Photo by Jake McNeill: Russell-Tyler-Ruthton libero Laken Baartman (11) and setter Brezlyn Buchert celebrate a point during the Russell-Tyler-Ruthton volleyball team’s 3-0 sweep of Murray County Central during a Red Rock Conference match in Tyler on Tuesday.

TYLER — Daynica Brown earned her 200th career win as the head coach of the No. 4 Russell-Tyler-Ruthton volleyball team when the Knights took on Murray County Central in a Red Rock Conference matchup on Tuesday. The Knights’ depth of hitters turned the tide after facing a first-set deficit as a variety of players got good swings on the ball to cap off a 25-21, 25-16, 25-16 sweep for RTR.

“It’s all the team,” Brown said of the milestone. “It’s an amazing accomplishment, just very exciting and very humbling, but these girls have put in the hours, the time and the energy to ultimately achieve those numbers.”

MCC scored 4 of the first 5 points in the first game of the match, capitalizing on RTR blocking and hitting errors to eventually build an 8-4 lead when the Knights called their first timeout.

Paisley Thooft came up with a kill to give the Knights the first point out of the huddle, but the Rebels kept on swinging until a kill from Kate Blankenship gave the Rebels their largest lead of the night, 11-5.

“Our pass came out ready to play,” MCC head coach Katie Furth said of the team’s early success. “Our serve receive has kind of been up and down a little bit this season, so we’ve really been working on consistency and I think we came out and passed well.”

The two teams traded back and forth, with the Rebels’ lead hovering around 3 points, eventually building to a 21-19 lead. Yet, the Rebels’ hitters struggled down the stretch. MCC committed six consecutive hitting errors to close out the game as RTR claimed the 25-21 win.

“We just cleaned up our game,” Brown said of her team’s second-set improvements, citing the elimination of hitting errors and her team playing its own style as key factors in shifting momentum. “When you have a busy week last week with homecoming, it’s hard to come back. We know Tuesdays are kind of a hard game, but the girls ultimately started cleaning up their game and started playing at their level and their tempo.”

Suttyn Schryver put on a defensive masterclass for the Rebels, finishing with 28 digs to pace the team. Ava Deacon and Erynn Rohrer also contributed 18 and 12, while Blankenship chipped in another 10.

Schryver’s five kills also tied her with Blankenship for second on the team to Reese Gilbertson’s nine.

Brezlyn Buchert and Dru Ellefson were consistently able to spread the ball around to different hitters in the match, culminating in 21 set assists for Buchert and 19 for Ellefson. Ava Karbo went on to lead the Knights in kills with 13, followed by 11 from Sara Thooft and nine from Paisley Thooft.

“We’ve been working on [mixing up our sets] because we have a lot of great hitters, so you can use them all,” Brown said. “It makes it harder on the other team, creates chaos in the other team when you have all those different hitters to have that versatility… Brezlyn and Dru have been doing a great job in facilitating that and seeing which option is maybe the better option.”

Karbo also had a major defensive impact at the net, accounting for four of her team’s eight blocks. Ellefson, Kaysie Serreyn and each of the Thoofts also logged one block.

In the defensive back row, Laken Baartman and Buchert each recorded 10 digs for RTR while Makenna Hess and Ellefson finished with seven and five, respectively.

Heading into the second set, the Knights’ momentum to close out the first kept on rolling. RTR claimed each of the first 4 points of the game before a Blankenship kill got the Rebels on the board. Yet, a Sara Thooft kill and a Brezlyn Buchert service ace helped RTR continue extending its lead to 10-1 when the Rebels called their second timeout of the frame.

The energy from the Knights on the court was a gamechanger for RTR in terms of starting the second set strong, Brown said, as well as the team’s movement on defense and serve receive helping the setters get into better positions.

“I think that ultimately stems from the energy. It was great seeing our senior captain, Brezlyn Buchert, just getting really excited and hyped out there in that second set,” Brown said. “It rippled through the team, so sometimes something as little as that can help get your team going and really motivate them.”

RTR’s lead ballooned to 18-7 when MCC started to find a rhythm, trimming the deficit to 7 points. Still, the Knights called their first timeout of the set leading 19-11, and back-to-back kills sparked them to a 25-16 win.

Rohrer facilitated the MCC offense with seven set assists while Kat Miller made a defensive impact up front with four ace blocks.

MCC and RTR traded points to start the final set when kills from Karbo and Sara Thooft put the Knights in the lead. MCC tied the game at 6 points apiece on a service ace by Deacon, but Paisley Thooft came up with a kill to put RTR back on top, and a pair of kills from Sara Thooft prompted MCC to call a timeout trailing 10-6.

Coming out of the huddle, RTR rattled off 4 unanswered points to start building its lead. The Knights continued to slowly put some distance between themselves and the Rebels before eventually settling for the 25-16 win.

“I think in every game, you want to compete. We came out in that first game and showed that we can compete,” Furth said of her team’s effort in the match. “A couple of weeks from now, who knows what that looks like? As long as you’re within a few points, it can always end either way.”

RTR improves to 17-5 overall and 7-0 in Red Rock Conference play with the win. MCC, meanwhile, falls to 8-6 overall and 4-3 in conference with the loss.

The Knights next travel to Marshall for the Jimmy John’s Invitational on Friday and Saturday. The Knights will kick off their run at the tournament at Marshall High School, taking on Luverne (9-9) at 5:30 p.m. and Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg (5-7) at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

MCC is also slated to take part in the tournament, opening against Springfield (2-13) at Marshall Middle School on Friday at 6:30 p.m. The Rebels will close out their first day of play against Central Minnesota Christian (12-5) at 7:30 p.m.