Photos by Samantha Davis: Marshall outside hitter Laurel Ryks goes up for a kill during a Big South Conference volleyball game against Waseca on Tuesday in Marshall. The Tigers swept the Bluejays 3-0. Below: The Marshall volleyball team celebrates with one another after scoring a point Tuesday night against Waseca.

MARSHALL — In a balanced offensive effort and a team total of 16 service aces, the No. 1 Marshall volleyball team opened up Big South Conference play with a sweep over Waseca Tuesday night in sets of 25-9, 25-5 and 25-9.

“The message before the match was, let’s take care of business on our side of the net tonight,” Marshall head coach Dan Westby said. “There are some things we worked on in practice yesterday and we wanted to see those tonight. I think for the most part, our kids did a good job of that.”

In usual fashion, the Tigers set the tone quick and early in the first set, and never lost sight of their lead in any of the three sets behind a consistent effort on both ends of the floor.

In particular, Marshall was red-hot from the service line all night. Reese Drake served up a team-high five aces while Avery Fahl and Trinity Brownlee added another three. Makia Radtke also contributed two.

Marshall has now opened the season with three consecutive sweeps, including its first two wins coming over third-ranked Willmar in the season opener and over Class 4A No. 7 Chanhassen last Friday.

Sara Dallman and Radtke shared a team-high five digs, while Fahl, Drake and Gillingham each had four.

Offensively, Julia and Avery Fahl led Marshall with nine kills apiece. Drake and Nora Holmgren both followed with five. Gillingham and Avery Fahl were again the main playmakers, finishing the night off with 15 and 12 set assists, respectively.

“We played a lot of kids, and the good part about that is when we made substitutions,there wasn’t a drop off or anything like that,” Westby said. “That was good. Everybody came in and did their job.”

Avery Fahl got the momentum going promptly to begin the opening set, notching two kills in Marshall’s first 3 points. Brownlee kept the momentum going with a service ace.

When facing an 11-3 deficit early on, Waseca scored 3 consecutive points to attempt to catch up, but a Bluejays’ serving error cut the run.

“Waseca kept competing, and that was good for us,” Westby said. “Our kids needed to do that all the way through as well.”

Kills from Drake and Chika Nwakama helped get the Tigers back on track, along with back-to-back kills from Avery Fahl to build a 16-8 lead.

Extending to a 23-9 edge, Marshall wrapped up the first set with a block from Avery Fahl and Radtke ace.

The Tigers kept their foot on the gas through the second set, jumping to a 5-1 start before Drake served three consecutive aces to bolster Marshall’s early lead.

Marshall had heavy involvement between both upper and underclassmen throughout the night. Holmgren, a freshman, hit two straight kills before Waseca called a timeout to regroup when down 16-3.

“I thought our setters did a good job of getting her [Holmgren] the ball, and I think that was important in a match like this,” Westby said. “She’s worked hard in practice and done a lot of good things. Like I said, I thought our setters really did a nice job.”

Up 22-4, Marshall’s final 3 points of the set came from a Waseca serving error and two more kills from Drake.

The Bluejays cut into a 5-3 deficit to begin the final set, yet the Tigers answered with three straight kills and went on a 6-0 run to build an 11-3 lead.

Waseca’s defense struggled throughout the match to find any answers to Marshall’s offense, who quickly finished off the night behind a pair of Bluejay errors and a Brownlee ace.

Marshall (3-0) next will look to hit the road to take on another ranked opponent at Class 2A No. 9 Jackson County Central on Friday with a 5 p.m. first serve.

“Our schedule is really challenging. We go to Jackson on Friday, and it’ll be a tough one. Then we come back home next week, and then we’ve got our tournament next weekend,” Westby said. “Our schedule is going to be difficult. So, it’s really important that we come out and do what we need to do.”