Photo by Jake Przytarski RTR’s Haley Muenchow connects on a kill during their match against Edgerton on Tuesday. The Knights defeated Edgerton 3-0.

TYLER — The Russell-Tyler-Ruthton volleyball team closed out its regular season schedule with a dominant straight sets sweep over visiting Edgerton on senior night.

The Knights’ three seniors Madison Witte, Kylea Baartman and Rylie Hess were all honored for their achievements in a Knights uniform prior to Tuesday’s match. Coach Daynica Brown thanked them for their contributions to the program.

“These three seniors have made a tremendous impact on the program,” said Brown. “Witte brings that humor because playing at this high level of volleyball that we have in this area sometimes you just have to remember to have fun. Kylea with her left hand swing just does a wonderful job of swinging hard and being aggressive. Rylie on the outside tonight showed it, swinging hard and being that leader to motivate her team and constantly being positive for everybody else.”

In the opening set, Witte, Hess and Baartman highlighted a tone-setting 11-1 run with a block, a kill and an ace that helped put the momentum squarely in RTR’s favor. The Lady Dutchmen did their best to slow the Knights down by going point for point to make it 18-8 midway through, but a late 7-2 run by RTR sealed their fate as the Knights took game one 25-10.

Brown identified their up-tempo attack as one of the keys to their success.

“Keeping the tempo up was one of our keys because in the second game we started slowing down a little bit and kind of playing with them at their tempo,” said Brown. “By keeping that tempo at a high level and keeping the intensity there it allowed us to ultimately play our game versus just playing right there with them. I think that was one of the key things that helped us do as well as we did.”

The Knights continued to dictate the pace of play to start the second set en route to taking a 6-2 lead, but an inability to sustain it allowed Edgerton to climb back to make it a 9-6 game. RTR recovered and seized a 16-8 advantage thanks to a 7-2 run before cruising to a 25-14 victory in set two.

The third and final set for RTR was never in doubt as the Knights stormed out to a 10-2 lead before closing out the match with a convincing 12-0 run in a 25-6 final.

Next up for the No. 4 seeded Knights is a section matchup on Friday at 7 p.m. against No. 5 MACCRAY on their home court. Brown hopes her players take away the importance of dictating the pace in preparation for their next matchup.

“I hope that they learn the importance of playing at your level, keeping that tempo, and communication,” said Brown. “We’ve got a lot of practice before our first game against MACCRAY, but I hope they practice hard and stay focused the whole time.”

RTR 3, Edgerton 0

RTR 25 25 25

Edgerton 10 14 6

KILLS: RTR (Hess 16, Baartman 8, A. Carr 5).

DIGS: RTR (K. Carr 12, Schreurs 8, Muenchow 6).

SERVING (Aces): RTR (Christianson 1, Muenchow 1, Schreurs 1, Baartman 1, K. Carr 1, Hess 1).

SET ASSISTS: RTR (Schreurs 34).

BLOCKS: RTR (Muenchow 1, Witte 1).