Russell-Tyler-Ruthton defeats Mayer Lutheran, wins Class 1A volleyball title

Russell-Tyler-Ruthton coach Daynica Brown and the trio of three-year starters she brought with her to the postmatch news conference responded in immediate unison with smiles and laughter when asked if there was a point this season when they thought they'd make it as state champions.

"Oh yeah."

Top-seeded Russell-Tyler-Ruthton finally broke through to a state tournament this season, and it leaves with a state championship trophy. It defeated No. 2 seed Mayer Lutheran in four sets (25-13, 32-30, 17-25, 25-22) in Saturday's Class 1A state championship at Xcel Energy Center.

Senior Abigail Carr had a match-high 21 kills and 15 digs. Senior Allyson Nelson added 15 kills. Carr finished with 51 kills in the tournament.

"We had this mindset coming into state that we are going to refuse to lose," said senior Tatum Hess. "No matter what, and we're going to try our hardest."

Mayer Lutheran (28-7) had a 23-18 lead in the second set but failed to close it out. A kill from Dilyn Werkman finally closed out the marathon set, 32-30, to give the Knights a 2-0 match lead.

"They had their strongest rotation up, and we were not able to finish," said Mayer Lutheran coach Joelle Grimsley. "We panicked a little bit. We just had inexperienced players up front, and they could not put the ball down or away."

From the start of the season, the Knights knew they could reach this pinnacle.

"Because last year, it was cut short," Brown said. "They were ranked No. 1 for most of the season last year. And then we lost to Minneota in five sets [in the section final]. And so, it was a mission.

"We kept saying, 'We're on a mission.' So, they weren't going to be satisfied with not getting the title here."