Photo by Jake McNeill: Russell-Tyler-Ruthton libero Avery Schreurs (4) and Laken Baartman (left) react after a point during the Knights' win over New Life Academy of Woodbury in the Class A state semifinals in the Xcel Energy Center on Friday afternoon.

ST. PAUL — The top-seeded Russell-Tyler-Ruthton volleyball team had its character tested against No. 4 New Life Academy of Woodbury in the Class A semifinals on Wednesday afternoon. The Knights put together comeback efforts in each of the match’s four sets, eventually putting together a 3-1 win to advance to Saturday’s state championship.

“It’s amazing, these girls. I mean, grit, grind, they’ve been working hard all season long. Since they’ve been very young, they’ve put it out there,” RTR head coach Daynica Brown said after the match. “It was a great match. New Life was a great team, they had to play hard. They put up a nice block, nice hits, but our girls went after it.”

NLA started the first set with the hot hand, jumping out to a 3-1 lead and expanding that gap as large as 12-6. Yet, three hitting errors, a Tatum Hess ace and an Abby Carr kill cut the deficit to a point. Carr eventually tied the set at 15-15 with a kill and, after the teams went back and forth for a few points, a Dilyn Werkman kill gave the Knights their first lead of the match, 19-18.

The Eagles still wouldn’t go down easy. Jada Mitchell got a kill and Makenna Lilly got another two to put NLA right back in front. After the Eagles led 21-19, however, the Knights scored five unanswered points — four of which came from NLA hitting errors — to set up match point. Lilly broke up the run with a kill but Werkman responded with a kill of her own to end the set with a 25-22 RTR win.

Carr had five kills on 11 attempts in the first set but as a whole, RTR struggled to hit efficiently early. Aside from Carr, the Knights had six kills and five errors on 23 attempts for a .043 hitting percentage.

If the first set was back and forth, the second set was full-on whiplash. RTR and NLA found themselves tied 10 times in a second set that included seven lead changes.

NLA seemed to have momentum early, using a pair of kills by Lilly and an RTR hitting error to take a 3-0 lead. Neither team would lead by three or more points again in the set until, after trailing 14-13, RTR went on a 5-0 run to take an 18-14 lead. Avery Schreurs had a pair of aces on the run while Carr and Werkman each notched a kill.

Again RTR struggled to find its offensive rhythm, settling for just nine kills, but their defense was impeccable in the frame. Schreurs finished the set with 10 digs, Ally Nelson had three assisted blocks and Carr registered another two. As a result, NLA put together a -.062 hitting percentage in the frame.

Schreurs led the Knights defensively all night with a match-high 27 digs. Hess, still recovering from an ankle injury, added another 14 while Laken Baartman and Carr added 11 and 9 respectively. For the Eagles, Rylee DaCosta led the way with 18 digs, Ella Brennan added another 13 and Addi Ross and Annika Haak each finished with 12.

Like the second set, NLA came out strong in the third set with a 3-0 run. Also like last time, RTR came back to take the lead with a 4-0 run, this time courtesy of a Carr kill and ace. Yet, the Eagles rallied back this time. After trailing 12-7, the Eagles went on a 9-0 courtesy of two kills each from Jada Mitchell and Lilly and four RTR hitting errors. Hess got a kill and an ace on consecutive points but NLA responded with another barrage of unanswered points to go up 20-14.

RTR’s defense played phenomenally in the set. Schreurs and Hess had eight and seven digs respectively while Ava Karbo and Nelson combined for a pair of blocks. Yet, hitting issues continued to plague the Knights. RTR put together a .017 hitting percentage in the frame despite Nelson having a team-high six kills on .308 hitting in the third game. The Knights finished the match with a .132 hitting percentage and the Eagles finished with a .085 mark, but Nelson persisted with a match-high .370 hitting percentage while notching 13 kills, putting her behind only Carr’s 16 and Lilly’s 21. She also had five total blocks.

“I just really tried to focus on what’s open on the court and where I can hit or where I can tip,” Nelson said. “Gabi [Borresen], she’s a great setter. She gives me good sets all the time so I can really work well with her.”

Borresen finished the match with 38 assists on 127 attempts. She did not make an error on the day. Haak had 39 assists with two errors for NLA.

Despite the apparent momentum shift within the set, RTR fought its way right back into the game with an 8-1 run to take a 22-21 lead. Unfortunately for the Knights, that was the last time they’d lead in the set. NLA took the lead on an RTR hitting error and a Marissa Michaelis block. After alternating between an Eagle lead and a tie ballgame for several points, another Knight hitting error and an Arianna Twomey kill gave NLA a 27-25 win to force a fourth set.

“We wanted to sweep them. They’re a very good team and we’ve been working a lot on our mentality this year,” Nelson said. “We were like, ‘hey, we’re not going to lose this one, we’re going to finish this one.”

“We’ve been saying, ‘refuse to lose,’ Carr added. “I think by losing that third set, we were like, ‘No, we’re not doing that again.’ It gave us a lot more motivation.”

After nearly battling back to take the third set, the Knights charged out with a vengeance in the fourth set. They quickly built a 7-1 advantage and then grew that lead to 12-3. The Eagles made things competitive, cutting the RTR lead down to as few as three points at 18-15. Yet, the Knights rattled off a 7-2 run, capped off by a Camry Swanson kill, to capture a 25-17 win and clinch the match.

The Knights have consistently shown an ability to fight their way back through tough situations. They did it against Minneota in the section championship after the Vikings rallied from down 8 points to capture set four and got off to a hot start in set five before the Knights took over. The Knights also battled back in the state quarterfinals on Thursday, trailing 16-15 in the first set before running away with a sweep. Still, as they get ready to play No. 2 Mayer Lutheran with a state title on the line, they’re going to need to be sharp throughout the match if they want their first state championship.

“We just need to have a high mentality like they said earlier,” Schreurs said. “We need to know that we can do it. We’re here for a reason and we can get the W.”

Mayer Lutheran beat RTR 3-1 in the Knights’ second match of the season, but Schreurs added that RTR gained a confidence boost from beating them 2-1 in Burnsville on Sept. 23.

Brown emphasized the importance of playing a strong schedule in the team’s success, saying that even playing Tracy-Milroy-Balaton in the first round of sections is a tough draw in Section 3A.

“I think the bar is just so high. Everybody wants to go to state, everybody wants that ultimate dream and goal,” Brown said, adding that Carr, Nelson and Schreurs all had sisters who she had coached in the past and helped develop their talents.

“Growing up with a lot of good volleyball players in the area, it’s kind of an expectation. You think nothing more than to be like them or better,” Carr said. “We all grew up watching our sisters and Minneota players, watching them do amazing things. I think it was only human nature to just want to do that but better.”

Brown added that these girls seeing the hurt their sisters experienced in falling just short and experiencing that same pain themselves last year, was a key part of their development.

“I think that was an extra underlying drive,” Brown said. “I feel all these community members, including myself, I mean, that was my goal, there’s tons of them that have kids that have came and embraced these girls and just been so excited for RTR to be up here. It’s not just RTR, it’s the community. It’s the other ones that have wanted that.”

Russell-Tyler-Ruthton and Mayer Lutheran will kick off the title bout on Court 1 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.