GROTON – Aberdeen Roncalli cleared another postseason hurdle Thursday night.

The Cavaliers swept Milbank Area 25-18, 25-14, 25-19 to earn a Region 1A volleyball victory at Groton Area Arena and advance to next week’s SoDak 16.

The Cavaliers took firm control of set one to set the tone for the evening.

Roncalli coach Mandy Smid said the team was focused entering the match.

“(Wednesday) was really focused in practice,” Smid said. “We knew that it wasn’t going to be easy. We watched them play Webster the other night and it was a battle back-and-forth. Definitely not something we wanted to overlook.”

Roncalli opened up set one scoring the first six points and never looked back, showcasing that the Cavaliers were ready to compete.

“It really showed those first few points of the game that business was ready to be taken care of,” Smid said.

However, the match would not come without the Cavaliers facing adversity, as junior Ava Hanson went down with an ankle injury early in the second set, forcing the team to switch its lineup. Hanson would not return to the contest until the third set, but that did not slow down the Cavaliers.

“For me, from the coaching side of things, like I told the girls, it was like a proud momma moment to just see them all like ‘I can step in and cover that spot, I can step in and do this,’ and they just really rallied around each other,” Smid said. “I think that it just showed not only their level of confidence in themselves and in each other, but also that they have that same goal in mind.”

Hanson immediately thought the worst of the situation after she fell to the ground with the injury.

“I knew instantly this is the same ankle I broke last year, so right away, I was kind of like oh crap, this sucks, but I walked it off. I knew what to do,” Hanson said.

McKenna O’Keefe was one of several players that stepped up for the Cavaliers in the absence of Hanson. O’Keefe stepped into Hanson’s position on the floor, and knew she was capable of playing in her teammate’s absence.

“Ava’s a really strong player of ours, so we just knew that I had to step up and fill her position, play middle for a little bit, and we just had to stick to it and know that we can handle this,” O’Keefe said.

The Cavaliers continued to have control of the match, taking the second set 25-14.

Milbank Area coach Nancy Hoeke said Roncalli set the pace throughout the match.

“Roncalli had the edge tonight in their level of play and accuracy,” Hoeke said. “We just couldn’t get the accuracy and the technique things going that we needed to, so our passing wasn’t there, and then that kind of takes us out of any kind of offense we want to throw at them.”

With Roncalli in firm control heading into set three, the Bulldogs made one final attempt to steal a set from the Cavaliers. After falling behind in the third set, Milbank clawed its way back, cutting the Roncalli lead down to 17-16. Hoeke encouraged her players to battle to the finish.

“Our talk was you guys can control your attitude and how you behave out here toward your teammates and how you finish this,” Hoeke said. “You can either give up and go crawl away or you can finish hard to the end. It sparked them a little bit and we scored the most points in the third set. It was a good third.”

Despite the motivation, the Bulldogs was unable to complete the comeback as Roncalli ended the set and the match on a 8-3 run.

Smid said she saw her team come together during the final moments of the match.

“Those were the moments when I watched the girls actually come together on the court,” Smid said. “To see them come together and refocus themselves without me having to call a timeout on the sideline I think just does a number for their leadership for all of them and trusting in their teammates.”

Milbank Area finished the year with a record of 20-11, and Hoeke said the season was a successful one despite it coming to an end.

“The goal is to be above .500, to beat a team that had a winning record,” Hoeke said. “It’s not something that we are good at in the past, so to beat a team that’s above .500, we did that.”

Hoeke also noted how bittersweet it was to watch the seniors play their last match.

“That’s hard to see them do their last thing, to see them do it for the last time and to go,” Hoeke said. “They’ve been great volleyball leaders and just love the game. It takes volleyball in Milbank and projects it into the future a little bit, because other little girls want to be like they are.”

With the win, Roncalli advances to the SoDak 16 and will face Dakota Valley on Tuesday.

Hanson said the team’s goals were more realistic this year, which allowed them to focus on getting to this point in the season.

“From the start of the season, we always do our goals of the year, and our goals are to make it to state and all of these other things,” Hanson said. “But this year our goals were kind of more realistic, like win so many games, get a good record, and now that we’re here it’s like we can do this. We’re ready to play, we’re ready to work hard, and play as a team and get it going.”

O’Keefe was ecstatic knowing that she will be playing in the SoDak 16 next week.

“It’s crazy,” O’Keefe said. “I’m super excited to play.”

Serving: Aberdeen Roncalli 60-69 5 aces (Faith Danielson 10-10 1 ace, McKenna O’Keefe 12-13 1 ace); Milbank Area 1 ace (Addisyn Krause 1 ace).

Hitting: Aberdeen Roncalli 112-124 41 kills (O’Keefe 23-25 11 kills, Ava Hanson 16-17 9 kills, Maddie Huber 20-21 8 kills); Milbank Area 23 kills (Rachel Schulte 8 kills, Skyler Skoog 6 kills, Shaylee Schuchard 6 kills).

Setting: Aberdeen Roncalli 99-99 40 assists (Danielson 47-47 20 assists, Huber 52-52 17 assists); Milbank Area 20 assists (Krause 12 assists, Schulte 8 assists).

Digs: Aberdeen Roncalli 72 digs (Camryn Bain 18, Huber 16, O’Keefe 15); Milbank Area 52 digs (Skoog 13, Ella Sandvig 13, Krause 9, Schulte 8).

Blocks: Aberdeen Roncalli 4 assists (Jaidyn Feickert 1, Huber 1, Hanson 1, Rylee Voeller 1); Milbank Area 2 assists (Krause 1, Claire Snaza 1).

Records: Aberdeen Roncalli 20-5; Milbank Area 20-11.