The South-Prairie Max girls basketball team has been to the state tournament each of the last two seasons, playing in the championship game in 2024.

Win or lose at the state tournament, the growth of the program to the point where yearly trips to the final tournament of the year isn’t something lost on McQueen.

“Getting to state is a huge accomplishment in itself, especially in Class A,” McQueen said. “Getting there is great and any game we can win and move forward is going to be successful. Obviously we’d like to go and win it. That would be the ultimate goal, but I’m just really proud of the team and how well they’ve come together.”

Des Lacs-Burlington returns to state tournament, faces May-Port-CG in opener

All eyes and expectations might be on South Prairie-Max entering the Class A state volleyball tournament this weekend, but there is another team from Region 3 looking to make a name for itself over the three-day event.

Des Lacs-Burlington is back at the state tournament for the second time in program history after earning its first trip in 2021. That year, the Lakers went 0-3, so they’ll be looking for that elusive first victory. Their first chance will come bright and early on Thursday, Nov. 20, as the No. 7 seed Lakers will play No. 2 seed May-Port-CG in the quarterfinals at the Bismarck Event Center’s Exhibit Hall at 9 a.m.

The two teams have seen each other twice over the course of the season, but never stepped on the same court together. They both participated in the Volley in the Valley Tournament and the DL-B Tournament, but were in different pools during pool play and didn’t match up in the proceeding playoff brackets. They won’t be avoiding each other this time around.

“I am excited to play May-Port,” DL-B coach Erica Moen said. “We have not played them this year even though we’ve been in a couple of the same tournaments, so I think it will be a good first-round matchup for us. I know they are just a solid all-around good team. I don’t think they have a lot of weak spots. They have a good setter and some good height on their team with one of their middle blockers. I think we’re going to match up pretty well against them.”

The Lakers (24-13) finished second in the regional standings during the regular season and lost to South Prairie-Max in the region championship match, sending them to a state-qualifying match last Saturday against Shiloh Christian. The Lakers dropped the opening set before winning the final three to earn a spot at the state tournament.

“It was exciting for these girls and this team,” Moen said. “We lost the first set, 27-25, but we had been down seven or eight points in that game. We were able to at least battle back and it was a good game where teams would go on really long runs and all the set scores were close, so I was glad that we could compete at the end and not play scared. We played confident and were able to finish up those sets even though they were close battles.”

The Lakers haven’t played May-Port-CG, but are 2-5 against other teams in the field, with wins against Dickinson Trinity and Central Cass, two teams seeded higher than them in the tournament.

Piper Feller and Mycah Faken led the Lakers in kills with 390 and 271, respectively. Feller is also the team-leader in digs with 339 and has contributed 26 aces and 23 blocks. Kati Schaefer leads the team with 34 aces and is second on the team with 264 digs. Hanna Sundsbak provides a solid block in front of the net, stuffing 40 shots this season. Hailey Goetz and Ava Werner share the setter position, responsible for 897 of the team’s 984 assists on the year. They also combined for 439 digs. Aspyn MacClennan is top-four in kills (133), aces (34) and digs (202).

The Lakers may not have state tournament experience on the volleyball court, but some have played in high-pressure tournaments in other sports that have prepared them for all the emotions that come with this weekend.

“We’re going to need our leaders on the court to step up and try and keep the nerves to a minimum the best we can even though the nerves are going to be there,” Moen said. “We do have girls that have played in state softball tournaments before and played in the state championship game last year. We have some girls where it’s not going to be their first time playing on a big stage so we’re going to have to lean on each other and enjoy the moment but also play for the moment as well.”

The Patriots (29-7) are the champion out of Region 2 and are the third-ranked team in Class A. They finished the regular season second in the regional standings, but knocked off Carrington – the second-ranked team in Class A – in four sets in the championship match. Carrington failed to qualify for the state tournament after losing an elimination game to Valley City in their next match.

Moen has seen the fight from her team since the beginning of the season. When three of their players went down to season-ending injuries during their home-opener in September, the Lakers didn’t waiver. Moen hopes to see more of that fight on display this weekend to close out their season.

“Girls have stepped up and filled different roles on the team, especially with all the injuries we had at the beginning of the year,” Moen said. “Everybody stayed positive and played for each other and kept each other up even if someone was struggling. These girls really care about the team and want to win together. It’s not just about personal goals but what we can achieve together.”

The other two quarterfinal matches see No. 3 seed Central Cass playing against No. 6 Dickinson Trinity at 1 p.m. and No. 4 seed Valley City matching up with No. 5 seed Thompson.