WEBSTER – Years of frustration turned into a moment of jubilation for the Aberdeen Roncalli volleyball team on Tuesday night.

The Cavaliers qualified for the Class A State Volleyball Tournament for the first time since 2018 with a solid performance over Sioux Valley at the Webster Armory. Roncalli swept the SoDak 16 match by scores of 25-22, 25-23, 25-22.

“We just talked about playing Roncalli volleyball,” said lone Roncalli senior Cambry Feickert, “don’t worry about what’s going on on the other side of the net, play our game.”

The SoDak 16 has been a tough hurdle to clear for the Cavaliers, falling in that round for the past three seasons, but they put together a solid effort from start to finish and were not going to be denied on this occasion.

“We stayed aggressive the entire time,” said Roncalli coach Leesa Ware. “We told the girls that’s going to be what it takes. We have to remain aggressive.”

While the Cavaliers ended up winning the match in a sweep, Roncalli scored just seven more total points than the Cossacks.

“They’re a really good team and they have a lot of really good players,” said Roncalli setter Elyana Roach. “We knew it was going to be a fight. Our goal coming into tonight was play our brand of volleyball, Cavalier volleyball.”

The first set was even with the score tied 10 different times before Roncalli eventually surged ahead with three straight points to help close out the set.

The Cossacks jumped in front 5-1 to start the second set, and after Roncalli led briefly, Sioux Valley owned an 18-13 lead. However, the Cavaliers remained poised and battled back and were able to secure the set for a two-set advantage.

“That’s what the coaches told us, stay calm and collected,” Roach said. “We all know we all have the talent and a job that we’re supposed to do.”

Roncalli again fell behind in the third set, trailing 13-9 at one stage, before weathering the storm.

“I told them, you guys have actually nothing to lose. We’re up two sets. Get it done. Just get it done,” Ware said. “They focused in. Kudos to them. They stayed mentally strong through it all.”

With the season hanging in the balance, the Cavaliers scored six unanswered points while the Cossacks began to have errors creep into their attack.

“We just had a couple too many errors that we don’t normally have,” said Sioux Valley coach Jill Vincent. “The score got really tight and we got tight on our side, so we just couldn’t push it over the top.”

Roncalli kept the pressure on with a relentless attack that started out aggressively and never wavered throughout the match.

“They run the same kind of system as we do,” Vincent said. “We just couldn’t connect on that block and when we didn’t get the dig every time, we felt like we were not doing our job.”

The Cavaliers spent their weekend watching game film on Sioux Valley and were well prepared heading into the match.

“I think it came down to how much effort we put in at practice. During practice we sat down Monday and all we did was talk about what to expect,” said Roncalli’s Grace Cogley, who put an exclamation point on the victory with one final kill. “Over the weekend, all of us put in so much effort and watched film, and I honestly I think that helped us prepare how to change our defense, how to adjust, and I think that’s what won us the game.”

As a result, Roncalli (23-5 on the season) is headed to the state tournament next week at the Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls where the Cavaliers will face fellow Northeast Conference member Clark-Willow Lake in the opening round.

“It feels surreal right now, just soaking in making it to state,” Feickert said. “We’re just really going to grind this week at practice and see what we need to work on, and see what’s ahead of us. Really looking forward to the state tournament.”

It will be a totally new experience for the Cavaliers, and they can’t wait to see what lies ahead.

“We’re all really excited for state. The atmosphere is going to be awesome,” Cogley said. “A lot of us, including myself, have never been to state, never played there, so it’s going to something totally new, and I think we’re all looking forward to that a lot.”

Serving: Sioux Valley 7 aces (McKinley Schwab 3, Kinsley Sapp 3, Macy Licht 1); Aberdeen Roncalli 1 ace (Grace Cogley 15 attempts 1 ace, Kenzington Basham 13 attempts, Jillian Ellwein 12 attempts).

Hitting: Sioux Valley 43 kills (Sapp 13, Licht 13, Aby Degen 6, Rylee Dunn 5, Miley Keating 2); Aberdeen Roncalli (Ellwein 10 kills, Cogley 3 kills, Karsyn Davis 2 kills, Gabby Thomas 1 kill).

Setting: Sioux Valley 39 assists (Schwab 19, Macy Relf 18, Licht 2); Aberdeen Roncalli (Elyana Roach 21 assists).

Digs: Sioux Valley 101 (Licht 26, Sapp 20, Relf 13, Liberty Trygstad 11, Schwab 9); Aberdeen Roncalli (Cambry Feickert 34, Cogley 18, Ellwein 13).

Blocks: Sioux Valley 2 solo 10 assists (Degen 1 solo 2 assists, Licht 1 solo, Keating 3 assists, Lauren Richarz 3; Aberdeen Roncalli 7 solo (Ellwein 3, Felicity Cogley 2, Roach 2).

Records: Sioux Valley 22-8; Aberdeen Roncalli 23-5.