Photo by Jake McNeill. The Canby volleyball team celebrates during the Southwest Challenge Tournament in Marshall over the weekend. The Lancers finished in fourth place out of 32, their best overall performance yet in the tournament.

MARSHALL — The Canby volleyball team put together its best-ever finish at the Southwest Challenge Tournament in Marshall over the weekend. The Lancers toppled a pair of Class 4A teams en route to a fourth-place finish at the 32-team event. Also competing, the hosting Marshall Tigers placed 13th, Minneota placed 16th, Russell-Tyler-Ruthton placed 20th and Tracy-Milroy-Balaton placed 28th.

“I feel like it shows that we’re in a good spot,” Canby outside hitter Karlie Wollum said. “We can compete with the bigger teams and get our stuff together when it matters… We go out and play every team equally, doesn’t matter what they’re ranked or who they are, what their number is. We just hit every team with everything we’ve got.”

Canby, 4th place

The No. 5 Canby Lancers opened their tournament run with a win over River Falls (Wis.) in the first round, 25-22, before beating Class 4A No. 7 Wayzata in the second round, 23-25, 25-22, 15-13 to finish Friday undefeated.

“We love to have the privilege to compete at this tournament. It’s always strong and we just embrace it,” Canby head coach Jenai Wright said. “We just go hard and compete every set of the day. We don’t really look at if it’s double A or whatever, we just want to compete and these girls just don’t want the ball to hit the floor.”

In the win over River Falls, Emily Nelson and Karlie Wollum led the Lancer attack with eight kills each while Haley Noyes added another six. Wollum also recorded three service aces, trailing only Brynn Kockelman’s four.

Kockelman set up the hitters with 16 set assists in the win while Nelson added another 11.

On the defensive end, Aliyah Rangaard led the team with nine digs while Nelson and Wollum contributed six and five respectively. Karli Webber led the front-row defense with five total blocks, including two solo blocks.

In the come-from-behind win over Wayzata, Kockelman finished the match with 24 set assists while Nelson had another 12. Nelson’s 10 kills also tied Wollum for a team-high while Noyes and Grace Hansen added nine and six respectively.

Hansen also finished with three service aces and had a pair of block assists.

In the back row, Wollum and Rangaard led the team with nine digs each while Nelson and Kockelman added another seven and six respectively.

After doing some giant slaying on the first day, the Lancers’ strong outing continued into Saturday. Chaska had just beaten Class 3A No. 2 Marshall on Friday, but Canby put an end to Chaska’s championship hopes with a 25-18, 20-25, 15-9 win to advance to the tournament semifinals.

“I’m proud of the girls because if we do get a hard kill, they don’t have their head down and they keep going after it,” Wright said. “We’re working together, so I think we’re getting that done.”

Rangaard led a balanced defensive effort for Canby with 13 digs while Jaryn Houseman and Wollum added another seven digs each.

Nelson and Kockelman split the set assists with 15 each on the match. Nelson also led the team with four service aces while Kockelman tied Houseman and Hansen with another two apiece.

The Lancer attack was also a three-headed monster, with Nelson, Wollum and Noyes added nine kills each in the match.

The victory made the Class 1A Lancers the only non-class 4A team in the semifinals. Alongside No. 5 Canby was No. 1 Lakeville North, No. 2 Champlin Park and No. 3 Lakeville South.

While Canby put up a quality fight against top-ranked Lakeville North, the Lancers’ first-place aspirations were ended with a 25-16, 25-22 loss.

Wollum led the team with 10 kills in the two-set match while Nelson had another nine kills on an efficient .615 hitting percentage. Nelson and Kockelman each tallied 12 set assists as well. Rangaard led the back line with nine digs while Wollum and Nelson chipped in with another seven and six.

The loss set Canby up with a third-place matchup against Lakeville South, which the No. 3 Cougars claimed 25-23, 25-17.

Wollum put together her second consecutive game with double-digit kills, leading the team with 10, while Nelson added another six.

Nelson also shined defensively in the loss with 10 digs while Rangaard added seven. Rangaard also tied Houseman with a team-leading pair of aces.

Nelson and Kockelman also finished with 10 set assists in the match.

Canby will host Ortonville for its next match tonight at 7:15 p.m.

Marshall, 13th place

The No. 2 Marshall volleyball team split its day 1 matches at the Southwest Challenge on Friday night, defeating Hutchinson 25-12, 25-17 before falling 12-25, 25-17, 15-10 against Chaska in the second round.

