152nd Article at the Independent

The Knights won each set by at least 6 points

CHRIS DRUMMOND

Sports Writer

cdrummond@marshallindependent.com

SLAYTON- On a beautiful sunny first day back to school, two undefeated teams in Russell Tyler Ruthton Knights and Murray County Central Rebels faced off on Tuesday evening. The Knights overwhelmed the Rebels in three sets 25-19, 25-8 and 25-14.

In the first set, the Knights came out blazing hot scoring the first seven points of the game, forcing the Rebels to call a time out. The Timeout work because the Rebels would outscored the Knights 18-13, taking advantage of miscues made by the Knights also forcing a timeout to be called by the Knights. After the Rebels cut the deficit to two, the Knights would go on to score the next five out of six points with four of those points being kills to take the first set 25-19.

The second set would start off close until the Knights pulled away gaining an eight point lead and again forcing the Rebels to regroup and take a timeout. The crowd energy on both sides were electric with the gymnasium being as loud as it could be.

However, the Rebels all set we’re fighting an uphill battle against a team that exhibited discipline and executed very well and despite the timeout, the Knights finished on an 11-2 run to close out set two 25-8, taking a two set lead in the match.

The third set went exactly how the first two sets went, the Knights just overwhelmed the Rebels with Camry Swanson and Abby Carr leading the way with kills to lead them to victory in the set and match 25-14. Tatum Hess for the Rebels led the team in digs with eight while teammate Ella Hesse had five digs plus led in kills with nine. Swanson and Carr both tied with eight kills in today’s contest. Head coach of the Knights Daynica Brown spoke on the win but also knows her team can play better.

Lots of ups and downs, it wasn’t one of our best performances but in general I’ll take the win,” Brown said. “I told the team that we need to play a cleaner game as we play more opponents in the season. MCC gave a solid performance but we can play much better.”

The Rebels Morgan Winter led her team in kills with six and as for the Rebels with losing their fourth match of the season, head coach Katie Furth took a positive outlook on tonight’s loss

“Actually it isn’t the worst result we could of had,” Furth said. “We’re coming off a 7-17 season last year and they’re the #3 team in state, so I think that we were able to push them in that first set with tempo was awesome. They have played together for awhile, while we are syncing in positions to where our players fit best and developing our chemistry.”

Furth added that she wants her team to look like the Knights in a few years and the message to the team is don’t hang your head down after this performance, she then advocated that the Knights played a fast tempo and we were able to hang with them, so that’s something the team should be proud of.