Photo by Samantha Davis. Canby Junior setter and right side hitter Emily Nelson (left) and freshman middle blocker Karli Weber (right) block an attack attempt in the first set against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Tuesday night. Canby defeated TMB in three sets.

CANBY — With the regular season nearing a close end and teams trying to put out its best performances to enter the postseason, the No. 6 Canby volleyball team defeated the Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Panthers Tuesday night in three sets of 25-17, 25-17, 27-25.

TMB challenged Canby throughout the match, taking the lead in set three. The two teams also went point for point in several instances, but ultimately the Lancers pulled away behind Emily Nelson’s nine kills, 12 digs and 18 set assists, as well as Aliyah Rangaard’s 20 digs.

“I thought it was a great match. Tracy is very scrappy, as they always are, but I’m proud of my team,” Canby head coach Jenai Wright said. “[TMB] got a lot of good runs today, especially in sets one and two … However, we brought it at the end.”

The first set began tied at 7 before Canby extended its lead to 11-7 following a few TMB attacking and receiving errors. But, the Panthers got right back in it with a pair of kills.

Amya Verhelst, Karlie Wollum and Brynn Kockelman helped to manage the front line, and also were large contributors through the match as Canby’s lead swelled to 23-16.

“I thought Amya did a nice job, she’s come in for us a little later in the season on the outside. Everybody was after Wollum, but it’s hard to get such a good jump to her approach. She is hard to stop,” Wright said. “I was really happy that we established the middle play. Once we established the middles hitting, it gave us a little bit more room for outsides to hit, creating more holes in the block.”

Melaina Ankrum tallied another kill for the Panthers, but Canby was able to put the first set away with a kill from Grace Hansen and a long volley possession that ended in the Lancers’ favor due to an attacking error from TMB.

Hansen finished with eight kills.

“Tonight was not what I envisioned for our team,” TMB head coach Heather Kamrud-Rice said. “There were so many small things we needed [to clean up] in the first two sets.”

Nearly every time Canby built up a lead, TMB fought its way back in. A 13-8 Lancer lead in the second set quickly became 13-10 and forced a timeout.

Responding out of the reset, Wollum and Kockelman notched a couple kills and the ball was kept alive by Rangaard in the back row as Canby created a 22-14 lead.

Kockelman also had 18 assists and seven kills on the night, while Wollum had 12 digs and six kills.

A serving and attacking error gave the Panthers two more points, followed by TMB serving error.

However, Kockelman secured the set with a kill to the back left corner in TMB’s territory and the Lancers were another set closer to ending the night.

“Against some teams, those mistakes wouldn’t be as amplified as they were tonight,” Kamrud-Rice said. “But, Canby capitalized on those mistakes the first two sets, and their back row made it tough to find the court.”

The third set came as competitive as it gets, powered by a late TMB 10-0 run to try to force a fourth, but the Lancers were eventually able to protect its home court.

Unlike the previous two sets, Canby was able to create its cushioned lead early and jumped to an 8-3 advantage before TMB called a timeout.

Ankrum, Kyli Carter and Brianna Duscher each hit kills as the Panthers started its run and once again cut its deficit to 14-12, which resulted in a 3-point lead following an ace serve, kill and Canby attacking error.

“I think we got a little complacent … At one point, we didn’t have an answer for them,” Wright said.

As TMB’s bench roared loud, the Lancers called a timeout.

“This group of TMB girls won’t quit,” Kamrud-Rice said. “In the third set, our girls got more aggressive on defense and offense. Our blockers and back row defense got busy, our front row got busy.”

The rest of the set saw four more ties, until Canby took the 27-25 win from an assisted block at the net from Nelson and Karli Weber to secure the sweep.

“The girls came with some composure at the end,” Wright said. “They weren’t getting rattled, and that’s how they got it done. I’m just proud of everybody. Coming out of a 10-0 run like that, that’s pretty cool.”

Kamrud-Rice said the team will take tonight’s match as motivation to be more aggressive moving forward.

Canby is on a journey to continue this season’s success into another deep postseason run. Last season, it was eliminated by Minneota in the section semifinals in five sets despite the Lancers claiming each of the first two.

The Lancers are now 16-5 overall, and its five losses have all come from ranked opponents during weekend tournaments, including No. 3 Lakeville North and No. 2 Lakeville South in Class AAAA, and No. 3 New Life Academy and No. 7 MACCRAY in Class A.

Kamrud-Rice has already led TMB to an increase in wins compared to last season. The Panthers move to 11-11 on the season, compared to its 2023 9-20 overall record.

After a troubling start and four straight losses, TMB found its rhythm midway through the season and has won as many as four consecutive matches.

TMB will next host Yellow Medicine East, as Canby will bring in Lakeview on Thursday. Both matches are the last regular season games with a 7 p.m. first serve.

“We have higher expectations for our team, and I also have high goals,” Wright said. “The girls are embracing it. We’re going to be ready for sections.”