After dropping a Tuesday encounter at Warner, the Roncalli Cavaliers responded in style with a 25-17, 25-22, 25-14 sweep of the Clark-Willow Lake Cyclones in Northeast Conference volleyball at Roncalli Gym Thursday night. Roncalli improved to 7-5 and registered their fifth sweep of the season.

The Cavaliers gained an early opening set lead with their serving as three of their first nine points came from aces. Ella Hanson tallied two early aces along with one from Faith Danielson, guiding Roncalli to a 25-17 first-set victory.

“Our coach really stresses the idea that starting with a serve sets the tone for the whole point,” Hanson said. “We’ve been working a lot in practices on serves and I just really wanted to keep them in tonight, and it worked out for me.”

The Cyclones open the second set strong and held a 10-6 lead, but the Cavaliers weathered the storm and claimed nine of the next 10 points. While Clark-Willow Lake hung around, Hanson closed out the second set with one of her 15 kills to take the second set 25-22.

Roncalli did not let up in the third and held a nine-point advantage at 18-9, leading to a Cyclone timeout. Ava Hanson concluded the set and match win with one of her eight kills on the night to make it 25-14.

“I was happy with the way they came out in set three,” said Roncalli coach Mandy Smid. “Sometimes when you win those first two, you get a little relaxed. I thought the girls did a nice job of finishing out the set, coming to life and controlling what was going on on our side of the net by controlling some errors that made the first two sets a little bit closer.”

Roncalli gets right back on the court this afternoon as the 13-5 Belle Fourche Broncs travel across the state for a 4 p.m. contest at Roncalli Gym. The Cavaliers are 6-1 at home on the year with five of the six wins coming in straight sets.

“This (game tonight) prepared us in a good way to come out for a tough team,” Ella Hanson said. “We lost to (Belle Fourche) last year, so we’re hoping to come out with a win and play together and strong like tonight.”

Serving: Aberdeen Roncalli 59-66 9 aces (Ella Hanson 16-17 3 aces, Faith Danielson 11-12 3 aces, Camryn Bain 11-12 3 aces).

Hitting: Aberdeen Roncalli 111-127 44 kills (Ella Hanson 29-31 15 kills, Jaidyn Feickert 13-17 8 kills, Ava Hanson 20-25 8 kills).

Setting: Aberdeen Roncalli 127-127 38 assists (Maddie Huber 64-64 23 assists, Faith Danielson 47-47 15 assists).

Digs: Aberdeen Roncalli 86 (Camryn Bain 24, McKenna O’Keefe 14, Ella Hanson 14).

Blocks: Aberdeen Roncalli 1 (Jaidyn Feickert 1).

Records: Clark Willow-Lake 6-10; Aberdeen Roncalli 7-5.