Photos by Samantha Davis: Russell-Tyler-Ruthton's Sara Thooft (left), Brezlyn Buchert (middle) and Ava Karbo (right) smile with one another going into the third set in the Class A state semifinals Friday night at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul. The Knights defeated Ada-Borup-West 3-1, and advance to Saturday's state championship. Below: RTR's Sara Thooft goes up for a hit in the fourth set. Below: RTR's Dru Ellefson sets up a pass. Below: RTR's Laken Baartman goes in for a dig in the first set. Below: The RTR volleyball team celebrates after winning a point in the third set.

ST. PAUL — Four different players reached double-digit kills and digs to help send the No. 2 Russell-Tyler-Ruthton volleyball team back to the Class A state championship match for the second time in three years after defeating No. 6 Ada-Borup-West 3-1 in the semifinals Friday afternoon at the Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul. The Knights defeated the Cougars in sets of 25-12, 25-17, 21-25 and 25-13.

“It feels really great [returning to the championship]. We worked so hard,” RTR senior Ava Karbo said. “All our teammates cheering us on, we didn’t have any ups or downs. We just kept it up, and we kept it going. We just had fun tonight.”

“I think it’s really fun doing this with my childhood best friends,” junior setter Dru Ellefson said. “That’s what’s really important to me.”

Overall, the Knights had 65 kills and 77 digs to ABW’s 48 kills and 61 digs, while RTR was powered by Sara Thooft’s 22 kills on a .389 hitting percentage, along with her 13 digs.

Three other Knights finished with double-digit kills in Paisley Thooft’s 14, Karbo’s 11 and Brynn Borresen’s 10, while setting-duo Ellefson and Brezlyn Buchert dished out 32 and 24 assists, respectively. Laken Baartman had a team-high 22 digs to Makenna Hesse’s 14.

ABW was powered by 6-foot-5 Malayna Syverson, who tallied 27 kills on a .375 hitting percentage.

“These girls worked really hard. It was nice to see the change from last night’s game to today, and they can do it. They’re confident, and they know it,” RTR head coach Daynica Brown said. “We’ve been on this mission. We’ve been saying it since [we got here], it was three wins, two wins, and now it’s one more win. They’re ready.”

RTR looked comfortable throughout the night and controlled the first, second and fourth sets, despite fighting a deficit throughout the third amid falling short of a late comeback.

Prior to Friday, the Knights and Cougars had met once over the regular season on Sept. 20 in the Class A Showcase weekend tournament, where RTR came away with a 2-0 win in sets of 25-17 and 25-15.

While RTR is on a mission to reclaim the championship after winning the title in 2023, ABW had also shown resiliency leading into the semifinals after upsetting No. 3 Fillmore Central 3-1 in the quarterfinals Thursday night. The Falcons were ranked fourth in the state in the final regular season Class A coaches poll rankings, with RTR tabbed No. 3. This is ABW’s first state tournament appearance since 2018, and 11th overall.

The Knights came out hot, setting the tone early with a .625 hitting percentage in the opening set while holding the Cougars to a .154 mark. Sara Thooft had a game-high seven first-set kills. Borresen also added another five kills on a .625 hitting percentage herself to help the Knights surge ahead quickly.

“The other thing I think that we’ve addressed a lot, is trusting your teammates. These girls have really [showed] on that side of it. From crossing patterns, to like there’ll be ricochets off the block that the girls have to pick up, and then, like Dru as a setter, sometimes she has to let somebody else set it,” Brown said. “It has just been amazing how they read the court, go after it and really do trust [each other], and today, I felt it really showed.”

Although the first went point-for-point to begin, ABW’s Syverson hit three straight kills, finishing the set with six, before Paisley Thooft ended the Cougars’ early run with a pair of kills.

A Karbo kill tied the score up 7-7 before the Knights finished off the set on an 18-5 run, never looking back.

