Photo by Samantha Davis: Russell-Tyler-Ruthton setter Brezlyn Buchert (5) puts up a set during a Red Rock Conference match against Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda on Oct. 13 in Tyler. Buchert earned her 1,000th career set assist on Tuesday as the Knights swept Murray County Central at the 3A South subsection semifinals in Worthington.

WORTHINGTON — Brezlyn Buchert earned her 1,000th career set assist for the Russell-Tyler-Ruthton volleyball team as it took on the Murray County Central Rebels in the 3A South semifinals on Tuesday night. The top-seeded Knights finished each set stronger than they started as they earned a 25-13, 25-15, 25-12 sweep over the fifth-seeded Rebels to return to Thursday’s subsection championship for the fourth consecutive season.

Buchert finished the night second on her team in set assists with 11, trailing only Dru Ellefson’s 26. Buchert also tied Paisley Thooft with a team-leading four ace blocks, followed by another three from Ava Karbo, and her pair of service aces tied Laken Baartman for a team-high.

“[Buchert has] worked on her confidence and being a great setter on the precision side of it, knowing which hitter is the best option at the time and reading the other side’s defense,” RTR head coach Daynica Brown said. “That allows our hitters to maybe have holes in the block and just have opportunities to get the kill… She’s also stepped up in her leadership role, and that’s helped to make her even better because the setter is kind of the quarterback of the team. You’ve really just got to step up into that role, and she’s done a fabulous job, her and Dru. They just share it well and read each other.”

After falling into a 2-0 deficit to start the first game, MCC started to heat up to claim an early lead. Kills from Kat Miller and Kaitlyn Blankenship, as well as an ace from Blankenship, tied up the set at 3 points apiece.

RTR came up with a block to get back on top, but a pair of kills from Suttyn Schryvers and a service ace from Avery Thovson gave RTR its first lead of the night at 6-5.

Schryvers finished the night with a team-leading nine kills. MCC coach Katie Furth said that the sophomore hitter found her groove over the course of the season after a shoulder injury prevented her from hitting over the course of the summer.

“At the beginning of the season, that was her first time really getting some game action in a year,” Furth said. “As our season has gone on, she’s been the go-to, and you can see that in all the stats from all the games.”

Schryvers came up with another kill to give the Rebels an 8-6 edge, but the Knights stormed ahead from there. Brynn Borresen came up with back-to-back kills, RTR’s first since Sara Thooft scored the game’s second point, and Ellefson pushed another kill across the net to give RTR a 9-8 advantage.

“We’re just trying to get [Ellefson] more and more involved, because she’s a great hitter, it’s just one of those things where you want to be able to use all of your hitters,” Brown said. “Ellefson’s been building her confidence on that side of it, because the last two years, she’s mainly been in the setting role, so it’s just great seeing her step up, especially during playoff time.”

Thooft came up with another kill and Kaysie Serreyn and Borresen combined for a block when MCC called a timeout trailing 12-8. Yet, RTR continued to pad its lead with kills from Borresen and Thooft before Schryvers ended the drought with one of her own, bringing the score to 14-9.

RTR’s service shined down the stretch, with Baartman serving up a pair of aces while Buchert contributed another to bring the score to 22-11. Sara Thooft swung for a pair of kills, each responding to a Rees Gilbertson kill for the Rebels, before Paisley Thooft hit a set-clinching set to hand RTR a 25-13 win.

Long rallies were a consistent factor in the match. Both the Knights and Rebels consistently found a way to get dig after dig and extend the point, but it was the Knights who were often able to come out on the top end of those rallies.

“A lot of it was just our energy and communication, and I think the girls really looked open on the other side of the court,” Brown said. “I think on those long rallies, there were times where maybe it’s a quick set, maybe it’s hit in a different corner or an off shot, so I think the girls just really read their defense and tried to create more chaos on their side of it.”

MCC had spent a significant amount of time in practice focusing on defense after working on hitting prior to that, Furth said, so the Rebels’ focus for the four days leading up to its five-set win over No. 4 Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda was largely defensive and carried over to Tuesday’s match.

Sara Thooft and Karbo were a dynamic duo at the net all night long, finishing with 11 kills each, while Paisley added another 11. Sara’s nine digs were also a team-high for the Knights, followed by eight from Baartman and seven from Makenna Hesse.

