The Hitchcock-Tulare Patriots employed a powerful one-two punch and eventually subdued Aberdeen Christian Tuesday night.

From the precise angles of Rebeccca Huizenga to the forceful swings of Katelyn Schroeder, the Patriots proved to be too much to handle in a 25-22, 25-8, 25-21 non-conference volleyball win at the Christian School Gym.

“We knew going into it they were going to do some 10-foot kills on us and that we have to be ready,” said Christian coach Sara Powell, “but they sure got us on some tips and deeper balls too from us playing up.”

The Patriots finished with 32 kills on the night, 13 coming Schroeder and 11 coming from Huizenga.

“We have several options. The girls worked hard all summer,” said Hitchcock-Tulare coach Jordan Opp. “Our hitting is coming. It kind of started out a little slow. I think really this last Saturday at the Clark tournament, then tonight, we’ve started to hit the ball better.”

It was Huizenga who did the damage early. The sophomore had five kills in the opening set, most of the cross-court variety, catching the Knights off guard.

“We found Rebecca who kept hammering the ball,” Schroeder said. “We like to feed our hitters that are on fire.”

The Patriots needed that solid hitting, because they were having a hard time shaking free of Christian. The Knights owned a 21-20 lead before Hitchcock-Tulare scored five of the final six points to secure the set.

“You have to give credit to Aberdeen Christian. They came to play,” Opp said. “I didn’t feel we came ready to play the first set. We had a talk with the girls to get some fire, get some momentum. They showed that the second set, obviously.”

Hitchcock-Tulare jumped out to an 8-0 lead and dominated the second set.

The visitors appeared well on the way to the sweep, owning an 18-6 advantage in the final set before the Knights eventually closed the gap to 18-12. However, Schroeder was not going to be denied, hammering out seven kills in the final set to ice the victory.

“Obviously, we’re not a perfect team, so the set is not always going to be on, the pass is not always going to be on,” Schroeder said, “so we’ve really come to find out hitting these certain spots is going to be easier to finish out the game. A hard hit is the same as a tip kill, so, any way we can get easy points is how we like it.”

The Patriots also did some major work from the service line, where they racked up 11 aces, 10 coming from Ella Johnson.

Despite the setback, Powell was pleased with how her team played for the most part.

“I wish our second set would have gone a little bit better and a little bit stronger on our part,” she said, “but overall I’m happy with how they did.”

Jolie Fogarty had five kills to lead a balance hitting attack for Christian.

Powell also pointed out the performance of Sawyer Schwan.

“Sawyer had a phenomenal game today,” Powell said. “We had four aces and three of them are from her. I thought she played really well.”

The Knights hit the road for a match at Wolsey-Wessington on Thursday.

Hitchcock-Tulare improved to 10-3 with the win. Opp wants to see his team keep rolling as it heads into the second half of the season.

“We have to get better defensively,” he said. “We’re going to keep hammering on our hitting, just getting consistent so we’re comfortable.”

The Patriots, who play in the same region as Class B powers Warner and Northwestern, understand how precious each match is when it comes to determining postseason seed points.

“Every single game counts,” Schroeder said. “Every time we get into practice, we just want to get better and focus on our goal ahead.”

Serving: Hitchcock-Tulare 61-70 14 aces (Ella Johnson 25-27 10 aces, Katelyn Schroeder 10-11 1 ace); Aberdeen Christian 47-52 4 aces (Sawyer Schwan 7-9 3 aces, Jolie Fogarty 10-10 1 ace, Alexis Isakson 7-8).

Hitting: Hitchcock-Tulare 65-77 32 kills (Schroeder 22-25 13 kills, Rebecca Huizenga 16-17 11 kills); Aberdeen Christian 57-77 16 kills (Fogarty 9-12 5 kills, Payton Skarin 11-13 4 kills, Chloe Bosma 13-17 2 kills).

Setting: Hitchcock-Tulare 70-70 29 assists (Lila Johnson 57-57 26 assists, Gracyn Bixler 7-7 2 assists); Aberdeen Christian 63-67 10 assists (Schwan 29-32 7 assists, Fogarty 33-34 3 assists)

Digs: Hitchcock-Tulare 26 (Cambree Hoekman 11, Schroeder 2); Aberdeen Christian 29 (Isakson 12, Skarin 4, Brynn Powell 3).

Blocks: Hitchcock-Tulare 3 solo 4 assists (Isabel Gilbert 1 solo 2 assists); Aberdeen Christian 5 (Ari Johnson 2, Sophia Eichler 2, Fogarty 1).

Records: Hitchcock-Tulare 10-3; Aberdeen Christian 1-7.