Aberdeen Christian played uphill volleyball the entire way and just when the Knights pulled even, they faced a deficit that was too large to overcome.

Wolsey-Wessington set the tone early and came up big late on the way to a 27-25, 25-19, 15-25, 17-25, 15-8 non-conference victory Thursday night at the Christian School Gym.

“I knew that’s how it was going to be going into this. They are a very good team,” said Wolsey-Wessington coach Lindy Uttecht. “They have some big girls up front. They can hit the ball and block the ball. We’ve been working on that in practice, because I knew we were going to have to battle that.”

The first set was a crucial one that could have gone either way. The Knights led 21-19, and had a set point before Wolsey-Wessington scored the final three points to secure the set and the early momentum.

The Warbirds then controlled the second set before Christian roared back and claimed the third set.

The Knights then pulled away from a 15-15 tie in the fourth set to force a deciding fifth set.

“I think that was definitely just a stamina thing,” said Christian junior Arianna Johnson. “We just had to get some fire under our butt and just keep going and play our volleyball.”

While the Knights leveled the match, they ended up losing setter Sawyer Schwan to injury in the process at the end of the fourth set. To compound matters, Wolsey-Wessington senior leader Shae Uttecht was at the service line to start the final set.

Uttecht served six straight points as the Knights scrambled to find the right combination on the court.

“It’s a bummer that I had about two minutes to come up with a lineup,” said Christian coach Sally Stoebner. “When my backup setter already played three sets JV, so couldn’t do anything about that.”

The Knights were unable to recover from that start and eventually ended up falling in five.

“It was definitely a really tough set. We still played pretty well for what we had,” Johnson said. “None of us even knew where we were at on the court. I would say we still did pretty good for what happened.”

Uttecht, who finished the match with 32 set assists, knew that the Knights would not go away quietly.

“We got the first two sets. We knew they were going to come back. They’re a really good team,” Uttecht said. “I think we were just trying to play with them and keep going and we did. It was really good to battle back that fifth set and get it. They gave us everything we wanted. We wanted a good hard match and we got one.”

Both teams played stellar defense throughout the match, scrambling to force the other to hit one more ball.

“They have really good defense,” Stoebner said. “They were digging balls like crazy, but so were we.”

Johnson finished with 29 kills, just one short of her career high.

However, the Warbirds prevented even more damage with aggressive serving which forced Christian to play out of system on occasion.

“I would say they’re very intentional with where they put the ball,” Johnson said, “and our offense not running very well definitely effects us a lot.”

Uttecht was a factor from her setter position all match for the Warbirds, often pushing the ball deep into the back corner, forcing the Knights to scramble on defense.

“A lot of my teammates were telling me what was open and what I could try to go for,” Uttecht said, “and so that was a spot they helped me find, so that as really good.”

Wolsey-Wessington featured a balanced attack led by Maria Nelson with 17 kills, Marley Boomsma with 14, and Preslie Jensen with 13. The Warbirds improved to 6-3 with the hard-fought win.

“It was good match for us to play,” Coach Uttecht said, “win or lose we needed to play with a good team like this.”

Jolie Fogarty added a dozen kills to the Christian total.

In the end, both sides walked away feeling that the tightly-contested match would be beneficial for the rest of the season.

“This is a really good win for us. We really wanted this one,” Shae Uttecht said. “I think this is going to help us push through the rest of the season and hopefully finish strong.”

The Knights, who slipped to 7-4 on the year, also took some positives from the match.

“I think it just gets us ready to be ready for things that aren’t expected, and to play some tough teams,” Johnson said. “We’re going to have to really build our stamina.”

The match will also help Christian to prepare for cross-town foe Aberdeen Roncalli, which the Knights host on Monday night.

“I think this is a good game to prepare us for that one, because we usually get really close with them,” Johnson said. “I think we’re just really excited to play them.”

Serving: Wolsey-Wessington (Shae Uttecht 21-21 1 ace, Daytona Finch 20-22 1 ace, Taylor Eichstadt 15-15); Aberdeen Christian 6 aces (Sawyer Schwan 3, Payton Skarin 1, Mia Ramirez 1, Nora Fliehs 1).

Hitting: Wolsey-Wessington (Maria Nelson 70-76 16 kills, Marley Boomsma 46-53 14 kills, Preslie Jensen 30-33 13 kills); Aberdeen Christian 54 kills (Arianna Johnson 29, Jolie Fogarty 12, Reagan Jett 7, Sophie Glynn 5).

Setting: Wolsey-Wessington (Uttecht 134-134 32 assists, Tyla Boomsma 24-24 6 assists); Aberdeen Christian (50 assists (Schwan 42, Jolie Fogarty 6).

Digs: Wolsey-Wessington (Raya Toupal 33, Uttecht 30, M. Boomsma 24, Nelson 24); Aberdeen Christian 89 (Jolie Fogarty 21, Skarin 16, Jacie Fogarty 16, Ramirez 15).

Blocks: Wolsey-Wessington (Jensen 9, Lily Hoverson 8); Aberdeen Christian 6 (Johnson 5 assists, Schwan 3 assist, Jett 1 solo, Ramirez 1 assist, Jolie Fogarty 1 assist).

Records: Wolsey-Wessington 6-3; Aberdeen Christian 7-4.