Thirty-five minutes before first serve, a small group of students from Hutchinson High School made its way to the Tigers’ cheering section at Xcel Energy Center. A couple of wisenheimers from Blaine’s section took note from across the way.

 

“Hey, their whole school is here,” one chided.

 

But the smallest school in the Class 3A state volleyball field got the last laugh.

 

The Tigers (26-5) rallied from a first set loss to the top-seeded Bengals (27-3) to win the match 3-1 and raise the eyebrows of every interested party but themselves.

 

Hutchinson played in the Class 2A championship match last year and was far from intimidated Thursday despite bumping up to the highest class.

 

“It can be overwhelming for kids to come in and play in this building,” Tigers coach Dennis Piechowski said after the 18-25, 27-25, 25-15, 25-18 victory. “We understand this building [and] environment and it gave us that little bit of confidence.”

 

An 18-4 run to start the third set was the highlight of the match.

 

You got the sense it might be Hutchinson’s morning when senior Sara Carlson put the Tigers up 23-21 in the second set with an ace, one of nine in the match for Hutchinson. On Carlson’s play, the ball nipped the top of the net, bobbed up and fell to the court almost in slow-motion.

 

“We were so tense, and then something funny like that happened and it loosened us up,” she said. “I don’t think we’ve played to our full potential yet, and being the underdog gives us that extra firepower.”

 

Tigers’ hitters prevailed in the wake of 11 block assists from Blaine freshman Taylor Morgan. Hutchinson junior Taylor Trautman had a match-high 14 kills while Carlson finished with 10 kills.