Aberdeen Christian pulled off a five-set victory against North Central at the Christian School Gym Thursday night.

The Knights went the distance for a 25-21, 25-23, 16-25, 16-25, 15-12 Lake Region Conference volleyball win.

After losing the momentum in the middle sets, Christian got down to business to start the final set.

“Finish the game. Give it to North Central, they’re very scrappy,” said Aberdeen Christian coach Sara Powell. “The fifth set is a quick set. So, it’s like you have to come out and be on top right away, and they did that.”

In the beginning of the fifth set, the Knights and the Thunder traded points until Sophie Glynn stepped to the service line at 3-3 and propelled Christian to a 10-4 lead, serving eight straight times with two aces in that span.

“She’s really good about spot serving and knowing where to mix it up going short and long,” Powell said.

Christian closed out the match on Jolie Fogarty’s 12th kill of the night, giving the Knights a heart-pounding victory.

“That was so exciting. Everyone’s nerves were up,” said Christian sophomore Payton Skarin. “It was really exciting.”

The Knights prepare for pressure-packed moments in practice and they were able to produce in the pivotal final set.

“We do a lot of conditioning at practice. We do a lot of games where we’re down by 5 or 10 and we have to work our way back up to finish,” said Skarin. “That really helps us in the real game where we have to come back up and score and win.”

The outcome was not what the Thunder wanted, but North Central coach Ashley Grenz was pleased that her squad was able to come back from a two-set deficit.

“I told them if we want to win, this is the time. We have to step up. We are not really known for being able to come back after two losses,” Grenz said. “I’m really proud that we went to five sets. It’s always tough to do.”

A trio of Knights combined for 88 digs in the marathon match, led by Alexis Isakson with 38. Skarin contributed 29, and Fogarty followed with 21.

“These girls, they all are super scrappy and aggressive,” Powell said. “They can all do that. I’ve seen them all do it. We don’t want to stop, ever. You have to keep going after every ball till the whistle blows. So, I’m proud of them for doing that.”

Skarin was a factor in both the back row and the front row the Knights, adding 15 kills to go along with her dig total.

“Honestly, I really wanted to win that game. I think I gave 110% that game. I think that was the best game I’ve played,” said Skarin. “I don’t usually have double digit kills, which is really exciting.”

The Thunder made a gave a strong effort, taking into account that they lost starting setter, senior Sydney Bertsch to injury earlier this week.

“I’m really proud of my girls. They never gave up. We did lose our starting setter (Wednesday), so it was a big change for us. I feel like we adjusted really well,” Grenz said. “Obviously it stinks to lose. … I feel like they’re upset because the first two sets didn’t go our way and maybe there’s a little something we could do to improve on that to get us to that fifth-set win.”

Amree Vander Vorst powered the Thunder with 11 kills, three aces, 21 digs and 19 set assists. Ella Batie had a team-leading 12 kills.

Arianna Johnson topped Christian with 18 kills as the Knights won their third straight match.

Looking forward, Powell knows that the Knights will need to clean up some errors which helped to stake North Central to a 5-0 lead to start off the match.

“They got us on a lot of our errors: short serves, tips, that kind of stuff,” Powell said. “I feel like our middles are super aggressive and then that’s just one of those things, it’s inevitable sometimes. It’s just cleaning up the errors and that kind of stuff. … Overall, I’m happy with how they played.”

Powell wants her players to be aggressive, yet not be careless.

“We have some big hitters on our team. We had three that hit double digits for hitting tonight,” said Powell. “So, I’m like I want to see that every game, but also playing smart, getting it in the court and just lessen our errors.”

Both teams will compete in a tournament on Saturday. Christian will compete in the Clark-Willow Lake tournament while North Central will host its own tourney.

Serving: North Central 103-106 9 aces (Camryn Witlock 21-22 4 aces, Amree Vander Vorst 19-19 3 aces); Aberdeen Christian (Sophie Glynn 4, Jolie Fogarty 3).

Hitting: North Central 142-162 35 kills (Ella Batie 41-46 12 kills, Vander Vorst 44-52 11 kills); Aberdeen Christian (Arianna Johnson 18 kills, Payton Skarin 15 kills, Fogarty 12).

Setting: North Central 83 assists (Alaina Dosch 37 assists, Vander Vorst 19 assists); Aberdeen Christian (Sawyer Schwan 50 assists, Alexis Isakson 2 assists).

Digs: North Central 106 (Sydnee Malsam 24, Dosch 23, Vander Vorst 21); Aberdeen Christian (Isakson 38, Skarin 29, Fogarty 21).

Blocks: North Central 4 solo (Batie 3 solo, Kaidence Bulgin 1 solo); Aberdeen Christian (Johnson 2 solo, Sophia Eichler 2 solo).

Records: North Central 3-6; Aberdeen Christian 3-2.