It was a competitive clean sweep on Thursday night.

The Aberdeen Roncalli Cavaliers earned a 25-23, 25-22, 25-17 homecoming volleyball win over Northeast Conference foe Groton at Roncalli Gym.

“It came off maybe a little bit more back and forth, evenly matched in the beginning than I was maybe hoping for,” Roncalli coach Mandy Smid said. “There’s so many learning things that happen in every one of these sets.”

The opening set was a seesaw affair, as both teams traded leads and were tied several times before the Cavaliers took the set. Roncalli senior Jaidyn Feickert said the team struggled to get settled in during the first set.

“The first set we kind of struggled to get out to play our game,” Feickert said. “We like to play a fast tempo, so it took us a little bit to get going, but once we got our tempo and found the open spots, we didn’t really struggle that much.”

Despite the tight sets, Roncalli was finding its groove, while Groton was struggling to find its rhythm.

“We went coming into the game knowing that serving aggressively was going to be something they focused on and they well executed that game plan,” Groton coach Chelsea Hanson said. “They kept us out of system, and they really made it hard for us to run an offense.”

Set two was a mirror-image of the first set as both teams battled back-and-forth before the Cavaliers once again closed it out with a win.

Throughout the night, the packed crowd at Roncalli Gym provided an electric atmosphere, which fueled the Cavaliers’ efforts during the match.

“It was a very good crowd tonight and I like to have lots of people cheering us on,” Feickert said.

The Cavaliers used the crowd to their advantage during the third set, as Roncalli built a 14-9 lead before the Tigers called a timeout. Smid said knowing her team was up by two sets helped fuel the Cavaliers finish.

“I think that having a little bit of that comfort knowing that we’re up two sets and that we can still play with the aggressiveness that we know we’re going have to play with, I think was definitely on our side of things,” Smid said.

Feickert finished with nine kills and one ace, while Ava Hanson led the Cavaliers with 14 kills and three solo blocks. McKenna O’Keefe led with 21 digs.

Sydney Leicht led the Tigers with six kills and two aces, while Carly Guthmiller had 18 digs.

Groton will play at Clark-Willow Lake next Thursday, and Hanson says the team will focus on energy and leadership moving forward.

“We talk a lot about energy and leadership and making sure that we have the right people in the right places and that we can feed off each other’s energy when it’s good,” Hanson said. “And then when it’s bad, we need to find a new way.”

Roncalli, 5-1, will host 4-1 Hamlin on Tuesday. Smid said there were serving and attacking errors that will be among the things to continue to work on.

“Obviously we want to be playing as best that we can so that we’re winning these matches, but it would be really tough if this time of the year there was like ‘guys, I’ve got nothing else to help you with,’” Smid said. “There’s so many things that we can continue to work on to continue to improve.”

Serving: Groton 60-64 4 aces (Sydney Leicht 8-10 2 aces, Carly Guthmiller 15-16 1 ace, Lydia Meier 3-5 1 ace); Aberdeen Roncalli 66-75 1 ace (Jaidyn Feickert 12-13 1 ace).

Hitting: Groton 101-128 21 kills (Sydney Leicht 31-36 6 kills, Anna Fjeldheim 26-33 5 kills, Faith Traphagen 5-8 3 kills); Aberdeen Roncalli 115-135 39 kills (Ava Hanson 25-33 14 kills, Jaidyn Feickert 22-27 9 kills).

Setting: Groton 20 assists (Liz Fliehs 16 assists, Laila Roberts 2 assists); Aberdeen Roncalli 116-116 30 assists (Faith Danielson 49-49 18 assists, Maddie Huber 53-53 12 assists).

Digs: Groton 67 digs (Carly Guthmiller 18 digs, Anna Fjeldheim 12 digs, Sydney Leicht 11 digs); Aberdeen Roncalli 72 digs (McKenna O’Keefe 21 digs, Camryn Bain 16 digs).

Blocks: Groton 5 blocks (Faith Traphagen 3 assists, Anna Fjeldheim 3 assists, Rylee Dunker 2 assists); Aberdeen Roncalli 4 solo 4 assists (Ava Hanson 3 solo 1 assist, Rylee Voeller 1 assist).

Records: Groton Area 3-2; Aberdeen Roncalli 5-1.