Photos by Samantha Davis: Russell-Tyler-Ruthton's Brezlyn Buchert (center) and Brynn Borresen (left) celebrate after winning a point Thursday night against Canby at Canby High School. The Knights defeated the Lancers in five sets. Below: The Canby volleyball team cheer on senior setter Brynn Kockelman (2) after her 1,000th career set assist in the first set Thursday night against RTR in Canby's home opener. 

CANBY — In a competitive battle that went down to extra points in the fifth set between two of Class A’s top-10 teams, the No. 5 Russell-Tyler-Ruthton volleyball team prevailed for a 3-2 win over No. 6 Canby Thursday night in a non-conference matchup. The Knights took the win in sets of 25-22, 18-25, 22-25, 25-20 and 19-17.

“It feels great … We just all had said in the [timeouts] that we need to play our game. We need to play loose, because when we play tight, we overplay,” RTR junior outside hitter Paisley Thooft said. “We came together as a team and we hyped each other up. We need to keep the energy from the last set that we just played.”

Canby senior setter Brynn Kockelman also hit a milestone during the night, recording her 1,000th career set assist in the first set of the Lancers’ home opener.

“I’m so happy for her. I am so proud of her, and she just really deserves it,” Canby head coach Jenai Wright said. “What a coachable kid. The 1,000th set, that’s pretty hard to do, but she’s earned the [bragging] right for that.”

In a winner-take-all fifth set, Canby and RTR kept the night’s theme going and started off the final game with a 6-6 tie.

Nearly the entire night went point for point and saw numerous ties.

Canby took a 13-8 lead after a kill and service ace from Rachel Jelen, and a Knights’ hitting error, on the verge to close out the night.

But, RTR responded with three straight points to stay within reach, down 13-11.

An Emily Nelson kill gave Canby match point, and the Knights again didn’t let the game go away easily with another two consecutive points as Wright called a timeout with a 14-13 edge.

Extending the final set, RTR kept looking at Paisley Thooft to make the kill, which she delivered. She had three straight kills, while Canby also continued to make plays, all from the left side of the net, to keep the Knights in the game and gave them match point off her last kill, 18-17.

Paisley finished the night with a team-high 20 kills.

“My team, I give it all to them. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to get the kills that I get,” Paisley said. “We are building so much team chemistry that we are just building each other’s confidence every day, every game. When someone’s down, we just learn to pick them up.”

A Canby hitting error in making contact with the net antenna gave RTR the game-winning point, as the players crashed to midcourt with one another.

“What a great battle though. Kudos to RTR for keeping it tough,” Wright said. “It was very competitive. It’s kind of funny, because we’re kind of the comeback team normally. We’re known for, if we’re down 18-23, we’re coming back. Tonight, it seemed the opposite. We were the team ahead almost each set, and I think it’s a good [challenge] for the girls early on.”

Canby built up momentum to end the third set climbing back from a deficit, which initially translated into the fourth bolstering an 11-3 lead to begin.

Yet, the Knights continued to fight back, eventually tying the set up 16-16 and even taking a 20-16 lead after a kill from Ava Karbo down the middle and a Lancers’ defensive error.

“We just knew that we needed to push,” Paisley Thooft said. “We needed to gain as many points and get on a run.”

Following a timeout, Canby grabbed two straight points, but another Karbo kill stopped more of a run from occurring.

A kill from Grace Hansen brought Canby with a point, 21-20, yet the Knights immediately earned back its lead at 23-20 with a pair of blocks.

Brynn Borresen and Paisley Thooft both had a team-high six blocks, while Dru Ellefson and Karbo had another four each.

A kill from Borresen and a Lancers’ hitting error gave the Knights the set-four victory, forcing the game to a fifth set.

With tension building up in the third game with each team taking a set in the first two, RTR and Canby again went point-for-point and saw a series of ties. The two continued to feed off one another in all areas of the court, with contagious hitting, defense and a strong blocking effort.

The third set didn’t see a team take a 2-point lead until RTR did 15-13, when Canby quickly called a timeout to regroup and tied the game up at 16 after.

Following a Taylin Thooft ace, RTR’s Ellefson lit up the Knights’ fan sections after tallying three blocks in a row, which the Lancers continued to pick up, until she had another block to lay it down on Canby’s court to give RTR an 18-16 lead after a long round.

After another Canby timeout, the Lancers found their rhythm on a 3-1 run to climb back to a 20-19 deficit.

Keeping control of the final moments of set three, a Courtney Antony kill and ace from Hansen gave Canby a 23-22 lead. The Lancers wrapped up the set and took a 2-1 edge on the night after Nelson and Karli Weber had two consecutive assisted blocks.

Weber had a team-high seven blocks.

The two teams set the tone from the jump in the first set, with neither the Knights or Lancers able to gain a large lead.

“They [RTR] dug up everything. Personally, I think it was a lot of unforced errors on our part,” Wright said. “But, we will see RTR again. It was a great battle, and I’m so proud of our girls for going out, and [it was a] great home crowd for us.”

Just prior to match-point in the first set is when Canby’s Kockelman earned her 1,000th career set assist, as her teammates and the large student section behind the Lancers’ bench cheered her on.

For the Knights, Ellefson had 22 set assists while Buchert had another 18. Laken Baartman led the defense with 17 digs, and Sarah Thooft followed with 16 to her 12 kills. Buchert also had four service aces.

On Canby’s side, Nelson and Kockelman each had 28 set assists. Kockelman also had 12 digs, four blocks, three aces and a team-high 16 kills.

Nelson followed with 13 kills, and 26 digs. Jaryn Houseman led with 30 digs.

RTR was ranked fifth in the latest Class A coaches poll this week, and Canby was tabbed No. 6.

Prior to meeting on Thursday, Canby had opened the season with a pair of road wins; 3-1 over Murray County Central in its season opener, and swept Pipestone last Thursday.

The Knights faced Class A’s two-highest ranked teams to begin the season in No. 1 Minneota and No. 2 Mayer Lutheran, the 2024 state runners-up and champions, in which they dropped both matches. But, RTR had a quick response and swept both Lakeview and Tracy-Milroy-Balaton to even up its early record to .500. Thursday marked three straight wins for the Knights.

“We came together as a team,” Paisley Thooft said. “We weren’t thinking about ourselves, we were thinking about our team and our confidence with each other.”

RTR and Canby are playing with an older, experienced roster with a handful of returning talent this season, both looking to make a deep playoff run and a berth into the state tournament.

Canby holds a group of eight seniors with a trio of juniors this year, and RTR has two seniors with eight juniors.

Canby senior outside hitter Karlie Wollum also made her season-debut tonight after being cleared to play on Wednesday, who had been rehabbing a foot injury she obtained over the spring. She was the Lancers offensive leader last season with 373 kills along with a team second-best 265 digs.

Both Canby and RTR have a quick turn around and will compete at the Southwest Challenge Tournament in Marshall today.

Canby (2-1) will face No. 7 in Class 4A Prior Lake today at 5 p.m. at Marshall High School. RTR (3-2) will take on Class 4A Champlin Park today at 6:15 p.m. at the Red Baron Arena.