Photo by Jake McNeill: The Russell-Tyler-Ruthton volleyball team stands with their silver medals and runner-up trophy after the Class A volleyball championship match against Mayer Lutheran on Saturday at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul. The Knights fell in three sets to finish the tournament as state runners-up.

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ST. PAUL — Taking on top-seeded Mayer Lutheran in a rematch of the 2023 state championship, the No. 2 Russell-Tyler-Ruthton Knights were swept in Saturday’s Class A title match to finish their season as state runners-up. The Knights made a valiant effort to force a fourth set late, but ultimately fell 25-17, 25-15, 25-23.

Paisley and Sara Thooft led the Knights’ attack with nine and seven kills, respectively, and were each named to the All-Tournament team after the match.

Mayer Lutheran commanded five of the 10 All-Tournament spots, with Izabelle and Clara Keaveny, Ada Hahn, Courtney Tuttle and Hallie Hunter each earning a selection.

The Knights got off to their strongest start in the third set, when a pair of kills from Sara Thooft and another from Ava Karbo and Dru Elleson sparked the Knights to a 4-2 lead. The Knights and Crusaders went point-for-point from there, neither team leading by more than a point until back-to-back kills from Hahn and Hunter gave Mayer Lutheran a 13-11 lead.

Mayer Lutheran expanded its lead up to 23-18 when the Knights made one final push to extend their season. Coming out of a timeout, a Sara Thooft kill and a pair of Mayer Lutheran attacking errors put the set within reach. Brezlyn Buchert served an ace after a Mayer Lutheran timeout to bring the Knights within a point.

An RTR attacking error brought up match point, but Sara Thooft again came up with a kill to give the Knights a glimpse of hope. Yet, Tuttle followed up with a kill on the next point to crown the Crusaders as state champions.

Mayer Lutheran had a notable height advantage in the match. Hunter and Tuttle are both over 6-foot, Hahn stands at 5-foot-11 and seven other Crusaders are listed at 5-foot-10. For the Knights, meanwhile, Karbo, Brynn Borresen and Kaysie Serreyn were the only players to enter the match who are at least 5-foot-10.

The Crusaders capitalized, out-blocking RTR 9-3 and holding RTR to a .035 hitting percentage while hitting .176 themselves. The third set was the only one in which RTR had a hitting percentage above .100, hitting .108, and Mayer Lutheran held the Knights to -.091 hitting in the first set.

Brynn Borresen was a part of all three of RTR’s blocks in the match, coming up with one ace block and combining with Paisley Thooft and Buchert for the other two. In the back row, Laken Baartman led the Knights’ defense with 19 kills, followed by 14 from Borresen and 13 from Makenna Hesse.

Paisley Thooft accounted for five of RTR’s nine second-set kills, but the Knights were unable to generate any momentum. The Crusaders scored 3 of the first 4 points in the frame and quickly built their lead up to 12-4. Mayer Lutheran led by as many as 12 points, 20-8, and the Knights never recovered, falling 25-15.

Dru Ellefson finished the match with 13 set assists without an error, while Buchert logged 11 set assists.

Friday’s championship was the final match for RTR seniors Buchert and Karbo. The two finish their careers as part of both of RTR’s pair of section championships. Buchert joined Baartman as the only Knights to play each set of both of the Knights’ championship appearances, and Karbo also ended her career with some hardware after earning an All-State selection on Tuesday.

RTR finishes its season at 30-6 after putting together a 20-match win streak dating back to Sept. 19 heading into Friday’s championship match.