Execution of an aggressive game plan allowed Aberdeen Christian to stay out in front Tuesday night.

The Knights set the tone with their serve, forced the Lions to play from behind, and picked up a 25-11, 25-21, 25-20 Lake Region Conference volleyball victory at the Christian School Gym.

While Langford Area never gave up, the visitors were never able to get over the hump, either. It’s a position that Christian has experienced before as well.

“We’ve been there,” said Knights coach Sara Powell. “We’ve been behind many times and try to work our way back, and it’s hard, it really is.”

Arianna Johnson played a key role in the victory racking up a dozen kills. She missed just six attempts during the sweep.

“Ari just offensively was really on fire with everything which was good,” Powell said. “She went 12 for 18 which is a great percentage for her.”

The win was the second straight for the Knights and served as a confidence booster.

“I think it’s really important for our team,” Johnson said, “especially because we’re young, just to get that win in and to show people that we’ve really improved this year.”

While Christian features a young squad, so does Langford Area, which is led by lone senior Eliana Darling.

“We’re a really young team, so we’re really trying to build a good foundation,” Darling said. “That’s my goal for the season, as a senior, to help them build a good foundation for next year.”

The Knights, who also received seven kills from Payton Skarin, feature multiple hitters to keep track of, but Darling said that presents a good challenge.

“It’s a good learning opportunity because if they have hitters from all points, we can learn that we need to get to our corners and we need to put up better blocks and we need to cover,” Darling said.

Langford Area coach Susan Larson was proud of her team’s effort in the final sets and the adjustments that her players made to try to slow down the Knights.

“They ran a faster offense than we’ve kind of seen for a while and they’re big hitters, big swingers,” Larson said. “I thought we adjusted really well to the block in the second and third set. We didn’t block a lot, but we got our hands on a lot, that helped our defense a lot.”

And the Lions kept competing, forcing Christian to finish out each of the last two sets.

“The adjustments that we made, made me happy, like to be able to adjust inside the game, made me happy,” Larson said. “We didn’t give up. We kept trying so I thought that was good, too.”

Emily Olson topped Langford Area with seven kills.

Powell noted that her players had to keep up their aggressive play to put away the Lions.

“They were scrappy. They weren’t letting anything drop,” Powell said. “I told the girls, be ready for anything to come back.”

In the end, Johnson was able to help keep Christian in control. Just a freshman, Johnson is a leader for the young Knights.

“I definitely try to lead as much as I can,” Johnson said. “Now that we had a couple of girls graduate, a lot of us our really close friends, so we’re really comfortable playing and we’re really good with our leadership skills now.”

Christian, 2-2 on the season, hosts North Central on Thursday at the Christian School Gym.

Serving: Langford Area Clarissa Guy (1 ace); Aberdeen Christian (Sawyer Schwan 3 aces, Sophie Glynn 2 aces).

Hitting: Langford Area (Emily Olson 7 kills); Aberdeen Christian (Ari Johnson 12 kills, Payton Skarin 4 kills).

Setting: Langford Area (Paytyn Marlow 9, assists, Guy 5 assists); Aberdeen Christian (Schwan 20 assists).

Digs: Langford Area (Brynn Samson 9, Guy 7); Aberdeen Christian (Alexis Isakson 15, Jolie Fogarty 7, Skarin 7).

Blocks: Langford Area (Eliana Darling 3 solo, Olson 2 solo); Aberdeen Christian (Johnson 4 solo 1 assist).

Records: Langford Area 1-3; Aberdeen Christian 2-2.