The second season of three-class high school volleyball in North Dakota begins this week.
Here are five storylines to follow in the Lake Region.
New class system has helped Devils Lake, but Firebirds are still in a tough region
Like in basketball a couple years prior, the advent of the three-class system was beneficial for Devils Lake. It allows the Firebirds to compete at a more reasonable level, while also shortening travel time.
But that doesn’t mean the competition is a cakewalk.
Devils Lake still finds itself in a tough, competitive region. Sure, it’s preferable to being in a region full of Fargo teams, but the Firebirds still have to deal with defending Division A state champion May-Port-C-G and other strong programs like Thompson and Carrington. Even some of the teams toward the bottom of the region, like Hillsboro/Central Valley and Harvey/Wells County, can still put up a fight.
Devils Lake came in sixth out of seven teams in the region last year. None of the region games were rollovers. The new class system was definitely a favorable change — Devils Lake had an overall record above .500 — but it’s still going to be a tough region for the Firebirds to play out of.
Firebirds have some good talent, but depth will be key
Devils Lake returns its top two hitters from last year, Emma Hofstad and Kinley Johnson. It also brings back setter Riley Remmick. Hofstad and Remmick got some preseason recognition from the American Volleyball Coaches Association, being named to its “phenom watch list.”
So there’s definitely talent on the squad. The key will be depth. The Firebirds have 11 rostered varsity players, some of whom have limited varsity experience. However, it is an older roster, comprised entirely of juniors and seniors. For Devils Lake to be competitive, some of the hitters lower on the depth chart will need to step up, as will the new libero, junior Elin Skaar, in place of the recently-graduated all-region selection Julia McIvor.
Langdon Area/Munich appears primed for a three-peat
It’s almost hard to imagine having much greater riches than the Langdon Area/Munich volleyball team.
The Cardinals are the back-to-back defending champions of Division B. They have more B state titles — six — than any team in the state. And they only lost one senior.
Not only that, but one of their top players, Aubrey Badding, missed most of last season with an injury. They won the Division B state title anyway. She’s back this fall for her senior year.
The biggest standout on a team full of them is Hilary Haaven, who’s still only a sophomore. She was a major part of the 2024 state championship team as an eighth-grader, and she surpassed 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs as a freshman.
LA/M also returns some talented juniors, including but not limited to middle blocker Taya Feist, hitter Emma Hall and setter Kemi Morstad, who all played significant roles last year. The team still has a good young foundation, too, with three freshmen and five sophomores on the varsity roster.
One of those sophomores, Avery Lorenz, was also hurt last year, which gives the Cardinals another returning contributor.
The only player LA/M graduated was libero Raeleigh Ratzlaff, who’s now playing for Lake Region State College.
There’s no question that the Cardinals are the team to beat in Division B.
Who are some of the other contenders in District 4?
Prior to the adoption of the three-class system, the area Class B teams played in a region rather than a district. Regardless of how they’re grouped, though, it’s often been a competitive and entertaining field of teams.
This is the second straight year of the teams competing in Region 2, District 4. The top four teams at the end of the district tournament advance to the region tournament. The champion of the region tournament advances to state, while the loser of the championship match and winner of the third-place match play state qualifiers.
It means as many as three teams could represent Region 2 at state. During the days of the two-class system, only the region champion could go to state.
Before the Cardinals’ back-to-back state championships, New Rockford-Sheyenne had temporarily spoiled LA/M’s dominance by winning the region in 2022 and 2023. The Rockets were one of the better teams in the field over the last two years as well, though they have a tall task ahead of them in replacing the Region 2 Senior Athlete of the Year, Ava Peterson. They’re led by a new coach this year, Nicole Cook.
Benson County had the second-longest run in the district last fall, coming within one set of making the state tournament. The Wildcats graduated all-state hitter Aubrey Kenner, though they bring back all-region junior setter Liberty Streyle, who owns more than 2,000 career assists, along with powerful junior hitter Lacie Fautsch.
North Star is also a team to keep an eye on. The Bearcats displayed some good young talent last year, quietly becoming one of the most competitive teams in the district after a disappointing 2024. Sophomore Claire Jorde and freshman Genevieve Ahlberg are their top two hitters, and their primary setter, Blake Nicholas, is a freshman.
They did graduate all-region middle blocker Annabelle Staus, but most of the rest of their core is young and still improving. North Star was District 4’s fourth representative in the region tournament last year behind LA/M, Benson County and NR-S. The Bearcats are primed to only keep getting better.
Nelson County was on the bubble last year, placing fifth in the district with a 3-5 record, behind North Star’s 5-3. North Prairie, Dunseith and St. John each won two district matches.
How will Four Winds and Minnewaukan handle splitting up?
The Four Winds/Minnewaukan co-op ended after last season, a move that allows Four Winds to move down to Division B in basketball. Minnewaukan now forms a co-op with Warwick.
This should be a net positive in basketball. Four Winds gets to go back to the B, and Warwick gets a little help with numbers. But the change might present some challenges in volleyball.
While volleyball has grown on the reservation in recent years, FW/M has still been towards the bottom of the district or region. The Indians won one regular-season district match last year. Splitting up Four Winds and Minnewaukan will theoretically only make it harder to be competitive.
The Warwick volleyball program, meanwhile, is brand new. There tends to be growing pains anytime a new program is born. It will be a learning year for the Warriors, who are expected to play junior varsity matches against some of District 4’s top teams.
Still, the increase in volleyball participation in the area is a positive development. It just could be difficult for the teams to be competitive right away, especially in a district that has two-time defending state champion LA/M and other tough opponents like Benson County, NR-S and North Star.
High school volleyball season kicked off with various tournaments on Saturday, Aug. 29. The first day of official matches is Tuesday, Sept. 1.