WORTHINGTON — The top-seeded Russell-Tyler-Ruthton volleyball team gutted out a five-set win over No. 4 Adrian-Ellsworth on Tuesday night to return to the 3A South finals. While the Knights weren’t playing at their peak ability, the team is happy to be continuing on, head coach Daynica Brown said.

Gabi Borresen finished the match with 62 set assists to surpass the 2,000 mark in her career with the Knights. 

On the receiving end of the senior setter’s assists, Abby Carr led the way with 32 kills. Carr also tied Tatum Hess with two service aces and tied Ally Nelson and Camry Swanson with a pair of blocks, both team-highs. 

The Knights won each of the night’s first two sets, 25-21 and 25-10. From there, however, the Dragons rallied with a pair of wins of their own. The third set was particularly close, though Adrian-Ellsworth still came away with a 29-27 win, and they forced a tiebreaker with a 25-21 win in the fourth set. Still, RTR won the tiebreaker 15-10 to advance to the 3A South championship.

Hess led the RTR backline with 29 digs while Avery Schreurs and Carr added 23 and 15 respectively. Hess also tied Nelson with 12 kills for second on the team. Dilyn Werkman added in another 10.

Russell-Tyler-Ruthton will take on the No. 2 Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda Coyotes for the South championship on Thursday at 7 p.m. The winner will play the North subsection champion at SMSU on Saturday at 7:30 with a state tournament berth on the line. 

The Knights and Coyotes met once before this season in Tyler on Sept. 14. The Knights came back from a 2-1 deficit through three sets to walk away with a five-set win in the match.

HLOF 3, WWG 2

WORTHINGTON — The No. 3 Westbrook-Walnut Grove volleyball team fell shy of upsetting No. 2 Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda in the 3A South semifinals on Tuesday night, falling in five sets to the Coyotes.

WWG took a 2-1 lead through three sets after winning the first game 25-18 and the third 25-19. The Coyotes stole set two 25-23.

From there, however, HLOF rallied to take the match. The Coyotes edged out the Chargers in the fourth set 25-23 to force a fifth-set tiebreaker. There, HLOF clinched the match with a 15-11 win.

HLOF had also spoiled the Chargers’ 12-match win streak to start the season with a straight-sets win over WWG on Sept. 21 in Okabena.

Natalie Wahl led the Chargers in both the front and back row on Tuesday night. Her 27 kills and 22 digs were both team-highs. Carlie Ross also added 14 kills while Macie Christians and Abby Wiggins added 16 and 15 digs respectively.

Addison Jenniges set up the WWG hitters with 46 set assists.

In terms of frontline defense, Ella Knakmuhs led the way with a pair of solo blocks and an assisted block while Carlie Ross had one solo block and two assists. Riley Parker also had a pair of assists. 

Westbrook-Walnut Grove finishes its season at 23-4. The season marks a big step up for the Chargers, who finished 2022 at 13-12 and lost 3-0 to Southwest Minnesota Christian in their first postseason matchup.

Jenniges, Christians, Wiggins and Knakmuhs will all be graduating after this year.