Photos by Samantha Davis: The No. 5 Canby volleyball team smiles after hitting the final point in set four the win the match against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Thursday night in a Camden Conference prep volleyball game in Tracy. The Lancers defeated the Panthers 3-1. Below: Canby's Jaryn Houseman sets up for a dig in the third set against TMB Thursday night. Below: TMB's Melaina Ankrum goes up for a kill in the first set against No. 5 Canby Thursday night.

TRACY — Emily Nelson, Brynn Kockelman and Karlie Wollum all finished in double-digit kills to help the No. 5 Canby volleyball team pick up its sixth straight win in a competitive battle against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Thursday night in a Camden Conference matchup. The Lancers won 3-1 in sets of 25-23, 20-25, 25-14 and 25-16.

“Honestly, the way that this season has been going for us, it’s been a grind of a season, and to take Canby, the fifth-ranked [team] in the state … It’s nice to go to 23 points and take a set from them,” TMB head coach Heather Kamrud-Rice said. “Our girls really came together tonight … I told the girls, we keep getting a little higher, we keep making that progress, getting a little bit better and a little bit closer. Tonight was good validation, taking a set from a state-ranked team.”

TMB showed a lot of fight and stayed within reach nearly the entire night, including winning the second set behind tenacious attacking. Yet, Canby was able to find an answer around its errors in the final two sets to prevail for the victory.

“We had many unforced errors and hitting errors that first set, and making an adjustment after set two that helped us. However, we have a lot of practice left of the season and I think we can come out and play a lot better,” Canby head coach Jenai Wright said. “We know everybody is out to get everybody. Disappointed in our unforced errors, but a win is a win and we’ll take it, and Tracy played well.”

As it was the final home game of the season, TMB recognized its trio of seniors in Piper Freeburg, Cheyenne Hoffman and Emma Carter.

“[Freeburg] is a hard worker. Every practice, every warm up, every game, she just works really, really hard. Her heart is 100% in it. Cheyenne Hoffman … She’s one of the most determined kids you could meet. You put a challenge in front of her, and she’s going to go toe-to-toe with that challenge, and she’s done that this season,” Kamrud-Rice said. “Emma is a fantastic teammate. When she’s on the court, when she’s at practice, when she’s in the locker room, that girl is big energy … All three of them are going to leave a hole in the team for sure.”

Jaryn Houseman held down the Lancers defensively with a team-best 24 digs. Kockelman finished the night with 10 kills, seven digs and 27 set assists, and Nelson had a team-high 19 kills and 29 assists with her 15 digs. Wollum tallied 16 kills and 14 digs.

For the Panthers, Melaina Ankrum finished with a team-high nine kills and five blocks, while Allie Adams and Braelynn Kirk followed with seven kills each. Alli Dolan led with 14 set assists, and Ankrum dished out another 10.

After dropping the first set in a close back-and-forth battle in the opening set, TMB was firing on all cylinders in the second set while Canby struggled with errors.

“We’ve got girls that can do some fun things in volleyball, defensively and offensively, but we just haven’t had very many nights where everybody comes together all at once,” Kamrud-Rice said. “They have been working really, really hard to find that common ground, become inclusive and communicate and work together.”

The Panthers bolstered to an 8-4 lead with kills from Ankrum, Adams and Kirk, and continued with a service ace from Freeburg.

A Lancers’ hitting error and Kirk kill continued to propel the Panthers forward, as Canby responded to halt the run behind a block from Grace Hansen, an Nelson fake assist and Wollum kill, cutting into a 17-12 deficit.

Canby embarked on a comeback to eventually tie the set up 19-19 with kills from Wollum, Kockelman and Hansen, yet TMB kept its momentum going and took the next three consecutive points to force the Lancers to call a timeout.

Hansen also finished with eight kills.

A few moments later, TMB prevailed to take the set after a pair of Canby errors and a kill from Ankrum to even up the night, 1-1, as the home crowd and student section filled the gym with cheers.

“Tracy’s a very scrappy team, but they are very smart also, and they were really dumping the ball a lot and where we weren’t,” Wright said. “We had to make some adjustments to read.”

The first set nearly went point-for-point after Canby began the night on a 4-0 run behind a pair of Kockelman kills, but it didn’t take long for TMB to find a response with a kill from Elsie Knott and Kirk service ace.

Seeing a 22-22 tie, Canby finished the set with two kills from Wollum and one from Nelson.

Both TMB and Canby played with a strong all-around team effort. Nelson had five kills in the first set for the Lancers, while Kockelman and Wollum both had four. For the Panthers, Ankrum, Adams, Knott and Gretchen Lanoue all had two kills after the first.

“I also think that part of that, too, is spreading the offense. I have to give props to our setters for doing a really good job of mixing it up,” Kamrud-Rice said. “Our right sides got swings, our middles got swings, our lefts got swings. We got some back row swings.”

Canby found its rhythm back in the third set to gain a 2-1 lead on the night after the two teams again traded points to begin the game.

The Lancers built up a 17-11 lead, and Wollum and Kockelman paired together to carry Canby through the set between kills and aggressive serving.

Canby was able to end the night with a set-four victory and didn’t lose sight of its lead, but TMB continued to fight and stayed within a couple points.

Ankrum and Kirk each hit a kill, along with a Canby serving error, to trail 15-12 and force the Lancers to call a timeout.

But, Kockelman, Nelson and Wollum showed up big again with kills from each, and Canby wrapped up the game with a kill from Karli Weber and a pair from Hansen.

“That’s what we strive all season for, is to play together,” Wright said. “At times, it looked a little off, but in the end, we came together.”

Thursday was TMB’s third match in four days, and will continue their stretch with another game today when they face their second-straight ranked opponent against Class 3A’s No. 2 Stewartville in Apple Valley at 6:15 p.m. to begin a weekend tournament.

TMB (7-16) will wrap up the regular season at Yellow Medicine East (5-16) on Tuesday at 7:15 p.m.

Of Canby’s six straight wins, four of them have been sweeps along with a five-set upset thriller over No. 2 Minneota, who was top-ranked at the time, last Thursday.

“We’re actually happy where we are at right now. We really like the fact that we’re bringing it at the end of the season,” Wright said. “In years past, sometimes we start strong and then fade. But, right from the middle of the season on, I think girls are finding ways to work together, and I’m just so proud of them.”

The Lancers (15-8) will also wrap up the regular season on the road, and will face Class 3A’s No. 8 Princeton today at St. Michael-Albertville High School at 5 p.m. to begin a weekend tournament. Canby will then travel to Lakeview (13-11) on Monday at 7 p.m. before playoffs begin.

“Every day they get a volleyball in their hands, it’s Lancer pride,” Wright said. “We’re not overlooking Lakeview. They’re a very scrappy team as well … We’ll do the cities this weekend, Monday we play Lakeview, and then it’s tournament time.”