No seniors, no problem.

The Eagan volleyball team has played this season without any seniors on its roster. Although this is uncharted territory for the Wildcats, their performance hasn’t changed.

For the third consecutive season, Eagan advanced to the Class 3A state tournament, with this trip coming courtesy of the top-seeded Wildcats’ 19-25, 25-23, 32-30, 21-25, 15-13 victory over No. 2 seed Rosemount in the Section 3 championship game at Eastview High School on Saturday. 

The victory over the Irish is Eagan’s second this season with the Wildcats recording a 3-0 win in a regular-season matchup Oct. 13. 

With three sophomores, a freshman and a seventh-grader on the roster, Eagan may look as if it’s a young team. But Wildcats coach Kathy Gillen doesn’t see it that way. 

“Their volleyball age is old,” Gillen said. “They’ve been playing volleyball for a long time. Chronological age and volleyball age are two different things.” 

Many have been winning for a long time as well. Players such as junior captains Brie Orr and Alyssa Doucette have played in high-stake games for Gillen, including last season when both were major contributors for a Wildcats’ team that finished second at state. The pair also played for Eagan when it won a state title in 2013. 

That experience was needed against the Irish on Saturday. 

Rosemount waisted little time showing it could go toe-to-toe with the Wildcats. The Irish took the first set 25-23, which included an impressive showing by outside hitter Brittany McLean, who tallied five kills and an ace. McLean, a Minnesota commit, finished the match with 18 kills. 

Gillen wasn’t surprised Rosemount found early success. 

“A lot of teams when they play us, they will come in with a lot of emotion right off the bat,” Gillen said. “They play with a lot of emotion and hype.” 

Letting an opponent take an early lead and ride high on emotions can result in a turn for the worst for some young teams. 

Eagan, however, doesn’t let itself fall victim to momentum swings.

“Every time in the huddle, we talked about how we needed to play together as a family, and I think that helped pull everything together,” Orr said. 

The family mentality is the thing that has gotten the Wildcats through a season with young talent on the roster. 

“We just have to be big sisters to (the younger players),” Doucette said. 

Eagan did settle down. Using its serve-receive and defense to slow down the Irish, the Wildcats won the next two sets before outlasting Rosemount in the fifth. 

Irish coach Smokey Vitek said her team played great, but added that a combination of mistakes, some calls that didn't go Rosemount’s way and Eagan’s talented team thwarted the Irish’s state bid attempt. 

“They are a very talented bunch of young ladies,” Vitek said. 

The volleyball nightmare known as Eagan should haunt Class 3A, Section 3 and the South Suburban Conference for years to come.

Rosemount graduates five seniors, while the Wildcats are expected to return all of the players from a team ranked No. 2 in Class 3A in the final poll release by the Minnesota Volleyball Coaches Association. 

“It is going to be tough next year to have to go back out there against them,” Vitek said. 

Eagan, though, isn’t looking toward next year. 

Seeking redemption for last season’s state championship loss, the Wildcats head to Xcel Energy Center next week looking to continue their success.

Although her team has found more than many with similar youthful rosters, Gillen has the same expectations as she would for a senior-laden team.

“We are going to need a better performance then we had tonight,” Gillen said. “I will go to the girls and tell them, ‘You had a great match, but guess what? I’m going to need a little more as we go into state.’ The nice thing is, we have a lot of experience even though we have some young kids.”

Sophomore outside hitter Ally Murphy registered 10 kills to lift No. 1 seed Eagan to its third consecutive state appearance with a 19-25, 25-23, 32-30, 21-25, 15-13 victory over No. 2 seed Rosemount in the Class 3A, Section 3 championship game at Eastview High School on Saturday. 

The victory over the Irish is the Wildcats' second this season. Eagan recorded a 3-0 win in a regular-season matchup on Oct. 13. 

Juniors Alyssa Doucette and Brie Orr both finished with eight kills for the Wildcats (24-4). 

Although the Rosemount (24-6) couldn't win a set against the Wildcats in the previous match, it didn't show early on Saturday as outside hitter Brittany McLean tallied five kills and an ace to lead the Irish to a first-set win.

McLean, who finished the match with 16 kills, and senior Erin Slinde forced a fifth set with a combined four late kills. Slinde finished with 12 kills in the match.

Rosemount registered the first two points in the fifth, but Eagan outlasted the Irish in the back-and-forth set.

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