DEVILS LAKE — The Firebirds dove right into the fire in their first region match of the three-class era.

Devils Lake volleyball (9-3, 0-1) dropped its Region 2 opener to No. 1 Thompson (10-0, 1-0) on Thursday at the Devils Lake Sports Center. They put up a fight against the consensus best team in Class A in the first two sets, dropping them 25-17 and 25-21.

Thompson finished the 3-0 sweep with a 25-15 win.

“I honestly think we beat ourselves,” Devils Lake head coach Bridget Hanlan said. “We didn’t do what we needed to do. Had we done that, we would compete with them.”

Up until this year, Thompson was one of the premier Class B volleyball teams. Historically, the Tommies are tied with Langdon Area/Munich for the most state titles in Class B volleyball.

Bumped up to Class A in the new three-class system, the Tommies clearly haven’t missed much of a beat against tougher competition.

The Firebirds are in the opposite situation. While Thompson moved up to the middle level, Devils Lake moved down to the middle level. The Firebirds have already reaped the benefits of the reclassification, entering Thursday with a 9-2 record.

And, early in the match, they let Thompson know this wasn’t just going to be a pushover.

Back-to-back aces by Alex Gibbs in the first two points set the tone for Devils Lake. After Thompson squeaked ahead 5-4, the Firebirds won four straight points to go up 8-5. Sara Kraft and Kinley Johnson played pesky games upfront, while Emma Hofstand and Mia Elsperger had strong attacks from the outside.

Thompson managed to block a near-kill by Hofstad. The Tommies got her off balance on another one as they edged back ahead, 14-13. But a successful kill by Hofstad tied it back up. Riley Remmick then hit a service winner and an ace back-to-back. Gibbs and Remmick each had three aces on the night.

After Kinley Johnson tapped one at an angle to win a point, Devils Lake led 17-15.

“We were focused,” Hanlan said. “We were ready. We were moving.”

But Thompson took the wind out of Devils Lake’s sails, winning the last 10 points of the set. The Tommies had some key kill opportunities and didn’t miss them. They put the set away at 25-17.

“We were running our offense, and then we just shut down,” Hanlan said.

In the second set, despite a closer final score, the Firebirds were fighting from behind most of the way.

They trailed 4-1 out of the gates. They won four straight, and led 7-6, but that was their last lead of the set. It was as close as 12-11, but Thompson rattled off four straight from there.

Down 22-17, Johnson came up with a couple of big plays. She had another deceptive winner, then finished off a long rally with a point for Devils Lake. The Firebirds trimmed the deficit to 22-20. But they dropped three of the final four points as they fell 25-21, putting them behind two sets to zero.

“We need to be as aggressive as the other team on offense,” Hanlan said, “and not send them easy balls.”

Thompson sealed up the match with a 25-15 win in the third set. Devils Lake fell right into a 7-1 hole after a series of errors. It then won four straight — but the Tommies won the next three to go up 10-5, and never looked back.

Hofstad led Devils Lake in kills on the night with five. Libero Julia McIvor had the most digs with 28.

The Firebirds still have nine region matches left on their schedule. Not every team will be as revered as Thompson. But it is a competitive region, and Devils Lake now has a little better idea of what it’s up against.

“We need to learn from it and move forward,” Hanlan said.

The Firebirds now go on the road to face Harvey/Wells County on Tuesday at 7 p.m.