On a night when the offense struggled to find a rhythm, Aberdeen Roncalli weathered the storm.

The Cavaliers held Faulkton at bay long enough to claim a 25-18, 25-19, 25-21 win over the Trojans Monday night in a non-conference volleyball matchup at Roncalli Gym.

“A win is a win, but I tell you what, it was an ugly win,” said Roncalli coach Leesa Ware.

Roncalli struggled to get a steady rhythm going from the outset, committing seven service errors in the opening set alone. That helped keep a young Faulkton squad that features just one senior and has an eighth-grader in the starting lineup, in contention through most of the set.

The Trojans then opened up an 8-2 lead in the second set before giving way to the Cavaliers on a long serving run from Ava Danielson.

Set three sort of mirrored the opening stanza until the Cavaliers pressed down the stretch, ending on a kill from Karsyn Davis and another from Gabby Thomas as part of the final three points of the night.

Cavalier freshman Grace Cogley, who finished with eight kills on the night, acknowledged the ups and downs of the match, but said the solution to the big swings of momentum is more within.

“We still need to keep that energy out there, especially in games where we don’t really have a student section,” Cogley said. “I feel keeping our energy and our bench bringing energy and us as a whole group bringing energy really wins games.”

“That’s just one of those things that we need to play our volleyball,” Ware said. “We need to play Roncalli volleyball, despite the crowd, despite how messy it was, despite the scrappiness. We’ve been known to be a very scrappy team, but sometimes you just can’t play down to the level that is portrayed sometimes. You’ve got to find it deep within yourselves and come out and try to get that momentum and energy back.”

Thomas had 10 kills to lead the way offensively for Roncalli. Rylee Voeller added nine, and Jill Ellwein finished with five. Elyanna Roach had 32 assists, while Cambry Feickert notched 21 digs in the back row.

“Gabby and Grace in the middle did get a lot of touches to slow down the ball,” Ware noted. “That is about the only thing we did do solid tonight.”

Faulkton got solid efforts from Presleigh Martinmaas, Brooklyn Nueller and Anika Mueller on the front lines.

“We were pretty flat,” said Faulkton coach Mallory Schlechter. “I know that comes with a Monday and the territory, but I feel like we were a little flat. There’s things that we normally pick up on defense or do better on offense, execution wise, that we just didn’t do tonight. That’s just how it goes sometimes. I still give our girls credit, they worked hard and they didn’t give up.”

Roncalli will turn its focus immediately to its next match, as the Cavaliers are on the road to face Milbank tonight before returning home to play Deuel on Friday.

Faulkton, which has lost three straight, is at Groton next Monday before hosting Wolsey-Wessington the following day to close out the regular season.

Serving: Aberdeen Roncalli (Rylee Voeller 1 ace, Danica Zacher 1 ace).

Hitting: Aberdeen Roncalli (Gabby Thomas 10 kills, Voeller 9 kills, Grace Cogley 8 kills, Jill Ellwein 5 kills).

Setting: Aberdeen Roncalli (Elyana Roach 32 assists, Ava Danielson 3).

Digs: Aberdeen Roncalli (Cambry Feickert 21, Voeller 17, Morgan Helms 9).

Blocks: Aberdeen Roncalli (Roach 3 assists, Thomas 1 solo 2 assists, Cogley 1 solo 1 assist).

Records: Faulkton 13-14; Aberdeen Roncalli 14-10.