A stifling defensive effort and a relentless attack led by Shelby Begeman carried Clark-Willow Lake past Aberdeen Roncalli Thursday night.

The fourth-rated Cyclones improved to 14-1 on the season with a 25-15, 25-21, 14-25, 25-15 Northeast Conference volleyball victory at Roncalli Gym.

Begeman finished with 31 kills and 11 blocks, and the Cyclones’ defensive play was nearly error-free — a combination the Cavaliers couldn’t match for four sets.

Ella Sass added 15 kills and Kamryn Nesheim ran the Clark-Willow Lake offense with 50 set assists.

Clark-Willow Lake coach Betty McGraw said the team’s only loss of the season taught them what they needed to bring into a key NEC match against Roncalli.

“We learned that we had to come out harder and faster,” McGraw said, “and our serves had to be more competitive.”

Roncalli coach Leesa Ware said the game plan started with trying to get Clark-Willow Lake out of system, knowing the Cyclones were going to feed Begeman at the net.

“We knew that we needed to get them out of system as much as we possibly could, because we knew the ball was going to Shelby every time,” Ware said. “We just knew that we had to try to shut her down and serve aggressively.”

However, that plan was tough to implement.

Roncalli’s Jillian Ellwein said Begeman was simply too much to handle.

“When you have one girl that gets over 20 kills, it’s really hard to stop,” Ellwein said. “No matter where you set your block or how you move your defense, she’s going to get kills, because she’s that good.”

McGraw pointed to the Cyclones’ rotation as a key to sustaining pressure, with Begeman able to serve from the back and Sass moving into the front row.

After dropping the first two sets, Roncalli answered in the third. The Cavaliers cleaned up their errors, started fast, and never surrendered the lead, scoring by attacking rather than waiting on Clark-Willow mistakes.

Ellwein led the Cavaliers with eight kills, one solo block, and one assisted block. Grace Cogley and Gabby Thomas each added seven kills, Karsyn Davis chipped in six, and Elyana Roach finished with 23 set assists.

“In that third set I’m just so proud of our team,” Ware said. “I thought we played extremely well with the circumstances.”

The Cyclones then slammed the door in the fourth set securing the victory.

Begeman said the back row was the difference in the final set.

“I feel like I did a good job around the block and Kam was putting me to the right spot on the net,” Begeman said, “and our back row lit up in the fourth set.”

Eliza Larson added four blocks alongside Begeman at the net.

Ware kept the loss in perspective afterward.

“I told our girls to look at how many teams actually took a set from Clark-Willow Lake, there is not many teams,” Ware said. “We gave them some good competition, and I thought that the girls played really well tonight.”

It was the second straight setback for the Cavaliers, who lost to top-rated Class B Warner on Tuesday night.

Ellwein framed the two straight losses as fuel rather than setbacks.

“Like those are the games that are going to make us better for the teams we’re going to play that are even better,” Ellwein said. “And it just showed us what it takes to beat the better teams.”

Roncalli, 9-3 on the season, will compete in a tournament at Redfield on Saturday.

Serving: Clark-Willow Lake 76-82 3 aces (Peyton Lee 25-26 1 ace, Kelsey Hofer 15-16); Aberdeen Roncalli (Cambry Feickert 1 ace, Jillian Ellwein 1 ace, Danica Zacher 1 ace, Grace Cogley 1 ace).

Hitting: Clark-Willow Lake 129-152 55 kills (Shelby Begeman 66-72 31 kills, Ella Sass 30-36 15 kills); Aberdeen Roncalli (Ellwein 8 kills, Cogley 7 kills, Gabby Thomas 7 kills, Karsyn Davis 6 kills).

Setting: Clark-Willow Lake (Kamryn Nesheim 50 assists); Aberdeen Roncalli (Elyana Roach 23 assists, Feickert 2 assists). 

Digs: Clark-Willow Lake 65 (Maddie Brenden 15, Hofer 14); Aberdeen Roncalli (Feickert 21, Roach 17, Cogley 14).

Blocks: Clark-Willow Lake 19 (Shelby Begeman 11, Eliza Larson 4); Aberdeen Roncalli (Ellwein 1 solo 1 assisted, Thomas 1 assisted).

Records: Clark-Willow Lake 14-1; Aberdeen Roncalli 9-3.