Photo courtesy of Al Christianson Rugby outside hitter Maria Blessum (4) goes for a kill during the Region 6 volleyball tournament Tuesday in Minot.

It wasn’t without adversity-filled moments, but the Rugby volleyball team found a way to advance to its second straight Region 6 championship Tuesday at the Minot Municipal Auditorium.

The Panthers took down Des Lacs-Burlington 3-1 in the semifinals, with set scores being 27-25, 18-25, 25-16, 25-22.

DLB was in a 24-19 hole in the first set, but rattled off six straight points to take a 25-24 lead. However, Rugby won the next three points to take the set 27-25.

“That first set really got us going,” Rugby coach Jessica Fritz said. “We get a little flustered when we get down one or two points or a team starts to go on a run with us. I always keep telling them they need to relax and play their game. That’s what they kept doing. They believed they could do this and they just kept hitting.”

Despite losing a heartbreaking set, the Lakers rebounded in the second set and earned a 25-18 victory.

“The girls weren’t ready to give up quite then,” DLB coach Tarra Hysjulien said. “Winning that second one gave us a little bit of hope, but we started playing too careful instead of playing to win.”

Rugby responded with a big set win of its own in the third, jumping out to a 15-10 lead and eventually winning 25-16. The Lakers took a 15-11 lead in the fourth set, but Rugby made a big run of its own and eventually won a tightly contested set 25-22.

“Being one game away from state is awesome,” Rugby outside hitter Maria Blessum said. “We just have to go into Thursday believing in ourselves and get the win.”

Maria Blessum and Sara Stier each had 15 kills for the Panthers, while Stier and Brianna Leier contributed three aces. Jacque Blessum racked up 11 blocks, while Maria Blessum had 24 digs and eight blocks. Alissa Volk chipped in 21 assists.

For DLB, Caitlyn Vogel had a team-high 17 kills, 11 assists and four blocks, while Ava Wille had two aces and 17 digs.

Rugby will have its hands full when it faces Our Redeemer’s for the Region 6 championship 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The Knights have won three straight Region 6 championships and had a 31-set region winning streak until Tuesday night.

“One of the big things with Our Redeemer’s is a lot of people look at them like ‘Oh no, it’s Our Redeemer’s.’ We really all have that monkey on our back when we play them, it doesn’t matter who it is,” Fritz said. “We’re just going to try to look at them like any other team, regardless of what jersey they’re wearing. Our goal is to play them and pull out a win, which would be unheard of for our district and our region because they’ve been so consistent.”

Garrick Hodge covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @Garrick_Hodge.