Aberdeen Roncalli sputtered at times, but the Cavaliers did not falter completely on Monday night.

The Cavaliers held off a pesky Aberdeen Christian squad 25-13, 25-17, 25-18 to earn a non-conference volleyball win at Roncalli Gym. It was Roncalli’s eighth-straight victory.

Although the Cavaliers collected the sweep, coach Mandy Smid noted that the team did not seem to have as much energy as they were expecting.

“Definitely maybe not the energy level that I was expecting to come out from our side of the court,” Smid said. “I think that we had a lot of errors, we had a lot of high moments, but we just never really got at an energy level that we’ve been playing at.”

Roncalli darted out to a 10-2 lead before the Knights called a timeout. However, the Cavaliers would control the set all the way to a 25-13 win.

Christian coach Sara Powell said the team struggled in the first set.

“Kind of came out slow,” Powell said. “(We) seemed to step up in certain spots, but not in others, but we’ll get there,” Powell said.

Christian middle hitter Arianna Johnson said several factors contributed to the first set struggle.

“I think we were just making a lot of errors and we were getting nervous, and we weren’t playing with any confidence,” Johnson said.

The Knights battled back in the second set, grabbing an early edge, before the Cavaliers took the lead and held on for the set win. Despite falling in the second set, Johnson felt the team settled into the match during the set.

“I think we were in a much better rotation there, and that everyone was getting a little bit more comfortable,” Johnson said.

Although Roncalli had the lead during the second set, coach Smid knew that her team was not playing up to its potential.

“In general, it just was kind of a night of this feeling of like the game was just going to finish itself and we were going to go through the motions, and it would play out the way we wanted to,” Smid said. “Credit to them, they definitely reacted and came out and they swung aggressively, and they served aggressively, and caused some issues on our side of the net.”

After calling a timeout with an 18-13 lead, the Cavaliers refocused and were able to finish the set.

Roncalli middle hitter Ava Hanson said the team needed to timeout to regroup.

“We needed that,” Hanson said. “It wasn’t just going to get handed over to us. We needed to push through and get it done.”

The Cavaliers pushed through indeed, leading the entire third set until the match point was secured.

The two Aberdeen schools share a common bond, as they co-op in several sports throughout the school year. Smid appreciated being able to play another team from across town.

“We combine with them in so many sports that I think we have a lot of commonalities between them,” Smid said. “It’s still a rivalry. We’re the two Christian schools battling it out against each other.”

Hanson led the Cavaliers with nine kills, eight digs, and one solo block, while Maddie Huber had seven kills, 12 assists, and eight digs. Jaidyn Feickert had a team-leading three aces, while McKenna O’Keefe led with 12 digs.

For the Knights, Johnson led the team with six kills and two aces, while Alexis Isakson had 15 digs and one ace. Payton Skarin had three kills and nine digs, and Jolie Fogarty had eight digs and four set assists.

While she was pleased with how her team fought, Powell said the biggest mistakes came in one particular area.

“Our biggest thing was our serve receiving tonight, so I told the girls in the locker room that we have to come out ready to play everything and get the balls up,” Powell said. “We’ve just got to get that back up. That really hurt us tonight.”

Christian, 3-11 on the season, will host Waubay-Summit tonight, and Powell said the team will need to come out ready to play and compete.

“That was one of our wins last year, and I told the girls we can’t go in thinking that it’s going to be an easy win by any means,” Powell said. “We need to come out and play hard, come out hitting, being aggressive, and hopefully we’ll be ready for them (Tuesday).”

Roncalli, now 8-1, will host Sisseton on Thursday. Hanson said the team will take the next two days to try to improve before the match.

“We have two practices in a row, so I think it will be very good for our team just to get better at what we’re struggling with right now, like making them out of system, deep corner balls,” Hanson said. “So, it’ll be important to get in the next two days and focus on what we need to get focused on.”

Smid said the practices will be key in preparing for the Redmen.

“Sisseton notoriously is scrappy and aggressive, and will force us to have to block, and we have to make sure that we are on our toes at all times,” Smid said. “Definitely going to need to take the next two days to make sure that we are awake and ready to roll.”

Serving: Aberdeen Christian 46-51 5 aces (Sawyer Schwan 14-15 2 aces, Ari Johnson 9-10 2 aces, Alexis Isakson 6-6 1 ace); Aberdeen Roncalli 59-68 7 aces (Jaidyn Feickert 9-11 3 aces, McKenna O’Keefe 16-18 2 aces).

Hitting: Aberdeen Christian 70-90 16 kills (Johnson 11-15 6 kills, Chloe Bosma 8-11 4 kills, Payton Skarin 19-23 3 kills); Aberdeen Roncalli 79-89 28 kills (Ava Hanson 17-19 9 kills, Maddie Huber 18-20 7 kills).

Setting: Aberdeen Christian 47-48 7 assists (Jolie Fogarty 30-30 4 assists, Schwan 14-15 3 assists); Aberdeen Roncalli 82-82 19 assists (Huber 50-50 12 assists, Faith Danielson 26-26 5 assists).

Digs: Aberdeen Christian 45 (Isakson 15, Skarin 9, Fogarty 8); Aberdeen Roncalli 50 (O’Keefe 12, Hanson 8, Huber 8.

Blocks: Aberdeen Christian (Johnson 1 assist, Eilene Hulscher 1 assist); Aberdeen Roncalli 1 solo 4 assists (Hanson 1 solo 2 assists).

Records: Aberdeen Christian 3-11; Aberdeen Roncalli 8-1.