Aberdeen Christian recorded its first 20-win season in school history Tuesday night with a sweep over Herreid-Selby Area.

The Knights grabbed a 25-11, 25-12, 25-22 non-conference volleyball victory at the Christian School Gym.

The hosts dominated the first two sets before HSA came to life in the third.

“I told them at the start of the third set that they were probably going to start pushing, because we know that’s what they do,” said Christian coach Maggie Jett, after facing the Wolverines earlier this season in a tourney at Ipswich. “They did it in the tournament. That group has some energy and when they find it, they’re pretty scrappy and they play hard.”

The visitors led 14-8 in the final set before the Knights mounted a comeback and eventually surged their way to a victory.

“I think we just work really well as a team,” said Christian senior Grace Kaiser. “We knew we just had to get our momentum so we just picked each other up. That’s something that I think we’ve done a good job of.”

Herreid-Selby Area coach Marisa Sandmeier said her team overcame a rough start and played more care free in the third set.

“We played a little bit scared in the first two and then we’re like ‘Hey, what do we have to lose?’ So we played a little bit harder in that third set,” Sandmeier said. “But (Aberdeen Christian is) a great team. It’s undeniable that they’ve got some height, they’ve got some power hitters, they’ve got good pasers in the back row. That was good competition. It was a fun game to watch.”

Mary Fites finished with 15 kills and three aces, while Hanna Miller added a dozen kills to lead the Knights. Emily Schwan had a team-leading five aces.

Christian capped its regular season with a 20-3 record.

Kaiser is a part of a senior class that endured some difficult seasons and is now reaping the benefits. When asked if she ever thought a 20-win season was possible, Kaiser responded, “No, but at the same time I did, because we had a lot of good girls in the same grade. We weren’t successful a lot of the time, but you knew if we kept working hard we’d have a good group.”

Kendell Sawinsky topped the Wolverines with seven kills and Jada Rossow contributed five.

Sandmeier was pleased with her team’s finish against the Knights and hopes to carry that over into the post season.

“That third set up we put up a really good fight and I feel good about it,” Sandmeier said. “It’s a loss, but I’d rather go down fighting than go down like we did in the first and second set a little bit scared and making errors. We’ll use that momentum going forward into next week for regionals”

Aberdeen Christian will host a match on Tuesday night in the opening round of the Region 1B playoffs.

While Jett is happy about the 20-win season, she said there is still work to be done.

“It’s been an incredible season, really. I’m just proud of the girls. They’ve earned this,” Jett said. “But we’re not done. We hope to add a few more to that.”

Serving: Herreid-Selby Area 43-44 3 aces (Stephanie Allbee 7-7 2 aces, Harleigh Hauge 11-13 1 ace); Aberdeen Christian 68-73 11 aces (Emily Schwan 24-26 5 aces, Mary Fites 13-14 3 aces).

Hitting: Herreid-Selby Area 90-107 12 kills (Kendell Sawinsky 24-28 7 kills, Jada Rossow 13-17 5 kills); Aberdeen Christian 98-111 40 kills (Fites 27-31 15 kills, Hanna Miller 23-28 12 kills).

Setting: Herreid-Selby Area (Sophia Ritter 52-53 11 assists, Caitlyn Anderson 30-30 4 assists); Aberdeen Christian (Kaylee Block 81-81 29 assists, Joy Rohrbach 10-10 2 assists).

Digs: Herreid-Selby Area 21 (Allbee 15, Mya Ebel 12); Aberdeen Christian 70 (Rohrbach 25, Block 12).

Blocks: Herreid-Selby Area (Cheyenne Wurtz 4 solos 1 assist, Rossow 3 solos, Bella Brandner 1 solo 1 assist); Aberdeen Christian 1 solo 6 assists (Mallory Miller 1 solo 2 assists, Chloe Bosma 2 assists).