BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – There’s a first time for everything. This season, the Medina PB Thunder Volleyball team has accomplished something it’s never done before.

“It’s amazing, it’s an amazing experience,” said Cierra Mack.

For the first time ever, the Medina PB Volleyball team is headed to the B.

“We’re just so excited to play in the state tournament,” said Maddie Gefroh.

Ask anyone on this team, and they’ll tell you it didn’t happen by accident.

“Oh my gosh, these girls— from last spring, all of our open gyms, our weightlifting, our camps, all their hard work, determination— it’s really paid off for them. This team, they truly have it all, and they deserve this so much, so it’s really exciting,” said head coach Jacie Connell.

The Thunder claimed the Region 3 crown by beating Linton-HMB, who spent the majority of this season as the top-ranked team in class B.

“We lost to Linton twice before, so winning was super fun. And it was such a surreal moment, especially being a senior and getting to know that I have three more games which is super exciting,” said Gefroh.

“We beat them in one of our tournaments early on in the season, and then these past couple of games, they’ve beat us both twice. So to come back and not let that bother us the whole time is pretty great,” said Mack.

A small community loves nothing more than to rally around one of its successful sports teams.

“The fact that our community came out and supported us really helped boost our confidence, because not only did we think that we could make it to state, but our friends, family, school all believed in us,” said Brynn Sorenson.

“The Community has been amazing. I mean, they’re a big reason why we’re here. Especially in that regional championship game, the Lions were on their home court with their whole community right there, and our community, they drove, made the trek, they were all there, and I feel like they’re a huge part of our success. We appreciate them so much,” said Connell.

The Thunder are the number 3 seed in this year’s tournament. They’ll kick things off with a quarterfinal matchup against Central McLean.

“Our huge goal was to make it to state. We did that. Now our goal is to bring home a state title. I mean, we’re making history for our school, and we want to go all the way. We wanna take home that title, and I really think these girls can do it,” said Connell.

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