The RTR Knights volleyball team poses for a photo after winning the tournament defeating the St. Peter Saints on Saturday afternoon.

MARSHALL- Several area teams competed in the Jimmy John’s volleyball tournament over the weekend at Southwest Minnesota State University campus and also Marshall High School. The Russell Tyler Ruthton Knights would win first place in the invitational, winning all five matches on both days Here is how the team’s fared in the tournament.

RTR

The Class A No.1 seeded RTR Knights started Friday in defeating both of their opponents in dominating fashion on Friday, putting themselves in the championship bracket for Saturday.

The Knights first opponent Saturday was the Windom Eagles and they would defeat them in straight sets advancing to the semifinals to play the Pipestone Arrows

The Arrows would give the Knights a battle.

The first set was won by RTR, but Pipestone stormed back and won the second set, forcing a winner take all set three Both teams were going back and forth, with Ella Hesse leading the way for the Knights It was a 10-10 tie until Hesse kill over the defenders of the Arrows broke the score and the Knights would get a 15-13 win advancing to the championship match. The Knights would breeze through the championship match and win in straight sets. The win gave them 24 on the season and tied them in most wins for a season in program history Head coach Daynica Brown elaborated on the tournament win and team accomplishment.

“It is an exciting year and very fun,” Brown said. “The girls just want it and they’re having fun out there. It was a lot of good learning lessons in this tournament and it is great to have two tournament wins under our belt this season. It is great for the program, the community, and the fans, and I couldn’t be more proud of the girls for what we accomplished thus far.

Brown also added that this is a big week as far as conference matches go with Minneota coming in Tuesday and Canby on Thursday. Wants to finish strong and wants her team to stay focused.

Tatum Hess for the Knights led them in digs with 60, also had 11 aces in serve, and teammate Abby Carr led them in kills with 42. Ella Hesse had 42 kills and 45 digs for the tournament.

WWG

The Westbrook Walnut Grove Chargers went 3-2 in this tournament. The Chargers would lose two of their first three matches but rebounded by winning their final two of the tournament.

Natalie Wahl led the team in kills with 43 throughout the tournament. Wahl had 29 digs as well. Teammate Carlie Ross had 15 kills in the tournament. Addeson Jenniges led the team in assists with 82, had 29 digs as well, and also had seven aces on serve. Isabella Rentschler led the team in digs with 47. Head coach of the Chargers Meghann Westover spoke on the team’s play in the tournament.

“I thought the team played really solid volleyball this weekend,” Westover said. “We won one and lost one Friday night in pool play and then lost our first game Saturday morning but rallied and managed to win the next two. All of the teams’ players got playing time and it was overall a good team experience.”

The Chargers (12-8) will play next on Tuesday evening as they travel to Slayton to take on the Murray County Central Rebels.

RRC

The Red Rock Central Falcons lost four out of five matches played in the tournament with lone win coming against Lakeview. It has been a rough season for the Falcons as they have just won four matches all season.

Some of the highlights of the tournament for the Falcons were Sondra Rindfleisch led the team in kills with 23 in the tournament. Teammate Maia Scheffler led the team with 48 digs and Reilly Hubin was second on the team in digs with 34. Senior Emily Decock led the team in assists with 57 over the weekend.

RRC will be back in action on Tuesday evening as they will travel to Okabena to face off against the HLOF Coyotes.

Lakeview

The Lakeview Lakers lost all five of their matches as well in the tournament. However, were more competitive on day two of the invitational, winning a set in two of the three matches. It has also been a tough season for the Lakers as they have just won two games all year.

Some of the Lakers’ highlights are Erin Meyer led the team in digs with 45 and led the team in kills with 34 for the tournament. Teammates Olivia Hinz had 37 digs with 17 kills and Korysa Herrick had 39 digs in the tournament.

The Lakeview Lakers are (2-17) on the season and will travel to Canby on Tuesday evening to face off against the Canby Lancers.

DB

The Dawson-Boyd Blackjacks went 2-3 over the two-day tournament. They defeated Murray County Central and also beat Hill Beaver Creek.

Aiyana Hastad for the Blackjacks led her team in digs with 28 in the tournament and teammate Kate Dahl was second on the team in digs with 18. Head coach for the Blackjacks Hailey Gritmacker spoke on the team’s performance throughout the tournament.

“Tournaments are always tough because most kids are out of energy by Friday after school,” Gritmacker said. “Saturdays are also tough because athletes aren’t used to playing in the morning like they are during the club season. After playing a flat match against Springfield and only losing by a few points, I was proud of the team for bouncing back to get a win against Lakeview. They are a conference opponent who we beat earlier this year. It always feels good to beat a team twice in the season. We took care of business during the Hills Bever Creek game as well. I am happy to come away with two more wins. We did not play our best, but also got in a good amount of playing time to pick out our best lineups.”

The Dawson-Boyd Blackjacks are now (5-19) and will host the Atwater Cosmos Grove City Falcons on Monday evening.

MCC

The Murray County Central Rebels also went 2-3 over the weekend. The Rebels start off the week with back to back homes matches hosting Pipestone on Monday and Westbrook Walnut Grove on Tuesday.

For MCC, stats were not available at this time.