A balanced, high-powered team attack kept Aberdeen Roncalli in control from start to finish at Roncalli Gym.

The Cavaliers swept Florence-Henry Tuesday night putting on a clinic in high-execution, low-error volleyball with set scores of 25-13, 25-9, and 25-7 in the non-conference volleyball victory.

Led by Grace Cogley’s nine kills and Elyana Roach’s 21 set assists, the Cavaliers dictated the tempo from the opening serve to stay undefeated at 5-0 on the season.

Roncalli set the tone early in the first set, capitalizing on Florence-Henry’s defensive gaps and spreading the ball around to keep the Falcons’ block off-balance.

Roncalli coach Leesa Ware emphasized that maintaining focus against any opponent starts with holding her team to its own standard.

“We have to take every match one by one, because that’ll make us 3-0, and then 4-0, and then 5-0 like now,” Ware said. “Sometimes it’s hard to stay focused when you play a team that might not be as talented and you could play down to their level, and I don’t think that’s what the girls did tonight. I think mentally they remained strong.”

Roncalli kept its foot on the gas heading into set two, refusing to let up and forcing Florence-Henry into a string of unforced mental mistakes. Outside hitter Jillian Ellwein and Cambry Feickert anchored the Cavaliers’ back row to keep the team steady through chaotic sequences.

“I really felt like we focused a lot on just staying controlled,” Ellwein said. “Even though they were a little scrappy on their side, we did what we needed to do to control ourselves and get the win. I felt like I was reading their hitters and did have a few digs that were really important for us, especially when we were not getting those side-outs right away.”

That defensive control allowed Roach to run a fluid offense, setting up multiple Cavaliers to finish with more than six kills on the night. Ellwein pointed to Roach’s communication and adaptability as the key to keeping the hitters in sync.

“She’s willing to listen to us, and if we ever need a set higher or lower, she will do it, and she’s just really good at flowing around in the court,” Ellwein said.

Roach deflected the praise back to her frontline, noting that her 21 assists were a direct result of her hitters converting even out-of-system balls.

“I think as a setter, they make my job really easy,” Roach said. “I can kind of give them any set. Not all sets are perfect, obviously, and they can make it work.”

Roncalli’s dominant serving proved to be another decisive factor across all three sets. The Cavaliers kept the pressure on from the end line with little to no serving mistakes, racking up more than nine aces to keep the Falcons out of system and unable to build scoring runs of their own.

Florence-Henry continued to fight in the third set, but unforced errors hindered its comeback attempts against Roncalli’s persistent pressure.

Falcons coach Abi Bloom noted her team is still building chemistry and confidence with a new roster.

“When we can get our hitters to swing, I think we have a lot of potential,” Bloom said. “We have a lot of new faces this year, so it’s just kind of finding our rhythm and finding out how to play together again, and I think that’ll come with time.”

During timeouts when the momentum swung away from the Falcons, Bloom focused her message on instilling self-belief in her squad.

“They know how to play the game, they just need to believe in themselves,” Bloom said. “I can’t be the only one who believes in them.”

The Cavaliers closed out the third set cleanly, stringing together long rallies to put the match out of reach while using the opportunity to execute new offensive routes.

“I think just running a lot of routes that we don’t normally run since we have that opportunity and being able to improve that throughout the season,” Roach said. “We’ve kind of been preparing for Groton (on Thursday) for a little while now. We are just trying to continue to grow and work on different things, and know that we have to be ready for it because they’re a good team.”

Ware echoed that sentiment, emphasizing that hitting full offensive balance across every position will be critical for the rivalry clash.

“We go head-for-head every single year and it would be really nice to come out with a win,” Ware said. “We need to just utilize different things. Our defense needs to be on and our offense needs to be on. I think we just need to utilize our hitters a little bit more, whether that’ll be the middles, the right sides. We do a very good job on our left, but maybe just balancing it out.”

Serving: Aberdeen Roncalli (Grace Cogley 3 aces, Jillian Ellwein 3 aces, Cambry Feickert 2 aces Kenzington Basham 1 ace).

Hitting: Aberdeen Roncalli (Cogley 9 kills, Ellwein 6 kills, Karsyn Davis 6 kills, Gabby Thomas 6 kills).

Setting: Aberdeen Roncalli (Elyana Roach 21 assists, Feickert 2 assists).

Digs: Aberdeen Roncalli (Feickert 8, Cogley 5, Ellwein 4).

Blocks: Aberdeen Roncalli (Ellwein 1 solo).

Records: Florence-Henry 1-3; Roncalli 5-0.