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Tyler- A first round bye gave the #1 seed Russell-Tyler-Ruthton Knights a little time to prepare for their first playoff game against the Heron Lake-Okabena-Fulda Coyotes. That paid off for the Knights as they never trailed in a 3-0 sweep (25-12, 25-15, 25-14). The game featured some long rallies, in part due to some magnificent digs from HLOF, and some great blocks on both sides. The game was a lot more contested than the scores might indicate, as the scrappy Coyotes pushed the Knights to play their best volleyball to win the match.
RTR took a quick 4-0 lead before a block put the Coyotes on the board. But the Knights took the next three points, which included an ace serve from Brynn Borresen. Following an errant volley, RTR scored the next two points before a fine block by Hannah Post ended the run. After a service error, HLOF got another block from Post, and a couple of mishits made the score 10-5 in favor of the Knights. A block from Ashlyn Koch was followed by two points on each side before Jaida Fricke served an ace, making the score 13-8. RTR then ran off seven straight points to take a commanding 22-10 lead. The Coyotes picked up a point on a hitting error, but RTR scored a couple of quick points, and finished off the set with a Sara Thooft kill.
The second set was quite competitive, with the Knights started off with the first three points, featuring kills by Borresen and Fricke, before Trinity Reynolds put an end to the run with a kill. But RTR ran off the next five points, including kills by Paisley Thooft, Borresen and Dru Ellefson before a block by Koch ended the run. The Knights got a couple more points, with Ellefson and Lydia Fest trading kills to make the score 12-6. A Post kill was followed by a Kaysie Serreyn kill, then the Knights ran off six straight points before the run was ended by a Post block. RTR ran off four more points before the fans enjoyed the rally of the night. There were some tremendous digs by the Coyotes to keep the Knights at bay, and a series of blocks by both teams finally ended with a Brie Kirchner kill to give the Coyotes a hard-earned point. That gave them some momentum, as they scored the next two points. But RTR was able to close out the set with a hitting error, winning a very competitive set 25-15.
RTR started the third set by scoring the first three points before a Post kill ended the run. RTR then scored the next five points, including kills by Paisley Thooft, Ellefson and Borresen, who also served an ace in the run that ended with a Koch block. The teams traded points before the Knights ran off four straight points to take a 15-5 lead. The Coyotes had a run of three points, then Ellefson ended the rally with a block, making the score 17-9. RTR scored the next four points that was stopped by another Post kill. But RTR ended the match with a Jaida Fricke kill, taking the set 25-14.
RTR Head Coach Brittany Moser had this to say after the win, “They were a very scrappy team, which I was not expecting. You could hear players on the floor wondering how they kept the ball alive. They saved some balls that did not look returnable. Congratulations to them for the effort. Our defense and our blocking looked really good tonight, and that is where we are putting our emphasis on in practice.”
HLOF Head Coach Jason Fisher said, “RTR is a really good team, and we knew coming in that we had to play our best volleyball to stay in the match. I thought we played hard, and at times, we played our best volleyball, then we struggled a bit. But RTR didn’t miss a beat tonight, and they played really well. They played hard and took care of business tonight.” RTR Player of the game, Dru Ellefson, added, “They were scrappy, which surprised us. We wondered how they saved some of those shots, diving into the bleachers on some of them. I got a chance for some kills tonight, and Jaida kept sending me the ball, and I just tried to put it down.”
RTR is now 25-4, and will face the MCC Rebels Monday night at 5:30 in Pipestone.