Alexandria Area made sure a signature victory didn’t go to waste.

In the semifinals of the Minnesota State High School League’s Girls Volleyball State Tournament, the No. 5-seeded Cardinals pulled off the upset of the event by defeating Delano, the top seed in Class AAA that hadn’t suffered a loss all season. While certainly a landmark win, Alexandria Area wanted to ensure that wasn’t the crescendo to its season.

Nope, that would come 36 hours later.

Junior hitter Hadley Thull took a pass from senior Julia Doherty and delivered a powerful kill that put the finishing touches on a postseason run of equal parts dominance and magic in Alexandria Area’s 25-23, 25-22, 21-25, 25-22 victory over No. 2 Marshall in the Class AAA championship match on Saturday, Nov. 9 at Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul.

Thull, who has committed to play basketball at South Dakota State, finished with 23 kills and 16 digs in giving the Cardinals (23-10) their first volleyball state championship since 1999 when they captured the Class AAA title in the three-class system. Another title came in 1995 as the Class AA champion.

To achieve this one, the Cardinals had to defeat Marshall, perennial state power. Marshall (28-7) was the three-time defending Class AAA champion in this four-class era.

After dropping the first two sets, the Tigers avoided the sweep with a victory in the third set. Marshall appeared poised to force a decisive fifth set, but Alexandria snapped a 22-all deadlock by ending the season with three consecutive points.

Junior hitter Reese Drake led the Tigers with 20 kills.