Against Hutchinson, Reese Drake led the Marshall front and back rows on the night, recording 14 digs and eight kills. Avery Fahl also put together a versatile performance with five kills, eight digs and a team-leading nine set assists.

Brooke Gillingham added another eight set assists while Kezlyn Pinckney chipped in nine digs. Gillingham also had three service aces while Pinckney added another. As a team, Marshall’s top four servers combined to go 38-of-38 from the service line.

Audree Larson came up with a pair of Blocks while Laurel Ryks tied Fahl with one block and five kills.

In round 2 against Chaska, Pinckney recorded 20 digs in the losing effort while Fahl and Drake added another nine each. Fahl, Drake, Gillingham and Reese each also added a block.

Gillingham’s 12 set assists were a match-high while Fahl added another seven. Fahl’s two service aces were also a team-high while her four kills trailed Ryks’ five and Drake’s eight.

The Tigers will next host Worthington tonight at 7 p.m.

Minneota, 16th place

The No. 3 Minneota volleyball team placed 16th at the Southwest Challenge over the weekend.

After opening day 1 with a 26-24, 24-26, 15-9 win over Eastview, the Vikings were knocked out of championship contention with a 25-19, 25-15 loss to Class 4A No. 2 Champlin Park. From there, another pair of losses to Mayer Lutheran, 25-17, 25-23, and Bloomington Jefferson, 25-22, 25-16, knocked the Vikings down to the 16th-place game, where they fell 25-20, 10-25, 15-13 to Burnsville.

Eden Meagher and Elivia Faris were the dynamic duo for the Minneota hitters, recording 29 and 24 kills over the course of the tournament respectively, while Jaylyn Coequyt added another 19 kills. Leah and Jaylyn Coequyt also added nine and four blocks.

The Vikings also got solid production from their setting duo, with Nevaeh Hennen leading the way with 49 assists and Libby Sussner adding another 46.

Libero Abby Rolbiecki fronted the back row with 48 digs in the tournament while Hennen finished with another 28.

Minneota, now 4-4 on the season after the four-match skid, will look to snap back into form when it hosts Dawson-Boyd tonight at 7 p.m.

RTR, 20th place

The Russell-Tyler-Ruthton Knights went 2-3 at the Southwest Challenge, splitting its Friday matches to drop down to the 24th place bracket, where they dropped two of their three matches.

The Knights opened the tournament with a tough draw, taking on Class 4A No. 11 Maple Grove 25-11, 25-19.

Laken Baartman led the defensive effort with seven digs while Avery Schreurs and Taya Christensen each added another five.

Brezlyn Buchert tallied nine assists in the match while Ava Karbo and Sara Thooft each notched three kills.

RTR bounced back from its opening loss with a 25-20, 22-25, 15-12 win over Perham.

Schreurs this time took charge in the back row with 17 digs while Baartman and Briana Pattinson recorded 12 and nine respectively.

Buchert was the primary offensive facilitator with 19 set assists while Dru Ellefson recorded another 11. The duo set up Karbo with nine kills and Paisley and Sara Thooft with eight and six respectively.

The Knights kept the momentum rolling into Saturday, opening the second day of play with a 25-20, 25-19 win over Owatonna.

Schreurs and Baartman headed the back-row efforts with nine digs each while Buchert held things down in the middle with nine assists. On the finishing end of Buchert’s set assists, Sara and Paisley Thooft added five and three kills.

Guida finished the match with two blocks while Karbo, Ellefson, Adalia Matzner and the Thoofts each added another. Baartman served up three aces in the match.

St. Michael-Albertville defeated RTR 25-18, 25-20 in the bracket semifinals.

Schreurs logged 11 digs in the match while Buchert added another six. She also tied Ellefson with six set assists and added a pair of blocks.

Paisley Thooft led the team with six kills in the match.

In the Knights’ final match of the tournament, they fell 25-23, 19-25, 15-9 in the 19th-place game.

Despite the loss, Buchert put together a sensational effort for the Knights. Her 18 digs and 18 set assists were both team-highs, and her one service ace tied her with Schreurs, Guida and Makenna Hess for second on the team behind Baartman’s pair of aces.

Baartman and Schreurs also contributed 17 and 16 digs in the match. Baartman’s five kills were also second only to Paisley Thooft’s 11.

Sara Thooft tied Brynn Borresen with a pair of blocks.

RTR will next travel to Okabena to take on Heron Lake-Okabena-Fulda tonight at 7 p.m.