Faulkton set the tone from the opening serve and picked up a sweep over Aberdeen Christian Thursday night.

The Trojans were the aggressor the entire night on the way to a 25-10, 25-7, 25-19 Lake Region Conference volleyball win at the Christian School Gym.

“I always talk about not playing scared,” said Faulkton coach Mallory Schlechter. “We want to earn our points and that’s what we’re going to do. You can only really earn your points by playing aggressive.”

The Trojans had no issue in that department. The visitors bolted out to a 10-3 lead with half of the points coming on ace serves and preceded to dominate the first two sets.

“It’s always fun when we come out and play aggressive and get things done right off the bat,” said Faulkton outside hitter Addison Melius.

That aggressiveness started from the service line and carried right over the front row.

“Staying aggressive is a big thing for us, especially serving,” Melius said. “‘Mal’ has us spot serving and so that’s a big part in our aggressiveness.”

The Trojans consistently found holes in the Christian defense on the way to 35 kills in the match. Melius led the attack with 11 kills.

“It really comes from the communication of our backrow,” Melius said of knowing where to find the open spots on the floor. “They’re telling us where to hit our shots. They do a great job of telling us where to hit the ball.”

What made Faulkton’s aggressive attack so impressive is that the Trojans played nearly error-free volleyball in building a two-set lead.

“We’ve been focusing a lot on that, just trying to keep our game clean and limiting the amount of errors we make,” Schlechter said, “because we’ve found that we stay in a lot more games obviously if you’re not making errors.”

Meanwhile, the Knights had a difficult time in nearly all facets of the game in the first two sets.

“It was a struggle. The girls just couldn’t get in a groove whatsoever,” said Christian coach Sara Powell. “Communication, errors, serving, hitting, we just struggled to get anything going.”

It appeared that Faulkton was going to run away with the third set as well, leading 13-5. However, the Knights eventually gained some momentum and errors began creeping into Faulkton’s game. Soon, the score was tied at 16-all and 17-all before the Trojans pulled away to finish off the match.

“I think I say this all the time, our girls are fighters,” Powell said, “and we’ll keep fighting.”

Chloe Bosma had five kills and Payton Skarin three, and each had an ace serve to lead the Knights.

Christian also received solid performances off its bench.

“Taylor Ingemansen got in tonight. She had some good blocks and she had a hit,” Powell said. “Natalie (Biel) stepped up. She does good doing defensive stuff.”

The Knights, 2-16 on the season, host Northwestern on Tuesday.

Kelli Stoecker added six kills to the Faulkton total. Trisha Cramer and Aedyn Raethz each finished with four kills.

Last year Melius tore her ACL in the opening round of the State B tournament. She is happy to be back on the court.

“You always have to own the opportunity and it feels great to be back out,” Melius said.

Even though she is just a junior, Melius feels like she needs to be a leader on the team, especially after the squad lost some top seniors a year ago.

“Coming back without them I have to step up and the rest of our team is doing great just filling those spots,” Melius said. “All of us on the court carry a leadership role.”

Faulkton improved to 12-7 on the season with the victory.

Serving: Faulkton 67-73 10 aces (Trisha Cramer 13-14 4 aces, Aedyn Raethz 9-10 4 aces); Aberdeen Christian 29-37 3 aces (Chloe Bosma 6-6 1 ace, Payton Skarin 9-11 1 ace).

Hitting: Faulkton 84-97 35 kills (Addison Melius 24-26 11 kills, Kelli Stoecker 16-19 6 kills); Aberdeen Christian 49-61 10 kills (Bosma 15-19 5 kills, Skarin 17-20 3 kills).

Setting: Faulkton 77-77 31 assists (Gabby Kast 74-74 30 assists); Aberdeen Christian 83-91 9 assists (Jolie Fogarty 61-68 9 assists, Alexis Isakson 6-6).

Digs: Faulkton (Cramer 9, Carley Cotton 8); Aberdeen Christian 42 (Isakson 16, Skarin 6).

Blocks: Faulkton 2 solo 2 assists (Stoecker 1 solo, Kast 1 solo).

Records: Faulkton 12-7; Aberdeen Christian 2-16.