The Rebels again scored the first points of the second set before a pair of hitting errors put the Knights on top. Schryvers picked up a kill to tie the set up, but Karbo got a kill and an ace block, while Paisley Thooft and Ellefson added an ace block and a kill, respectively, to bring the score to 6-2 when MCC called a timeout.

Paisley Thooft came out of the timeout swinging, securing back-to-back kills to pad the Knights’ lead. Calleigh Doeden ended the 6-0 RTR run with a kill, and a pair of kills from Schryvers helped the Rebels cut the deficit down to a pair of points.

Yet, Karbo and Paisley Thooft halted the Rebels’ momentum with a kill each, and Ellefson caught the defense off guard with a behind-the-back hit over the net instead of a set to bring the score to 11-6.

MCC remained between 3 and 5 points back of the Knights before RTR got its mojo back down the stretch. Back-to-back kills from Sara Thooft and a Baartman ace brought RTR’s lead to 16-10 when MCC called a timeout, and Serreyn and Karbo combined for a block to add another point. The Knights’ run finally ended when a back-row attack violation cut RTR’s edge to 18-11.

The Knights’ lead ballooned up to 10 points, culminating with Paisley Thooft and Borresen combining for the set-clinching block for a 25-15 win and a 2-0 lead heading into the third set.

Miller and Blankenship combined for a block to give MCC the first point of the third set, but neither team could pull away from there. The two teams alternated points back and forth until back-to-back kills from Paisley Thooft gave the Knights their first lead of the set at 5-4 and the first consecutive points by either team.

Peyton DeGreef re-tied the set at 5 points apiece with a kill, but the Rebels committed a service error and a hitting error on consecutive points before a Schryvers kill brought the deficit back to a single point.

From there, however, RTR took complete control of the set. One kill from Serreyn followed by two more from Sara Thooft brought the score to 10-6 when the Rebels called a timeout. Miller broke up the RTR run with a kill, but Karbo logged a pair of blocks and a pair of kills, Sara Thooft added another pair of kills, and Buchert served an ace to cap off a 10-0 run for the Knights before Doeden and Lila Scandrett combined for a block to bring the score to 20-8.

With the scent of victory in the air for RTR, the Knights didn’t ease up. An Ellefson kill and a Sara Thooft ace brought the score to 22-8. After 3 unanswered points for MCC, Karbo and Paisley Thooft each hit a kill to give RTR a 25-12 win.

MCC finishes its season at 13-10, a five-win improvement from each of the last two seasons. The progress, Furth said, came from the team honing in on the little things and really working to improve its play in tournaments throughout the season.

“If you want to have a pretty good or above-average record, you can’t go into those tournaments and have a below-average record in them,” Furth said. “It was just tweaking our tournament play a little bit. And then if you’re going to get better every year, you have to beat somebody you haven’t beat to move up in the conference. You have to beat the team that was above you last year, so just little goals like that.”

MCC graduates a group of seniors that includes Scandrett, Doeden, DeGreef, Blankenship, Ava Deacon and Josie Spartz. This was the first group of Rebels to spend their full career with co-head coaches Furth and Becky Reinsma, who took the reins four years ago.

“They’ve obviously meant a lot to us and our program,” Furth said. “Our goal, Becky and I say all the time, is just to get better every year. If you get better, even a little bit every year, eventually you’re going to be pretty good. We’ve accomplished that goal, and that’s in large part because of these seniors believing in us and our team and our goals.”

The Knights (26-5) will now return to Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall to take part in the subsection championship once again. RTR fell to Westbrook-Walnut Grove in last year’s 3A South championship, coming a year after the Knights won their first state title, but will look to return to the section final for the third time in four years this time around.

“The girls are really hungry. I think last year, you get like a bitter taste and you want to correct it,” Brown said. “They’re [RTR] very excited to keep playing. That’s playoffs, I mean, it just gets more and more tense with each win. Ultimately, everybody’s goal is the state championship.”

The Section 3A South championship is slated to begin at 7 p.m. at SMSU after the conclusion of the 3A North final at 5:30 p.m. The winners of those two matches will face off in the section championship match on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.