A few alterations have Aberdeen Roncalli volleyball trending in the right direction.

The Cavaliers, who have swept their past three opponents, trailed only once on the way to a 25-17, 25-13, 25-6 sweep over Britton-Hecla in Northeast Conference volleyball at Roncalli Gym.

The Cavaliers have been making adjustments as the season has gone on and saw the results in a true team win.

“We changed up a couple things here a couple weeks ago with girls and rotations, and I honestly feel like we’re turning the corner,” said Cavalier coach Leesa Ware. “They are playing as a team, it is just a complete team effort. There’s been a lot of girls on the scoreboard just getting kills, aces, digs. It’s just been an all-around team effort.”

In the first set, the Cavaliers jumped out to a 4-0 lead before a Britton-Hecla a timeout. The Braves bounced back with 5 straight points, gaining the lead for the only time of the match.

Roncalli scored two of the next three points and the Cavaliers did not look back for the rest of the night.

Ava Hanson collected nine kills in the opening set on the way to a match-high total of 19. The senior was battling through a shoulder injury, but she did not let that hold her back from being aggressive at the net.

“You know, when I’m on, I’m on. That’s just how I feel. I mean I had a shoulder mess up a couple of weeks ago and so it was kind of hindering on me,” Hanson said. “I’ll never let a injury get to me, I’ll still come out and play. But I’ve been feeling it this week, and I was like well, how I play is how I play and that’s what I did tonight.”

Braves coach Jenna Peters knew what type of aggressive offense Aberdeen Roncalli has, specifically Hanson.

“She’s a really good hitter and she has a lot of different tools in her toolbox, is what I like to tell the girls. And we just, for some reason, couldn’t get her covered,” Peters said. “We were slow on our defense. We were really slow at trying to read the other team, read their offense, read their servers. It was just a bad night.”

The Braves played without the services of team leader Sterling Brassfield.

“We just weren’t there, the energy wasn’t there. I don’t even know,” Peters said. “More than anything, she’s a leader on the floor, and she keeps everyone motivated, and everyone’s heads up. We’ve definitely missed that. She’s a super competitive kid, a super coachable kid. Yeah, we missed her. We missed her in a lot of aspects, but especially in the leadership.”

In the absence of Brassfield, fellow captain senior Heather Storbakken stepped up her role and attempted to keep everyone motivated.

“So, I just tried hyping everyone up to try to get back in the game and try to think that we could win,” Storbakken said. “Get everyone’s excitement up to win.”

The Cavaliers spread the wealth with nine different players recording a kill, including two freshmen, Karsyn Davis and Gabby Thomas who have both seen increasing roles in the past couple weeks.

“It’s great. They have really, really stepped up and I am so proud of them how they’ve been stepping up,” Ware said. “They have been playing extremely well.”

The Cavaliers, second in seed points in Region 1A, feel confident with where they are at, playing some of their best volleyball as they get ready for the postseason. They were dialed in from the start against the Braves.

“I felt like they were very, very focused tonight. Like extremely focused tonight. It was just an all-around team effort. I can’t say anything better than I am super proud of them and they played well,” Ware said. “I think it is the perfect time. Again, I feel like we’re kind of turning a corner right now, where the girls are playing together, and it’s great.”

Aberdeen Roncalli, 8-6 on the year, has a road match against Mobridge-Pollock on Tuesday, and Britton-Hecla, 13-7, will host Groton on Monday.

Britton-Hecla stats not available

Serving: Aberdeen Roncalli 65-73 9 aces (Ava Hanson 12-15 4 aces, Maddie Huber 19-20 2 aces).

Hitting: Aberdeen Roncalli 80-93 46 kills (Hanson 26-31 19 kills, McKenna O’Keefe 22-24 10 kills).

Setting: Aberdeen Roncalli 63-63 (Huber 34 assists).

Digs: Aberdeen Roncalli 30 (Rylee Voeller 7, O’Keefe 7).

Blocks: Aberdeen Roncalli 2 assists (Huber 1 assist, Gabby Thomas 1 assist.)

Records: Britton-Hecla 13-7; Aberdeen Roncalli 8-6.