Minnesota Preseason Volleyball Rankings

The Minnesota Volleyball Coaches Association preseason volleyball rankings have two of the defending four state champions listed atop their class.

Hawley is #1 in Class AA and Lakeville South in Class AAAA.

Mayer Lutheran is #2 in Class A and Marshall #2 in Class AAA polls.

KDHL radio will have a super match to open the season when the Kenyon-Wanamingo Knights travel to Fillmore Central to open their season on Thursday, August 27, 2026.

The Falcons are rated #1 in preseason Class A poll and Knights are #6, so it could be a classic contest in Harmony, Minnesota where Fillmore Central plays.

I will be doing my 40th year of broadcasting volleyball on KDHL.  Starting out with playoff games only and developing into a schedule throughout the season.

You could only score on offense and there were underhanded serves in those days.

I believe my first broadcasts were of Lakeville Panthers and Kenyon Vikings State Tournament matches.  Milan Mader and Diane Nikunen were instrumental in settling me into the broadcasts. They were the head coaches of those programs and are deservedly now in the Volleyball Coaches Hall of Fame.

I also received some awesome assistance from the Faribault Falcons Head Coach at the time, Pam Young who joined me on the broadcasts with explanations of strategy and some of the calls from officials.

There were only a couple of broadcasters on the call in those days and it was fun to come up with some of my own descriptions of what was happening on the floor.

You see I had never heard play by play of a match before.   I was describing what I saw on the fly and my confidence grew as fans expressed a joy in listening to the matches.

I was not in favor of the change to rally scoring at first but it didn't take long for me to become a fan.

Matches are quicker even when multiple games go to volleyball's version of overtime.

My understanding of the game grew with broadcasts of the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers when I was asked to fill in for their voice at the time Tom Witchen in their magical year of 2004.

Tom was undergoing cancer treatments so I got to see and call many matches on the radio and internet over the next few years.

Tom even asked me to join him for the NCAA Final Four matches in Long Beach, California in 2004 where the Gophers fell in three sets to Stanford in their first NCAA title match.  It was their second consecutive trip to the Final Four.

I also got to broadcast the 2006 Regional Finals in Gainsville, Florida when Minnesota defeated the hometown team before going up against eventual national champion Nebraska in a thrilling Regional Final.

My visits with Head Coach Mike Hebert were priceless in learning some of the strategies of the sport.

Faribault Bethlehem Academy was also hitting it's stride during this time as a state volleyball power and time spent visiting with coaches Franz Boelter and Ken Trnka certainly taught me more about strategies used in the fun, high flying sport.

Franz is in the National High School Coaches Hall of Fame and Ken has coached at the collegiate as well as high school level for many decades now, so you see I was blessed with people around who could teach me a lot

There is a premium on efficiency because every mistake is a point for your opponent.

Many of the serves are hammered extremely hard, yet some amazing digs and passes are often accomplished anyway.

Some of the rules were relaxed over the years too in terms of what is legal in hitting and setting.

Here are the Minnesota Volleyball Coaches Association Preseason rankings for each class.

Class A
1. Fillmore Central
2. Mayer Lutheran
3. Cleveland
4. Minneota
5. Russell-Tyler-Ruthton
6. Kenyon-Wanamingo
7. Sacred Heart
8. Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa
9. Mabel-Canton
10.Ely

Class AA
1. Hawley
2. Southwest Christian
3. New Life Academy
4. Minnewaska
5. Caledonia
6. New London-Spicer
7. Howard Lake-Waverly
8. Jackson County Central
9. Sauk Centre
10.Rush City

Class AAA
1. Benilde-St. Margaret's
2. Marshall
3. Willmar
4. Stewartville
5. Cretin-Derham Hall
6. Delano
7. Sauk Rapids-Rice
8. Byron
9. Northfield
10.De La Salle

Class AAAA
1. Lakeville South
2. Eagan
3. Maple Grove
4. Lakeville North
5. East Ridge
6. Chanhassen
7. Prior Lake
8. Wayzata
9. Apple Valley
10.Roseville

The Kenyon-Wanamingo match at Fillmore Central broadcast will start at 7:00 p.m. with a first serve scheduled for 7:15 p.m. on KDHL Radio, 920 AM, 97.9 FM, Streaming on the FREE KDHL app.

The next night another terrific match is scheduled to air on our airwaves when Caledonia travels to the Bombers Hangar in Cannon Falls.  Two storied Class AA programs..

If you cant make it to the matches I hope you will listen to the call on the Mighty 920.