DEVILS LAKE — This may not have been the season the Royals wanted. But they went out in style.

Playing in pink uniforms in front of a packed crowd, which included local volleyball teams like New Rockford-Sheyenne, Benson County and North Star, Lake Region State College ended its regular season with a victory. The Royals (13-20, 2-10) beat Dakota College at Bottineau (3-18, 2-10) in straight sets, 3-0, to cap the 2024 campaign on Wednesday.

The win also bumped LRSC into sixth place in the Mon-Dak Athletic Conference, taking over Bottineau.

“I really liked our intensity level of running our offense the way we know how,” Royals head coach Steve Waddell said. “We like to push our middles as much as possible. And our back row did a really nice job of getting them a ball that we could do that.”

LRSC nearly let a 14-5 lead get away from itself in the first set, but it hung in to start the night with a win. The rest of the match was all Royals, with 25-16 and 25-6 routs.

“I liked everything,” Waddell said. “It was just fun. It all clicked.”

Set 1: Lake Region State College 25, Dakota College at Bottineau 22 (1-0 Royals)

The Royals had early control of the set. It was a well-rounded effort, as Kaitlyn Erickstad, Breanna Vosberg, Sienna Gudnason and Whitney Rozdeba all came up with kills. Lexie Shearer even had a kill that appeared to hit a Lumberjack in the face.

After a Gudnason ace, followed by a penalty and an error, it was a commanding 14-5 Royals lead.

Then they lost 11 of the next 13 points.

At first, the Royals just made a few errors. Then they started playing on their heels a bit and permitted some Bottineau attacks.

After the Lumberjacks cut the lead to 15-12, Vosberg had a block. But a 4-0 Bottineau run culminated in a long rally that ended in a net battle, tying the set at 16 apiece.

“They do some good things. I think Bottineau has some nice players,” Waddell said. “I think they just kind of settled in, and they stopped making so many errors, and then they started playing. And I felt like we got a little bit comfortable. And that comfortability got the best of us.”

The teams began trading points, with Bottineau even taking brief leads of 19-18 and 20-19.

But the Royals didn’t let the set slip away. They won four points in a row, a stretch that included two kills by Shearer.

An error cut the lead to 23-21, but Shearer came right back with another kill.

“She’s so huge for us all the time,” Waddell said. “When she’s on, she’s really tough to beat.”

An error ended the set, and LRSC won by three.

The Royals could take a sigh of relief after making it closer than they probably would have preferred.

“I’m really proud that we played it out and we finished it,” Waddell said. “That’s what we want to do.”

Set 2: Lake Region State College 25, Dakota College at Bottineau 16 (2-0 Royals)

LRSC never trailed in this one, and separated itself late to win with ease.

Shearer continued to play well after making an impact late in the first set. She had three kills among the first five points the Royals won, helping them eventually build a 7-5 lead.

LRSC won six straight points, with kills by Erickstad and Rozdeba and three consecutive aces by Hannah Thiel. Bottineau took three in a row, though, to make it somewhat close at 14-9.

That’s when the Royals took true authority of the set, going on an 8-0 run to blow Bottineau out of the water. Gudnason had three kills in the stretch.

A kill by Erickstad finished it off at 25-16.

Set 3: Lake Region State College 25, Dakota College at Bottineau 6 (3-0 Royals)

The regular season culminated in about as dominant a set as one will see at the college level.

Bottineau tied it at 1-1, but that didn’t last long. LRSC won the next five points and 17 of the next 18 to completely thud the Lumberjacks into the ground. Shearer and Gudnason continued to play aggressively, complementing a slew of Bottineau errors and two aces by Vosberg.

The ‘Jacks won a few points down the stretch, but never won more than one in a row. Erickstad had three kills among the last five points LRSC won as it achieved a single-digit set.

“Our middles delivered; Breanna and Lexie had a really good night, both of them,” Waddell said. “And I think all of our hitters tonight were really confident.”

The Royals’ first-round playoff matchup and opponent are to be determined.