After Eight-Year Wait, Hermantown Volleyball Back in the State Tournament

Hermantown clinched Section 7AAA title on October 31st.

HERMANTOWN, Minn.- In recent years, the Hermantown volleyball team has come close to making it to the state tournament. That included three section 7AAA semifinal defeats.

However, the streak is no more. The Hawks are state bound for the first time since 2016.

They made that possible last Thursday when they topped North Branch in the section title game in four sets.

Senior middle hitter Gabi Arntson says heading to the state tournament is a full circle moment for her as she remembered watching the 2016 team.

“I remember fan girling over the older girls when I was young and just one day setting that goal for myself to be at state and go there and accomplish it. On Thursday, we had a goal of focusing on each point and each set. And after we had the first two, we kind of let up and were like okay we got it in the bag but then we ended up losing the 3rd set. It kind of woke us up a little bit and we were all ready in the fourth set and we knew we wanted to take it home. So we did it and it was probably the greatest feeling I’ve ever experienced,” said Arntson.

The Hawks drew the 8th seed and will face top seeded Delano in the quarterfinals.

Head Coach Jessica Williams detailed their process to game planning for a new opponent.

“I guess we were lucky throughout this season that we could watch some film on opponents and ask other opponents for film. None of our opponents have matched with Delano so we are kind of going into the game like we went in the beginning of the season. I always ask the girls what do we know about the team? Nothing, but we know they play hard. We know we’re at the state tournament and they are number one in the state. They’re going to be coming out to win and that’s what our mentality needs to be too,” said Williams.

The Hawks and Tigers begin battle at 5 PM on Wednesday at the Xcel Energy Center.