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Courtney Selbitschka saved some of her best North Branch volleyball for her last couple of matches, and that’s saying a lot after all the gaudy stats she’s accumulated over her long and illustrious career.

In the consolation bracket, where a loss meant North Branch’s season was over, she combined for 55 kills in two games and put the Vikings attack on her back to propel them to fifth place in the biggest class in Minnesota.

Her masterpiece was a 28 kill, three block, 18 dig performance in a five set win over Moorhead in the consolation championship.

The Spuds were 27-5 heading into the match with North Branch, having lost to Roseville in the first round and beaten Hopkins in the opening consolation game.
North Branch was laser-focused in the first two sets against Moorhead. They beat the Spuds 25-18 on a late run. After being up only 17-16, the Vikings won eight of the last 10 points, capped off with a Morgen Coleman ace to give the Vikes the first set.

In the second set, the teams played tooth and nail throughout. The score was never more than four points apart once both teams hit double digits. At 23-23, Courtney Selbitschka put a kill down that gave NB some breathing room. Despite a quick tie from Moorhead, Courtney’s younger sister Cianna made sure the Vikes stayed on top, crossing two straight kills to win the set. Both kills were set up by libero Cassie Kunshier when Coleman couldn’t get to them.
In the third set, North Branch was battling against it the whole time. They just couldn’t stick with the Spuds until late. Moorhead had a 19-13 lead at one point, but North Branch trimmed it all the way to 24-23 before succumbing.

In the fourth set, Moorhead jumped out to a quicks 9-2 lead and never let North Branch get their offense in rhythm. The Spuds won handily 25-16, setting up a fifth set finale to end the season for both teams. It was going to be the difference between a happy ending or a sour note.
The early pressure got to Moorhead. North Branch went up 7-1 with all points credited as Spud errors.

But, Moorhead stormed back to pull within one at 7-6. North Branch kept their slim lead until 12-12 when an error by Maddie Hadrava gave Moorhead a late lead. At 13-13, Cianna Selbitschka put her serve into the net, putting the Vikings one point away from a season-ending loss. Courtney Selbitschka staved off the loss twice -- at 14-13 and 15-14 with big kills before she finished the set off with two straight huge hits. In all, five of the last six North Branch points were from Courtney Selbitschka kills.

The point sent the North Branch girls into a frenzy as they all piled together on the floor. Despite not being in the championship bracket, they were one of only three teams in Class AAA that got to end their season with a win.

North Branch was only in that position because they had to win an equally thrilling five-set match in the first round of consolation brackets against Rochester Mayo. The Spartans were 27-3 on the year going into the game, having fallen to eventual state champion Eagan in the first round.

Down 2-1 in the fourth set against Mayo, the Vikings actually faced elimination down 24-23 but as was the case most of the tournament, they turned to Courtney Selbitschka for quick offense. Selbitschka had three kills in a row to end the set, with North Branch winning 26-24 before they eventually won the fifth set 15-12.
The girls were in the consolation bracket after losing their first round match up against third-seeded Champlin Park. The Rebels boasted two monster hitters, including Metro Player of the Year Sydney Hilley. Hilley and Jenae Alderson combined for 24 kills as North Branch’s nerves showed throughout with unforced errors.
For her efforts, which included 65 kills, Courtney Selbitschka was named to the All-State Tournament team.

Other Vikings had amazing runs in the tournament also, Morgen Coleman extended her school record, adding 105 assists in the three games. Middle hitter Kelsey Allaman had 12 kills and eight blocks, Cianna Selbitschka had 32 kills and Cassie Kunshier had 67 digs and countless hustle and heart plays.

The Vikings will look drastically different next year as Courtney Selbitschka, Kunshier, Coleman, Allaman, Kalley Hartmann and Sydney Robillard will all graduate, but that won’t diminish the memory these girls shared throughout this year and during the three days at the Xcel Energy Center.

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