Aberdeen Roncalli found a way to finish off each set, and in the process finished off its first postseason foe Tuesday night.

The Cavaliers claimed a 25-20, 25-17, 25-23 win over Redfield during the quarterfinals of the Region 1A volleyball tournament at Roncalli Gym.

Roncalli overcame a slow start en route to gaining the sweep.

“It felt really good to get that first game underway. It just seems like a lot, a lot of nerves are always in force in that first set,” said Cavaliers coach Leesa Ware. “We had seven missed serves, a lot of just missed hitting attempts. We had a lot of just not moving our feet. A lot of unforced errors tonight, which we’re going to clean those up for Thursday.”

In a first set which saw a little too many errors for the Cavaliers’ liking, they still found a way to spread the attack. Rylee Voeller had four kills, followed by McKenna O’Keefe, Maddie Huber, and Ava Hanson with three kills each. On the Pheasant side of the net, it was Cecilia Suchor who stood out with four kills and a block.

“I have been doing pretty good recently, so I felt confident in myself that I was going to be able to hit against them,” said Redfield outside hitter Cecilia Suchor. “It’s just placing the ball correctly, being smart about where the defenders are.”

Hanson had a strong second set with eight kills, an ace and an assisted block as the Cavaliers began to hit their stride.

“We kind of told Maddie, ‘You know Ava’s like one of our number one hitters and we have to use her. We have to utilize her a lot to when it comes down to that,” Ware said. “So yes, Ava just kind of came out, and came out on fire and I’m super happy for her.”

Hanson knew what she needed to do at that moment to get her team back on track, and the senior lead took action.

“I knew at that moment I needed to take charge by action, not by words because words weren’t doing anything. So I said, ‘what could I do’,” Hanson said. “I led by action, which is what I wanted to do. And then we kind of all got up and it’s always fun to get hype on a kill, and that’s exactly what we did.”

Pheasants coach Joel Osborn knew the challenge of trying to contain Hanson, but prepared for the standout hitter. The Pheasants had two solo blocks, and 10 assists to help slow down the Roncalli attack.

“We did prepare a lot for Ava, and Maddie Huber a lot, knowing she’s a good setter, and she likes to be the second option at times dumping the ball,” Osborn said. “We knew that coming in, and if we could limit as much as possible what they do to hurt us, we’re giving ourselves a chance. We had chances in every set, just couldn’t get over that hump.”

The “hump” that Osborn referred to is mid-set slumps that allows opponents to pull away and it happened in all three sets against the Cavaliers.

In the first set, Redfield was down 17-16 before allowing a six-point run. In the second set, the Pheasants were up 13-9 before Roncalli scored 10 unanswered points. In the final set, Redfield led 19-15 before Roncalli rallied to close out the sweep.

“It’s kind of a microcosm of the season. We play right with our opponents until at least 14 or 16 points, and then we kind of have a lull,” Osborn said. “And then we’re down four or five points, and we can never quite get over that hump about beating these better teams.”

In that third set, the Cavaliers used their home-court advantage to help close out the match.

“I think just the momentum and energy that we got from the crowd really, really helped the girls. It seems like when the crowd gets fired up, we end up getting fired up, and that’s what we need,” Ware said. “The girls seemed like we’re going through the motions, like we’re just not having a lot of energy tonight, and things like that … I don’t know if they were getting tired, I don’t know exactly what was going on, so we’re just really looking forward to picking that up.”

Hanson helped spark the run at the end of the match with back-to-back kills, and also dove to make plays to keep points alive.

“I think adrenaline kind of kicked in, I mean some of those balls, I was like ‘Geez, I actually got that one,’” said Hanson. “Like I said, it’s a team effort. When we were in that front row, and it was me and Rylee in the front row, I looked at the back row and said ‘Hey, you guys got every ball, just move your feet, get the ball.’ We all had that in the back of our minds, we got to go now, and that’s exactly what we did.”

The loss marked the end of the season for Redfield, but future looks bright for the Pheasants, who return all but one senior.

“I think this was definitely a building year, and we’re going to come back stronger,” Suchor said. “Now that I feel like that we have a feel of the game, we’re going to come back and win more next year.”

Osborn is pleased with his players and their determination.

“These girls, they try and fight hard. They have good attitudes and effort, and I appreciate that when you’re coaching,” Osborn said. “We don’t like losing, but it’s easier, a little bit, when they’re good kids.”

Roncalli will face Milbank at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Groton. The winner of that match qualifies for the SoDak 16 next Tuesday.

Serving: Redfield 50-53 1 ace (Hayden Gall 6-7 1 ace, Layla Hardie 10-10); Aberdeen Roncalli 65-73 9 aces (Maddie Huber 17-20 3 aces, Ava Hanson 10-11 3 aces).

Hitting: Redfield 46-57 11 kills (Cecilia Suchor 19-24 6 kills, Kinley Smith 14-14 2 kills); Aberdeen Roncalli 90-115 40 kills (Hanson 23-32 15 kills, McKenna O’Keefe 17-22 9 kills, Rylee Voeller 21-25 8 kills).

Setting: Redfield 49-61 11 assists (Gall 39-40 10 assists); Aberdeen Roncalli 92-95 34 assists (Huber 85-87 34 assists).

Digs: Redfield 22 (Brooklyn Rische 7, Suchor 3); Aberdeen Roncalli 36 (Huber 11, Morgan Helms 9, O’Keefe 9).

Blocks: Redfield 2 solo 10 assisted (Smith 1 solo 3 assists); AR 6 assists (Hanson 1, Voeller 1, Huber 1, Karsyn Davis 1, Gabby Thomas 1, O’Keefe 1).

Records: Redfield 6-20; Aberdeen Roncalli 15-8.