The Aberdeen Christian Knights continued to build momentum Tuesday night, winning their third straight match.

Christian controlled the contest from the opening serve, using a balanced offensive attack and strong serving to fuel a 25-14, 25-19, 25-15 sweep over Langford Area in Lake Region Conference volleyball action at the Christian School Gym.

Junior middle hitter Arianna Johnson led the Knights offensively with 12 kills, while Reagan Jett, Jolie Fogerty and Sophie Glynn each added seven. Johnson also led the Knights with three aces.

Johnson said the team’s size and work in practice have been important to their recent success.

“I think our height really helps us, and we work together a lot during practice,” Johnson said. “Serving definitely helps us a lot just being able to get the other team out of rotation, and we also work on it every day in practice, which really helps.”

That serving played an important role throughout the match.

Knights coach Sally Stoebner said that serving and passing remain two of the biggest areas of emphasis for the team in practice.

“I always talk about the two most important skills are serving and passing,” Stoebner said. “We spend at least 15 minutes intentionally serving every single practice and it translates to the game, and I think it really does give us a huge advantage.”

Christian’s defense was led by senior libero Payton Skarin, who finished with a team-high 19 digs. She also reached a milestone during the victory, recording her 1,000th career dig.

“It’s amazing,” Skarin said. “My team helped me get it, and my coach was super supportive, so it was great.”

Skarin has taken over as the Knights’ primary libero since the middle of last season after playing as an outside hitter.

“Payton getting 1,000 digs is a huge milestone, really proud of her,” Stoebner said. “She has been our libero for a season and a half. She was actually an outside hitter for a part of last year, but she’s been awesome and the leader in digs for our defense.”

Johnson has also stepped into a major role for the Knights early in the season. Stoebner said the junior has embraced being one of the team’s biggest offensive and defensive leaders.

“Last year we knew Arianna Johnson was going to be a big offensive and defensive force, but she has fallen into that role early in the season which has been really fun to watch,” Stoebner said. “She rallies the team around her with huge plays and encourages everyone else to take big swings.”

Lizzie Gustafson led the Lions with four kills and recorded the team’s only ace of the night.

Despite the sweep, Langford Area coach Susie Larson said her team showed positive stretches throughout the match and made adjustments as the night went on.

“I think we played well at times, we looked good and played hard,” Larson said. “Aberdeen Christian has two really good middles that allows them to run a really fast offense and we adjusted to it.”

Larson said the Lions continued making adjustments throughout the three sets, particularly defensively.

“Some adjustments we made were making sure blockers were ready,” Larson said. “Also making sure we were blocking cross court and not down the line.”

The Knights will look to continue building momentum heading deeper into the season.

“The last couple of wins have helped us build momentum and hopefully we go out and win the next couple of games,” Johnson said.

Stoebner believes the team’s chemistry could be one of its biggest strengths moving forward.

“We have really good team chemistry this year,” Stoebner said. “We will keep momentum if we keep playing together and supporting each other.”

Skarin echoed that confidence, saying the Knights have their sights set on reaching the state tournament.

“We want to go to state and we plan on going to state,” Skarin said, “and we think we are a good enough team to make it, so we are confident.”

Christian has another home LRC match on Thursday hosting North Central.

Serving: Langford Area 1 ace (Lizzie Gustafson 1); Aberdeen Christian 6 aces (Arianna Johnson 3, Sawyer Schwan 1, Jolie Fogerty 1, Mia Ramirez 1).

Hitting: Langford Area 12 kills (Gustafson 4, Emily Olson 3, Josie Jensen 2); Aberdeen Christian 37 kills (Johnson 12 kills, Reagan Jett 7, Fogerty 7, Sophie Glynn 7).

Setting: Langford Area 11 assists (Brooklynn West 6, Bailey Dwight 5); Aberdeen Christian 32 assists (Schwan 29).

Digs: Langford Area 47 (Gustafson 16, Alex Darling 11, Dwight 9); Aberdeen Christian 62 (Peyton Skarin 19, Fogerty 13, Schwan 11).

Blocks: Langford Area 14 (Olson 3, Dwight 3); Aberdeen Christian 8 (Jett 3, Glynn 2, Fogerty 2, Johnson 1).

Records: Langford Area 4-3; Aberdeen Christian 3-1.