BURNSVILLE — The No. 1 Minneota volleyball team showed any doubters exactly why it’s the top-ranked team in its class over the weekend, taking first place at the Class A Showcase at the Midwest Volleyball Warehouse. No. 3 Russell-Tyler-Ruthton also showed out at the tournament with a third-place finish while No. 5 Canby took sixth.

While the Vikings have plenty of players who provide defensive value, none shined brighter in the tournament than Lyzah Sussner. The senior libero finished the tournament with 70 digs and was named all-tournament MVP. 

“A lot of times, kids just see the offense and they see the kids putting the ball away, but it starts with Lyzah. She just brings so much to this team, adds so much to this team and she keeps so many balls alive,” Minneota head coach Hayley Fruin said. “She’s kind of the glue to this team, the heart to the team. She’s very unselfish and she just wants to win.”

Grace and Dakoda Hennen contributed 38 and 31 digs respectively in the tournament while Abby Rolbiecki added in 30. 

The road to the tournament win wasn’t an easy one for the Vikings but they downed each of their opponents in straight sets. To start the tournament, Minneota defeated Ely 25-16, 25-212 and Spring Grove 25-21, 25-10 before taking down No. 6 Kenyon-Wanamingon 25-17, 25-17 in the quarterfinals.

The Vikings ran into a familiar foe in the Russell-Tyler-Ruthton Knights in the tournament semifinals. It was the teams’ first meeting since Minneota eliminated RTR in last year’s Section 3A championship match with game scores of 21-25, 25-21, 25-21, 24-26 and 15-6. While the Knights returned much of their roster and entered Saturday’s rematch as one of the most talented teams in the state, Minneota still came out on top in straight sets, 25-16, 25-17. 

Finishing the points, Elivia Faris led the way with 56 kills. Her four blocks tied her with Johnson and Eden Meagher for second on the team behind Kenadi Arndt’s six. 

“Elivia has really turned it on this year. She’s been playing in the middle a little bit more than in years past to start the season. It was a big adjustment, but something has just clicked and she’s figured it out and she’s finding ways to score there,” Fruin said. “She’s so smart with her shot selection. She knows where to swing and her shot chart is everywhere. She doesn’t hit to the same place, she’s always mixing up her shots and just finding ways to score and a lot of credit to her.”

Johnson added 25 kills in the tournament while Meagher and Arndt each finished with 17.

Not done facing top-tier competition, the Vikings bested No. 2 Mabel-Canton in the tournament finals by game scores of 25-14, 25-18 to establish themselves as the unanimous No. 1 team in Class A.

Hennen also had a team-high five service aces while Ella Johnson and Nevaeh Hennen finished with four and three respectively.

Nevaeh also helped set up the Minneota hitters with 82 assists in the tournament while Faith Myhre added 38.

The Minneota Vikings (14-2) have swept each of their last six matches since a five-set win over No. 9 Renville County West on Thursday. They’ll look to extend their win streak to 10 matches when they host Central Minnesota Christian tonight at 7:15 p.m.

“Our section or conference is arguably one of the toughest in the state for Class A. We know that we had a great weekend, but we’re still in the very early stages of volleyball and we need to just continue to focus on ourselves and get better every single day,” Fruin said. “We’re not going to let up. I hope the kids know that and they all seem to and just come ready to get better individually, ready to get better as a team. Even this weekend, even though we won it, we still know that there are areas that we can improve on.”

No. 3 RTR, third place

While the No. 3 Russell-Tyler-Ruthton volleyball team fell short in their semifinal match against No. 1 Minneota in the Class A Showcase over the weekend, the Knights rallied to take down No. 4 Mayer Lutheran in the third-place match to come away with some hardware.

“It was a great experience and a huge learning experience for our girls. I would’ve loved to beat Minneota, but it was a huge learning experience up there, so I’ll take it. I’ll take getting third and the growing pains,” RTR head coach Daynica Brown said.

The third-place match was a rematch of the Knights’ second match of the season in which the Crusaders took down RTR 25-11, 15-25, 25-21, 25-21 to hand RTR its first loss. Saturday’s match went quite differently.

RTR took the first game of the third-place match 25-16 before the Crusaders responded with a 25-23 win in game two to force a tiebreaker. Still, the Knights remained poised and came away with a 15-11 win to swap spots with the Crusaders in the latest poll. The win was important for the team both because Mayer Lutheran is a team that had beaten RTR earlier in the year and because it showed resilience on the Knights’ part, Brown said. 

“It’s a little different than past teams where maybe they could easily folded and been down on themselves from the loss to Minneota or trying to overplay that game,” Brown said. “Instead, they just came out and played and they played aggressive and played hard. 

“It was really nice to see because the first set was 25 to 25, so to beat them with that kind of gap and that kind of control was great to see… it was a big confidence builder and just to see the bounce back was amazing.”

Abby Carr finished the championship match with 19 kills while Gabi Borreson’s 27 set assists and four blocks were both team-highs. Avery Schreurs led the Knights defensively with 19 digs.

In its first match of the tournament, RTR took down Bethlehem Academy in three sets. RTR took the first set 25-21 before Bethlehem Academy threatened an upset with a 25-22 win in game two. Still, RTR came away with a 15-5 win to advance to the next round.

