Mike Kraft/MDN Surrey’s Braylee Brunsell (14) blocks a shot from ORCS’ Kadyn Braun alongside Khloe Spaulding during a match at Our Redeemer’s on Thursday, Oct. 2. The Mustangs won in five sets.

The Surrey volleyball team still talks about its regional semifinal victory over Our Redeemer’s Christian School, calling it the biggest win in program history.

The two teams met for the first time since that meeting on Thursday, Oct. 2, with the Knights looking for some revenge and the Mustangs looking to prove that last year’s result wasn’t a fluke but rather a sign that Surrey is on the rise.

While the stakes may not have been as high, the Mustangs will now have another memorable match to smile about after once again winning a hard-fought battle with the Knights, thwarting a furious rally to hang on for a 25-20, 31-29, 23-25, 16-25, 15-13 victory. The win gives the Mustangs sole possession of first place in District 6 as the last remaining unbeaten.

“I think this was an even bigger win,” Surrey coach Michaela Martin said. “It’s still just regular season play, but it’s another district win for us and it’s going to be huge pushing us into the district tournament and to get one of those top seeds in the bracket. Last time we saw Our Redeemer’s we went to five sets with them as well. It’s a really good feeling to be able to come back like that.”

The match was eerily similar to the Region 6 tournament semifinal last year. The Mustangs (14-1 overall, 5-0 District 6) won the opening two sets, with the second set extending beyond the standard 25 points only to see the Knights rally to force a fifth-set tiebreaker, which would ultimately go the way of Surrey. The only difference was the Knights scored 12 points in that match compared to 13 points on Thursday.

Despite the momentum on the side of Our Redeemer’s, the Mustangs never trailed in the tiebreaker. Surrey won the opening four points and held that four-point advantage throughout most of the set. The Mustangs had match point at 14-9, only to see ORCS string together four unanswered points with kills from Brooklynn Roedocker and Noel Pankratz and an ace from Roedocker. But a hit into the net gave Surrey the victory on its fifth match point attempt. Khloe Spaulding had a pair of kills for the Mustangs in the tiebreaker and finished with a team-high 17 for the match.

“We brought back the mindset that we used last year: first to five, first to 10, first to 15,” Martin said. “It’s kind of a way the girls use to keep their heads level and just stay present through the whole set and not be so focused on getting to that end goal too fast.”

The match didn’t have the look that it would end up going five sets, but rather a sweep in favor of the visitors. The Mustangs took advantage of a number of miscues from the Knights in the opening set to lead by as many as eight points at 20-12. ORCS committed 11 errors in the opening set, including on set points. It helped fuel a 9-2 run along with a couple kills from Spaulding.

“Surrey just came in and played defense really well and their offense shined as a result,” ORCS coach Kara Nunziato said. “We just caught ourselves on the defensive end. We couldn’t make a whole lot of connections. It was nice to see the girls play through that and very impressed with how our team came back and how our team played tonight.”

Surrey fought off five set points in the second set. Pankratz’s third kill of the set gave the Knights (13-6, 4-1) their first set point at 24-22, but a block from Surrey’s Ava Keller and a kill by Spaulding squared the match at 24. ORCS staved off two set points during the marathon set at 25-24 and 28-27. A shot out of bounds and a service error kept the Knights in the set. But the Mustangs didn’t waste their third opportunity, as Spaulding put down a kill to give her team a 2-0 set lead.

‘We knew it was going to be a hard game,” Spaulding said. “No one came into it knowing it was going to be easy. We knew we were going to have to put up a fight and it was so much fun.”

Surrey appeared in control late in the third set, leading 18-11. But ORCS rallied with a 9-2 run to tie the set at 20. The service game got them back into it, with three aces from Ellie Streyle and another from Pankratz. Streyle finished with a match-high six aces. Surrey regrouped momentarily to reclaim a 22-11 lead on one of McKenzie Neighbors’ 10 kills for the match, but the Knights scored four of the final five points, three off kills from Pankratz.

Pankratz led the Knights with 17 kills. Roedocker finished with 16 and Kadyn Braun joined them in double figures with 13.

The Knights led throughout the fourth set, with Pankratz and Roedocker leading the offense. The pair combined for 10 kills in the set.

“It’s all credit to the girls on the court and the people on the sideline who kept talking through it and not giving up,” Nunziato said. “Ellie Streyle served us back into that match and it really swing momentum our way which is what ultimately led us to that fifth set.”

With the victory, Surrey snapped ORCS’ five-match winning streak and handed the Knights their first non-tournament loss since the season-opener against Kenmare-Bowbells. The Mustangs have now won 13 consecutive matches and haven’t lost a non-tournament match all season. It was their first five-set match of the year and just the fourth time they have had to play more than three sets.

“Everyone kind of thought that upset was kind of a fluke and that we weren’t going to be able to show up this year, but these girls have shown every game that they’re capable and that they’re serious contenders at the district level, region level and hopefully at the state level,” Martin said.

Spaulding believes that the victory sends a message to the rest of the state that this isn’t the Surrey program of old but rather one that deserves to be talked about with some of the top programs in Class B volleyball.

“I also think it’s changing,” Spaulding said. “I’m just saying to watch out for the Surrey Mustangs.”

The Mustangs return home on Tuesday, Oct. 7, to play Glenburn and ORCS competes in the Des Lacs-Burlington Laker Invitation beginning on Friday, Oct. 3.