The Anoka-Ramsey Community College Golden Rams made their second consecutive trip to the Minnesota Community College Conference State Tournament, Oct. 27-28. The Golden Rams, coached by third-year, Head Coach Drew Rongere, played their best volleyball of the season against some of the top teams in the nation. They started off the tournament by losing a close match to the number one ranked Ridgewater Warriors 2-1 (22-30, 30-27, 27-30). The Rams bounced back on Saturday to defeat Northland 2-1 and Hibbing 2-1 to take second in pool play and move on to the championship bracket on Sunday.

“Our goal was to place within the top three and to bring home our first MCCC State Volleyball Tournament trophy since 1980,” says Rongere. “I kept reminding our team that if we continued to focus on each point and play our style of volleyball, we would reach our goal.”

Sunday’s championship bracket was composed of first-ranked, Ridgewater College; second-ranked, Central Lakes College; and twelfth-ranked Minnesota State Community and Technical College (MSCTC)-Fergus Falls, and Anoka-Ramsey. Fans were not let down, as they were able to witness some of the most intense matches of the season by the top teams in the nation. Ridgewater took the Conference Tournament Championship by defeating Central Lakes 3-2 (27-30, 27-30, 30-20, 30-27, 15-12) and Anoka-Ramsey defeated MSCTC-Fergus Falls 3-1 (31-29, 30-26, 30-32, 30-28) in the third-place match.

The Golden Rams did reach their goal and were led by freshman captain and First Team All-Southern Division setter MacKenzie Gangestad who averaged 12.4 assists throughout the tournament.

“We really played as a team this weekend and never stopped believing in ourselves,” said sophomore captain Audra Stevenson who led the team with 54 digs. “This is an amazing feeling and a great way to end my career at Anoka-Ramsey.”

First Team All-Southern Division freshman middle hitter Jordan Noska, who led the team with 4.06 kills per game and freshman middle hitter Jessica Cichy, who led the team with 1.13 blocks per game were named to the All-MCCC Tournament team.

The Golden Ram volleyball program has improved every year since Rongere took over the program in 2005 and it appears they plan on being regular contenders in the Minnesota Community College Conference.