Borreson had 34 assists in the match while Abby Carr had 15 kills and three blocks. Tatum Hess led the back row with 14 digs.

From there, the Knights started to hit their stride. They took down Nevis in straight sets in the second round, 25-17, 25-15, and defeated No. 7 Fillmore Central in the quarterfinals, 25-10, 25-15. 

Carr totaled 23 kills over the two matches. Schreurs and Hess each had 14 digs in the first match while Hess, Camry Swanson and Ally Nelson each had a pair of blocks in the second match. Borreson tallied 35 set assists over the two matches.

The lone RTR loss of the tournament came in straight sets against No. 1 Minneota, 25-16, 25-17. Abby Carr led the Knights with seven kills, eight digs and an ace in her only match of the tournament without hitting double figures in kills. Schreurs had a team-high 11 digs while Borreson had 18 set assists. The match was also the Knights’ only match of the tournament in which they did not log a block.

“I think the girls were actually frustrated or angry at their performance because they didn’t feel like they performed their own game. They kind of allowed Minneota to control the game,” Brown said. “They tried to play smarter by cutting the ball more and then it’ll go out of bounds or hitting harder and that would go out of bounds or trying to serve harder. They generally tried to overplay a little bit versus just focusing on what they can do and their abilities.”

Brown added that the key going forward is just for the players to keep believing in themselves because mistakes happen and great opponents make great plays, but the players need to know that they’re capable of turning any given match around.

Russell-Tyler-Ruthton (14-4) has won nine of its last matches and will look to keep the momentum rolling when they host Westbrook-Walnut Grove on Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. The Chargers lost their first match of the season last week in straight sets against Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda but still sit at an impressive 12-1 on the season. 

“What we want to take in is just being confident and focused in your play and to control your side of the game. From there, the cards should fall into place for you and to have fun with it,” Brown said. “They’re [WWG] a great team, they’re a great ballclub, but if we play our game, we have the confidence in our teammates and our players that they can perform and do that well against WWG.”

No. 5 Canby, sixth place

The No. 5 Canby volleyball team suffered a pair of losses to No. 4 Mayer Lutheran and No. 6 Kenyon Wanamingo at the Class A Showcase over the weekend but took down other talented teams to secure a sixth-place finish in the highly competitive field.

“We love to play great competition and that’s where you have to go, so we enjoy playing Showcase every year,” Canby head coach Jenai Wright said. “I just think it’s important for the girls to play against great competition. We learn from it and we just try to correct those mistakes and bring it the next game.”

The Lancers jumped out to an early lead in their fifth-place match against Kenyon-Wanamingo with a 25-18 win in the first game. The Knights didn’t take the loss sitting down, though, and rallied back for a 26-24 win in the second game.

While the tiebreaker remained close, Kenyon-Wanamingo came out on top in the end with a 15-10 victory. 

“We really brought it against them. We won the first set 25-18 and then boy we just led that second set sip away… I mean, that was a win, right?” Wright said. “That was our last match of the day and I just think they got the best of us…. I’d like to see them again at a normal time at 7:30 at night, but it is what it is. We learn from our mistakes and I wouldn’t want it any other way playing that kind of competition. We love it.”

The Lancers displayed a solid defensive effort in the loss. Aliyah Rangaard led Canby with 15 digs while Emily Nelson, Brynn Kockelman and Karlie Wollum each finished with seven or more.

Nelson and Kockelman also finished with 16 and 13 set assists respectively. Nelson’s eight kills were also second on the team to Wollum’s 10. The Lancers did not have a block in the match.

Canby advanced to the fifth-place match after beating New Life Academy by game scores of 25-20, 24-26, 15-13 in the Silver Bracket semifinals. 

Similarly to the fifth-place match, Nelson led the Lancers against the Eagles with 10 kills while Wollum finished second on the team with nine. Grace Hansen also had seven kills and two total blocks.

Kockelman’s 18 assists were a team-best, followed by Nelson’s 14. Nelson’s six digs also tied her with Wollum for second on the team behind Rangaard’s 11. 

Jaryn Houseman finished the match with three service aces.

Canby opened the tournament with a straight-sets win over Kittson County Central and built on that momentum with a three-set victory over Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda. 

Nelson had 24 set assists in the tournament opener and followed it up with 16 against HLOF. Kockelman also had 12 assists against the Wildcats.

Wollum did it all for the Lancers against the KCC Bearcats. Her 10 kills and 11 digs were both team-highs. Rangaard also contributed 10 digs while Kindopp had a pair of solo blocks and a pair of aces.

In the second match, Wollum had 11 kills while Nelson finished second on the team with nine. The duo also finished second and third on the team in digs with 10 and eight respectively, putting them behind only Rangaard’s 12. 

“I’m really pleased with our composure… Our coaching staff has really stressed with the girls, it shouldn’t matter who you’re playing, you need to play with focus, composure and bring it every night,” Wright said. “We’re a young team. However, I just think this is all good for us. As long as we play with composure, I think they’re going to make it happen on the volleyball court.”

Canby (13-5) will look to remain undefeated against unranked teams when they host MACCRAY tonight at 7:15 p.m.