A trio of consecutive kills from Sara Thooft led to an ABW timeout with a 10-7 lead, which extended to 18-11 following a kill from Borresen and a Sara Thooft service ace.

The Knights’ blocking, one of their strongest points on the court all season, also separated them from ABW with 17 blocks, 14 of which were assisted. Karbo led with six blocks, four assisted.

ABW finished the match with four total blocks.

Back-to-back kills from Sara Thooft put the Knights up 10 points, 22-12, who finished the set off behind a trio of Borresen kills.

“We were stronger today,” Hesse said. “We came prepared, we came more confident, we came in stronger. We saw what we struggled with yesterday, and then we came in stronger today.”

With hanging onto a 10-9 edge in the second after ABW’s Morgan Engel and Syverson hit consecutive kills, the Knights again returned the favor behind a pair of Sara Thooft kills and a service ace along with an ABW attacking error to grow a larger lead, 14-10.

The Cougars called a timeout when facing a 21-15 deficit after Ellefson and Paisley Thooft kills, and RTR took a 2-0 lead on the night following the reset with a Buchert and Karbo block, a Sara Thooft kill and kill from Karbo.

The Knights faced adversity throughout the third set, trailing throughout, and couldn’t complete the comeback on their late rally.

Syverson flustered RTR at the front of the net, who had a game-high 20 kills by the end of the set.

Trailing 21-16, Borresen and Karbo each laid down a kill to cut into a 3-point deficit, but the Cougars put the set away following kills from Syverson and Audrina Eggen.

“I think it was just our communication. We were up two sets, and we kind of just thought maybe we could walk through the third one, but we need to push the whole time,” Ellefson said. “We pushed at the end more, but we need to start from the beginning.”

Despite starting with a 7-7 tie in the fourth, RTR quickly found its rhythm again and finished the game off in strong fashion, powered by a 7-0 run for a 14-7 lead following a Paisley Thooft kill and a block by Buchert and Borresen.

RTR’s offensive power was too much for the Cougars again, hitting a powerful .500 percentage in the final set while holding ABW to .147.

The Knights again went up by 10 points, 20-10, following another pair of kills from Sara Thooft and one from Kaysie Serreyn.

Moments later, kills from Sara Thooft, Karbo and Ellefson put RTR within match point, to which a Karbo kill down the middle officially sent the Knights to the championship, prevailing for the win.

“You could really tell early on in the season that they were on a mission to go back. Ava’s a senior, and she said to me when we were talking early in the season, we have banners that have our state championship banners, and she’s like, ‘I want to put one of those up,'” Brown said. “It’s not just her, it’s the whole team. They’re all focused and driven.”

“Our alumni have helped them tremendously throughout the offseason, in the summer. That was really nice from a lot of those players. That’s great, because they became great mentors for all these girls,” Brown added. “I always told them [the current team] early on in the season, that to give back, because they [alumni] gave their time playing against them and having fun this summer, is to go after that state title and go after that mission. It’s been amazing.”

RTR, who picked up its 30th win of the season and move to 30-5 overall while riding a 20-game win streak, will next face top-seeded and defending champions Mayer Lutheran (26-7) for the state title today at 2:30 p.m. back at the Grand Casino Arena.

“We just need to be confident and go for it,” Hesse said. “We know we can win.”

The two met in the first game of the season this year in a competitive battle, with the Crusaders coming away with a 3-1 win in sets of 25-21, 24-26, 25-14 and 25-20.

“We did lose to them earlier in the season, but looking back at how much we’ve grown as a team and as individuals, like trusting our teammates, we can do this if we just play our own game,” Ellefson said.

Today will also mark the final time RTR’s two seniors Karbo and Buchert will play in a Knights’ uniform, ending their high school careers on the final day of the season throughout the entire state.

“I’m really excited, but also I just want to make it last as long as I can,” Karbo said. “I just need to go out there and play. It doesn’t even matter if I make a mistake or whatever … It’s my last time, so just go have fun.”