Photo by Jake McNeill: The Russell-Tyler-Ruthton volleyball team hoists the Section 3A Championship trophy after defeating Minneota in five sets at Southwest Minnesota State University on Saturday afternoon.

MARSHALL — A year after falling in five sets to Minneota in the Section 3A volleyball championship, Russell-Tyler-Ruthton completed a fifth-set comeback to take down the Vikings and advance to the state tournament for the first time in program history.

The Vikings ran away with the first set 25-15 but RTR came back with a vengeance in the second. Tatum Hess went down with an ankle injury in the set but the Knights’ depth stepped up when it needed to and they evened the match with a 25-23 win.

The Knights carried that same momentum into set No. 3 with a 25-16 win and seemed to be ready to close out Minneota in four. Yet, despite trailing by as many as 8 points in the set, the Vikings rallied to capture the set 25-22, forcing a fifth-set tiebreaker again.

Early in the fifth set, the Knights looked deflated. Minneota had run away with the fifth set of the teams’ regular-season matchup and seemed poised to do the same in the section finals by getting off to a 4-0 lead to start the set. The Knights rallied but couldn’t seem to get over the hump. The Vikings held a 14-13 lead and readied themselves to serve what could have been the clinching point. Yet, the Knights wouldn’t die. The RTR middle blockers prevented some key Minneota points and a diving Dig by Abby Carr helped set up the Knights’ winning point as they took the set 17-15 to advance to states.

The Class A state tournament will begin at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Thursday. Seeding will be announced on Sunday.

An edited and extended version of this story with added details, quotes and photos will be published in Tuesday’s edition of the Marshall Independent.