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St. Michael-Albertville has been head-of-the class of the Mississippi 8 Conference for over a decade now. They’re 71-5 in the last 10 years of M8C play, and hadn’t shown any signs of slowing down this year, getting off to a 4-0 start, including a win over last year’s conference champion Cambridge-Isanti.

But, things came to a head Tuesday, September 29 in the North Branch Gymnasium, facing one of the Vikings  best teams in recent memory and who are just starting to fully integrate All-M8C star Courtney Selbitsckha, who’s eased back into the lineup after a serious knee injury in basketball.

The Vikings got off to a dream start, winning the first set 25-21 to put themselves in good early position.

In the second set, STMA battled back and showed why they are the top team in the conference by winnning 25-22.

The third set is when some drastic momentum swings began to occur. The two teams were playing tight throughout, but at 17-16 in favor of St. Michael, the Knights went on a 7-1 run to go up 24-17 and put the Vikes on the ropes. North Branch did answer back with four straight points to build momentum for the fourth set before STMA finished them 25-21.

In the fourth set, it was again back and fourth with some long, scrambling rallies between the two teams. The two squads stayed even until the low 20s when a big momentum swing went North Branch’s way. At 22-21, St. Michael, an STMA hit was let go by the North Branch defense with out being yelled all around. The initial line judge ruled the ball landed in, giving the point to St. Michael and putting them in a great spot at 23-21. However, the head referee reversed the decision instantly, saying the ball in fact landed out, giving the crucial point to North Branch.

St. Michael went up 23-22 and 24-23 at one point in the set, but North Branch staved off the Knight frontline and won the set 27-25 to a roaring home crowd.

In the fifth set, St. Michael jumped on North Branch early, going up 2-0 and 4-2. The Vikings just weren’t going to disappoint their home crowd, though. Behind some emotionally charged attacks from Courtney and Cianna Selbitschka, Morgen Coleman and Kelsey Allaman, the Vikings went on a 11-1 run to put a strangle hold on the set up 13-5. St. Michael wasn’t able to recover, making mistakes in the last two points to give the set and game to North Branch.

Courtney Selbitschka led the Vikings with 16 kills, Cianna Selbitschka had 12. Allaman had six kills and Coleman had five with 38 assists.

Cassie Kunshier was the real MVP for North Branch though. She came up with countless athletic digs and chased down some balls that didn’t seem like they’d be playable. She left it all on the court, and near the end of the game, she hunched over a bucket behind the bench during a timeout. The effort had physically and emotionally drained her, but after the win, things were still looking up for Kunshier and the Vikings.

The win moves them ahead of St. Michael in the conference with the tiebreaker, as both teams are now 4-1.

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