Aberdeen Roncalli sent a trio of key seniors out with a win on Senior Night at Roncalli Gym.

The Cavaliers closed out the regular season with a 25-19, 23-25, 25-18, 25-17 non-conference volleyball win over Herreid-Selby Area Tuesday night in a match that honored seniors Ava Hanson, Maddie Huber, and McKenna O’Keefe.

“It was just a little bit emotional because I have three seniors on the team, and I’m losing them for next year,” said Cavaliers coach Leesa Ware. “It goes into reality that this is basically the last regular season game, and now we’re entering our post season. Volleyball could be done in a couple weeks, or we could be going to the state tournament, which is what our goal is.”

The Cavaliers kicked off the evening with a victory in the opening set. Roncalli was up 23-14 before a five-point run from the Wolverines got them back into the set.

Ware called a timeout to bring her team back together.

“Let’s just kind of settle down, take a deep breath. Every single point is going to count at this point,” Ware said she told her players. “Herreid-Selby’s a tough team, and they got some height on those girls. We knew that tonight was going to be tough.”

Huber led the Cavaliers in the opening set with five kills, uncommon for a setter.

“In the first set, I just try to figure out where their defense is at, just try a few things,” said Huber. “I go to the middle of the court first, and then I try to go behind me. And then when they start picking it up, then I obviously can’t do it anymore, so then you just set up your hitters.”

That’s exactly what she did in the following sets, although the Cavaliers took a step back, dropping the second set, which saw errors from both teams. Eventually, the Wolverines capitalized on the miscues securing a set two win.

“We had a few more touches in that second set to be more offensive, to turn that into offense,” said Wolverines coach Maria Sandmeier. “It was exciting to get set two, and in the same breath, we made a lot of mistakes to give them their points too.”

What hampered the Cavaliers the most in the second set was service errors.

“It was not a pretty set, and I think we ended up having 11 missed serves. So I got the clipboard out, and I said ‘This is how many missed serves we have’ and it would’ve looked like a different story for you guys,” said Ware. “That was things they tried to work on in the third and fourth sets.”

The Wolverines, who were led by Jordyn Rossow with 14 kills, have three players with length as well as solid depth, which was on display in the second set as the Wolverines had six different girls record a kill.

“So, we’ve just been doing a lot of blocking in practice and just trying to get to our spots in blocking. It doesn’t matter if we just get one hand on it to kind of slow things up for the back row,” Ware said. “But I thought that our defense was on tonight and I thought they did a very good job.”

Not only were the Wolverines efficient at the net with their hitters, they were also well aware of Roncalli standout Hanson.

“Coach helped me a lot,” said Herreid-Selby Area senior Stephanie Allbee of what to watch for from Hanson. “She likes to swing at us, so I just knew I had to watch her shoulders and I had to react. There was no really preparing for it, because Ava’s just a good player, so just watching her, seeing where she’s about to hit, reading plays, is basically how I have to play with her.”

The Cavaliers quickly regrouped for the third set, bolting out to an early 8-2 lead, and were able to keep a working margin throughout the set.

“They did well. Again, we knew Herreid-Selby was going to be a great team and I think they came out and really just our momentum and energy was really great tonight.” said Ware.

In the fourth and final set, HSA received back-to-back aces from Breanna Jochim to start off the set, but Roncalli soon fought back. The Cavaliers gained the lead after an ace from Rylee Voeller, and back-to-back aces from Hanson for a 10-6 advantage.

Roncalli eventually closed out the match on Hanson’s 19th kill of the night. Freshman Gabby Thomas had eight kills and O’Keefe finished with six.

Having a variety of attackers gives Huber options when deciding where to set the ball, and she enjoys being in the middle of the offense.

“Me giving them assists, it makes me feel good because in a way, that was also my point. … It feels good, ‘cause if I get a good pass, which I did most of the time, and then I have the ability to set up good hitters,” said Huber. “I can trust that they’re going to get the ball over the net. I’m not like ‘Oh who do I go to, who’s going to get the ball over the net.’ I have faith in all of them.”

It was the last game of the regular season for both teams, a bittersweet feeling for the seniors.

“This was your last regular season game,” Huber said. “Obviously, we’re going to host a playoff game, so it’s not the last one in this gym, but it was still like, ‘Oh, this is the last one.’”

Allbee had similar emotions on the Herreid-Selby Area side.

“It’s sad, I’m definitely going to miss it,” Allbee said. “But it’s exciting to see where we can go, because we know we have potential. It’s exciting, but it’s sad. Bittersweet.”

Roncalli will host two opening round matches of the Region 1A tourney on Tuesday. Herreid-Selby Area will be competing in the Region 6B tournament next week.

Serving: Herreid-Selby Area 70-81 9 aces (Breanna Jochim 17-18 3 aces, Katie Albee 13-14 4 aces); Aberdeen Roncalli 89-101 11 aces (Ava Hanson 11-16 4 aces, Rylee Voeller 21-24 3 aces).

Hitting: Herreid-Selby Area 137-158 31 kills (Jordyn Rossow 40-46 14 kills, Pausha Meidinger 32-25 5 kills); Aberdeen Roncalli (Hanson 42-47 19 kills, Gabby Thomas 16-16 8 kills, Maddie Huber 18-21 8 kills).

Setting: Herreid-Selby Area 169-169 26 assists (K. Albee 113-113 16 assists, Meidinger 42-42 6 assists); Aberdeen Roncalli  132-133 35 assists (Huber 112-113 30 assists).

Digs: Herreid-Selby Area 108 (S. Albee 23, Jochim 22); Aberdeen Roncalli 111 (Huber 18, Voeller 17, Ava Danielson 17, O’Keefe 17).

Blocks: Herreid-Selby Area 2 solo 2 assists (Jessie Johnson 2 solo 1 assist, Meidinger 1 assist); Aberdeen Roncalli 3 solo (Hanson 2, O’Keefe 1).

Records: Herreid-Selby Area 16-11; Aberdeen Roncalli 14-8.