Photo by Samantha Davis: Minneota's Sarah Gruenes goes up for a hit in the second set against Lakeview Tuesday night in Cottonwood during a Camden Conference match. The Vikings swept the Lakers. 

COTTONWOOD — Sarah Gruenes’ 16 kills powered the No. 2 Minneota volleyball team to a 3-0 sweep over Lakeview Tuesday night in a Camden South Conference matchup. Although the Lakers stayed within reach the final two sets, the Vikings prevailed for wins of 25-13, 25-21 and 25-20.

“We knew they [Lakeview] were going to come out fighting, and we knew they were going to come out with some energy. We really had to make sure we were executing what we were doing,” Minneota head coach Kaley Buysse said. “We obviously ran a little different lineup tonight, not having Eden [Meagher] in, so I felt like with throwing some girls in there, they did an awesome job stepping in, putting the ball away and doing their job and making it seem pretty seamless.”

Meagher, one of Minneota’s core starters, was out with some quad discomfort and was rested out of caution, Buysse said. Meagher did still participate in full pregame warmups and was dressed in uniform.

Following Gruenes, Jaylyn and Leah Coequyt contributed six and five kills, respectively. Ava Rost also had five kills.

For Lakeview, Kiara Hinz led with a team-high 12 kills and two service aces, while Taylor Hinz finished with nine kills and Aubrey Nething followed with four.

“I think going into sets like this, where you play against state-ranked teams, you have to have different goals … Valuing the ball and running with it, and then our other offensive goal was five first-ball kills, which they did both of those,” Lakeview head coach Alexis Lienemann said. “We wanted to hold them [Minneota] to eight or less strings of 3 points as well, which was very difficult for us … Defensively, too, we wanted our blocks to get more touches.”

Minneota’s Jaylyn and Leah Coequyt got the scoring started with the first two points of the game, while Lakeview’s Taylor Hinz and Nething responded with kills of their own.

Gruenes was a key contributor on the offensive end for Minneota throughout the night, and hit back-to-back kills before the Vikings extended on a 5-0 run to force Lakeview to call a timeout when facing a 12-4 deficit.

“Sarah did a really good job … We actually moved her to the outside for one of the rotations, too, and she did awesome. She did exactly what we needed her to do,” Buysse said. “She was going hard and just putting the ball away, and wasn’t afraid to continue to go up and be aggressive whether it was blocking or attacking.”

Allison Isaacs responded out of the reset with a kill for Lakeview, but Minneota held on its lead as Sophie Gillund faked an assist for a point to give the Vikings a 10-point lead, 22-12. Minneota wrapped up the first set behind a Lakers’ serving error and net violation.

On the defensive end, Abby Rolbiecki led Minneota with 14 digs, while Leah Coequyt had a team-high four blocks. Gillund finished with 18 set assists, and Libby Sussner dished out 14.

Lakeview fought throughout the second set and stayed within a few points while taking advantage of a few Vikings’ errors.

Kiara Hinz helped Lakeview start on a 3-0 run with a service ace and kill, before Gruenes again hit two consecutive kills to give Minneota a slight 7-6 lead.

“I feel like we definitely had some unforced errors in there that we need to clean up and eliminate, because that didn’t help a few of the runs,” Buysse said.

The two teams continued to feed off one another, with Lakeview’s Jersey Stensrud serving an ace while Minneota’s Leah Coequyt responded with a solo block.

Adison and Taylor Hinz put down two kills back-to-back, yet Minneota’s Jaylyn Coequyt and Sarah Gruenes stopped the run with a kill each.

Although the Lakers didn’t allow the Vikings to pull away, Minneota was able to prevail to take a 2-0 lead on the night after a Lakers’ attacking error and Rost kill.

Much like the second, Minneota and Lakeview traded points for much of the third set and began with a 7-7 tie.

“In matches like this, not only are you battling your own mindset of like, ‘I can play hard teams,’ but it’s like the culture of the gym. They [Minneota] are a rival, but they’re also a great program,” Lienemann said. “So, ‘How can I get out there, be confident, play well, react and just go all out?’ Which I think that they did much better in set two and set three.”

The Vikings were able to start gaining a lead after a pair of Gruenes kills, and built up some cushion after another Rost kill to put the Vikings up by 4 points, 16-12. A Lakeview serving error and two more kills from Gruenes ultimately put the night away for Minneota with the final three points.

“A lot of that grit and the never backing down, going for everything and reading-and-react,” Lienemann said regarding positive things she saw from the team. “That’s definitely one of their strengths, for sure, in going into matches … I think for not having [much] time to prepare for that, they really executed.”

The Lakers were coming off back-to-back game nights, as they defeated Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Monday night 3-0.

The Vikings were seeking to get back in the win column after falling short in a five-set thriller last Thursday to No. 5 Canby, just their third loss of the season.

Lakeview (13-10) has two more games left before section play. The Lakers will travel to Renville County West (14-7) on Thursday before wrapping up the regular season on Monday when they host No. 5 Canby. Both matches are slated for 7 p.m.

“I’m really, really proud of their progress so far,” Lienemann said. “They are not the team they were last year or the years before. It’s just so validating to know all the work that you put in is paying off. Going into the last few games, I think they’re realizing like it’s now or never.”

Minneota (19-3) will next spend the weekend competing against a trio of Class 4A teams at the Lakeville North tournament. The Vikings will take on No. 6 Eagan (15-4) and No. 7 Champlin Park (14-6) on Friday at 5 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. They will wrap up the weekend facing Rochester Mayo (5-15) on Saturday at 9 a.m.

“We are going to put in some work the next couple of days and be looking ahead to that [tournament] … We know they’re [Eagan] probably going to be some girls that are going to put up a big block and be able to swing,” Buysse said. “[We will be] Making sure that we’re playing well across the board, and defensively, really staying disciplined and moving the ball around.”

Minneota will then finish the regular season with a pair of home games before the postseason, hosting RCW and Yellow Medicine East next Tuesday and Thursday.

“It’s crazy, it’s [the season] gone so fast. I think the girls have been working really hard,” Buysse said. “We’ve learned a lot of lessons, and we’ve got a lot more lessons to learn a lot of things to continue to work through. But, I think it’s gone well.”