Photo by Jake McNeill: Canby’s Emily Nelson makes a pass during a Camden Conference volleyball match against Lakeview on Monday in Cottonwood.

COTTONWOOD — Serving told the story of the match on Monday when the No. 5 Canby volleyball team went on the road to take on the Lakeview Lakers in Camden Conference play. The Lancers finished the day with 14 service aces in the match as they earned a 25-11, 25-9, 25-15 sweep to wrap up the regular season.

“In volleyball, it takes all six kids plus our bench to be involved [in successful service], and I think it just shows that everybody’s working together,” Canby head coach Jenai Wright said. “I think we’re peaking at the right time. This is our last conference game and we want to bring it on in the playoffs.”

Emily Nelson and Brynn Kockelman led the Lancers’ aggressive service efforts with six aces each in the match on a combined five service errors. Lakeview did not record an ace in the match.

“We really work on serving aggressive and we were working on serving a lot, so I think that really helps coming into games,” Nelson said. “I just like to be consistent when I serve, because it’s not going to be good if I don’t get it over.”

Following the end of the second set, the teams took a moment to recognize Nelson and Karlie Wollum for each reaching career milestones during the Lancers’ run at the St. Michael-Albertville tournament over the weekend. Nelson earned her 2,000th set assist at the tournament while Wollum earned her 1,000th career kill, as the Lancers closed the tournament with three consecutive wins to place 25th.

“They are just so coachable, and they are awesome players, but I’m going to stress again that it’s a team effort and those girls would not get those awards without their team getting those passes to them for the good sets and awesome hits they have,” Wright said, adding that she felt that the bench was also really involved in getting teammates in a good position to execute on Monday.

Living up to her leadership role and being consistently available on the court were a big part of Nelson reaching that milestone, Nelson said, as well as being surrounded by a large crew of quality hitters.

Wollum also tied Kockelman with a team-leading 11 kills in Monday’s win over Lakeview, while Karli Weber and Grace Hansen each added another seven. Nelson finished the match with 26 set assists and Kockelman added another 16.

“I thought we serve-received well, and I’ve always said good things happen to those who pass, so we did that and we had a lot of different options in our front row,” Wright said, adding that they played around with different player combinations in the middle and right side. “We haven’t played like that in a while, so it’s actually refreshing. I’m just proud of this team; they came out and worked hard.”

Canby took control of the first set early, going on an 8-1 run behind a trio of kills from Weber and another pair each from Kockelman and Wollum to take a 10-3 lead.

Lakeview tried to curb Canby’s momentum by calling a timeout, but Kockkelman kept the run going with back-to-back service aces out of the break, and two kills from Amya Verhelst and one from Nelson brought the Lancer lead to 16-4.

The Lancers’ lead slowly continued to expand, with a Hansen kill and a pair of service aces bringing the lead to 21-9 when the Lakers called their second timeout. Still, Canby kept rolling with Hansen and Verhelst combining for a block after the timeout. Kills from Kockelman and Weber and a Hansen ace eventually gave Canby the 25-11 win.

Khya Gawarecki served up an ace to start the second set and Canby committed a hitting error to give the Lakers each of the first 2 points of the second set, but Canby went on a 9-0 run to seize all momentum.

Nelson spurred on the Canby run with three service aces. Hansen and Kockelman also combined for a block over the stretch, with Hansen accounting for a pair of kills and Kockelman adding one.

Canby’s defensive back row also showed tremendous effort during the run. At one point, Wollum made a full sprint to save a ball with a back-shoulder dig and Houseman did the same thing to keep the ball in play with another over-the-back hit that reached the other side of the net. The Lancers capitalized on the effort with a Kockelman kill on the point.

Houseman ended the match with 10 digs, trailing only Kockelman’s 11, while Wollum added another six.

Lakeview called a timeout trailing 12-3 but Wollum came up with three kills in a stretch of four points, while Kockelman and Hansen combined for a block, to bring the Lancer lead to 16-4.

Kockelman, Hansen and Weber each logged an ace block in the match, as well as two block assists for Weber and Wollum.

A pair of kills from Wollum and a Kockelman ace prompted the Lakers to call their second timeout of the frame, trailing 21-6, but it was too late for Lakeview to put the toothpaste back in the tube. The Lakers cut the deficit to 14 points before a Wollum kill and a Nelson ace ended the set with a 25-9 Lancer victory.

Taylor and Adison Hinz and Teegan Fiene each had three digs for the Lakers, and Taylor’s three kills trailed only Kiara Hinz’s five. Setting up the offense, Gawarecki ended the match with six set assists.

The third set was a slow burn in favor of the Lancers. Lakeview hung around for the first half of the set, with a Taylor Hinz block trimming Canby’s lead to 11-9. From there, however, Canby went on a 13-2 run to take command of the set.

A Lakeview hitting error and a pair of Kockelman aces set up match point for Canby when the Lakers started to go on a run. Canby committed a service error and consecutive hitting errors to keep Lakeview alive, and Allison Isaacs and Laia Javens combined for a block to trim the deficit to 9 points. Yet, a Lakeview hitting error ended the match with a 25-15 win for the Lancers in the third game.

“I thought our blockers did phenomenal trying to get pin-to-in,” Lakeview head coach Alexis Lienemann said. “It’s hard to block two setters who are phenomenal hitters as well as setters, and then to get to the outside for a quick four-ball, so I will shout out the blockers tonight for doing their best to get pin-to-pin. Blockers don’t always get the most kills, but Allison and Laia did a very good job of that.”

Javens and Isaacs each had three total blocks in the game for Lakeview.

Even when trailing by large margins, the Lakers consistently held their heads high on the bench and never let any negativity show in their body language on the court. Lienemann attributed her team’s positivity to the way they treat the girls in the postseason in terms of having hard conversations about players’ roles and showing up for each other.

“[We talked about] how to do what’s best for the team, how to lead even if you’re not playing… It’s been very hard, but super transparent and open. I think just having fun and being in the moment was kind of the message today,” Lienemann said. “It’s your last regular-season game on your home court, you just want to be in the moment and keep everyone cheery. I think this group is the closest group I’ve ever had, so it’s really heartwarming to see them really care about each other beyond the sport itself. Going into the playoffs, I think that’s our benefit, that they genuinely love each other.”

Canby finishes its regular season at 19-10 with the win and now awaits seeding for the Section 3A tournament, which has its subsection quarterfinals scheduled for Friday, Oct. 24 at the site of the high seed. The Lancers have advanced to the section championship in consecutive years and are looking to make another deep run this time around.

“I think I’m just really looking forward to seeing us go to the state tournament,” Nelson said.

Wright added that heading into the postseason is like starting over again, and that the team wants to continue to work hard in the gym to push itself to higher goals and get in position to succeed in the postseason.

Lakeview wraps up its regular season at 13-12 and also awaits postseason seeding for its next match. The Lakers lost four of their final five matches, but the losses came in a stretch of schedule against Class 2A Windom (20-6), two teams ranked top-5 in Class 1A with No. 2 Minneota and No. 5 Canby, and Renville County West (17-7).

“The whole message is that they have to believe the work they put in is going to pay off,” Lienemann said. “I think they did their absolute best tonight… It was unfortunately, just one of our nights. After a strong schedule last week with Minneota, RCW, a couple of other teams, it’s hard to keep that stamina, but going into the playoffs is a whole new beast. They’re better than they were last year, and if they can just believe that they deserve to compete with these good teams, they’ll hang in there.”