LANGDON — The defending state champion Cardinals are still on top — at least for now.

In a rematch of last year’s Region 4 championship, No. 1 LA/M outlasted No. 4 Benson County in three sets at Langdon Area High School on Tuesday. The first and third sets were tight 25-21 affairs, while the Cardinals separated themselves in the middle set with a 25-15 win.

It was the Wildcats’ first loss of the season. They fell to 16-1 overall and 4-1 in district play.

“We haven’t seen a team like this, this year. That was our first glance of it,” Benson County head coach Sheri Stuberg said. “So I think we’ll have a good chance the next time we see them. We have some stuff to work on, and I’m excited for it. It’s fun to play a team like that.”

LA/M improved to 20-4-1 overall and 4-0 in district play.

“Just proud of the way the girls came out, with energy and fire,” Cardinals head coach Rich Olson said. “They made a lot of nice shots. I thought we had a nice night where we made some really smart plays throughout.”

Freshman Hilary Haaven led the Cardinals with 19 kills, putting her on the verge of history. She now has 991 kills for her career. Olson, in his 30-year coaching career, said he’s never had a freshman reach 1,000. He doesn’t know of anyone in the state who’s reached 1,000 that young.

Haaven will very likely do so in her next match.

She came out with a whopping 10 kills in the opening set, prompting whispers of whether she’d accomplish the feat Tuesday night.

While it was merely a regular-season match, it had all the intensity of a playoff battle from the start. Neither team won more than four points in a row in the first set.

After a soft kill into no-man’s land by Liberty Streyle, and an ace by Kaitlyn Maddock, the Wildcats led 3-1. Haaven had three kills in a row to give LA/M its first lead. And she did so in a variety of ways — she hit the ball hard when she needed to, but she also came up with deceptive angle shots throughout the night.

“Sometimes she does it out of necessity, and she goes with an offspeed shot or something,” Olson said. “And sometimes she can pound it, and she just says, ‘Everybody thinks I’m gonna pound it — here.’ And that’s probably the best time to do it because nobody expects it.”

Benson County sophomore Lacie Fautsch slammed five kills in the first set and led the Wildcats with nine on the night.

When the Wildcats set up their middle blocker well, nobody on the court hit the ball harder than Fautsch.

“If we could always play to that, that would be fantastic,” Stuberg said. “But you don’t get the chance to always put it where you want to put it in volleyball. … But yeah, we like to see her hit, that’s for sure.”

The experienced Aubrey Kenner finished a long rally with a kill to put Benson County up 8-7. Kenner, a senior, had multiple kills to keep the Wildcats ahead by the skin of their teeth, 14-13.

“I think Kenner probably has been the biggest pain in our butts over the years,” Olson said. “She’s such a good athlete. So quick.”

Kenner was second on the Wildcats with eight kills on the night.

LA/M finally got into some sort of groove, winning four in a row and seven out of eight. The Cardinals were able to wrap up a 25-21 win to get their evening started on the right note.

“They don’t let the errors get to them,” Stuberg said. “Their serves — I thought today we handled that way better than we did last year. We were ready for that. We just didn’t know exactly what we were gonna face, and now we do.”

Benson County kept the second set close early, up 8-7 and trailing only 11-9. But a 9-0 run essentially put the set away for LA/M.

Mya Swanson had multiple aces in that stretch.

“We got contributions from everybody,” Olson said. “And I think that’s the key. When you’re gonna play somebody as good as them, you can’t just rely on Hilary Haaven to get 19 like she did tonight.”

Benson County pounced back with five in a row of its own. But a Kemi Morstad ace sandwiched by a pair of Haaven kills capped the 25-15 win. The Cardinals were in familiar territory with a 2-0 match lead.

Down 7-4, Kenner kept Benson County in it with back-to-back kills, including one that followed a couple of nice blocks by the Wildcats. Benson County tied it at 10-10 after a kill by Brylee Stuberg and an ace by Olivia Follman.

Left-handed Addisyn Faul slammed a kill to give Benson County its first lead of the set. The Wildcats grew their lead to 15-13 after another Faul kill — coming right after one of her shots was miraculously dug out by the Cardinals.

But LA/M won the next three points and never trailed again. Tied at 16-16, the Cardinals took four in a row, capped by two consecutive Haaven aces.

Down 24-18, the Wildcats fended off three straight match points. Fautsch came up with a soft kill, and Isabella Engstrom had a block up front. LA/M put the night to rest with a kill by Swanson.

For Benson County, it was the kind of experience this squad needed after riding to a 16-0 start. The Wildcats have an easier potential path to the state tournament this year with the advent of districts. They could very well see LA/M again in the district and/or region tournament.

“It’s so exciting,” Stuberg said. “I mean, it sucks to lose. You don’t want to lose. And it’s heartbreaking in that aspect. But I feel like we’re gonna meet up with them again, and I think it’ll be a good one.”

It was important for the Cardinals, too, for somebody to challenge them a little harder than most of their regular-season opponents.

LA/M travels to Rolla to play North Prairie on Thursday.

“We’re still trying to figure some things out,” Olson said. “We’ve got players that have been asked to jump into a different position, so the little nuances of playing a different position take time. … But we’re progressing well, and I’m happy with how the team is working together.”

Meanwhile, Benson County hosts St. John in Leeds on Thursday.

“We don’t get to play these kind of teams every day,” Stuberg said. “And what we’ll take from this, we’ll use for the other teams, too. What you learn here, it would be silly not to play the next team hard like this, too.”

In the polls

LA/M moved from No. 2 to No. 1 in the most recent poll released earlier Tuesday. The Cardinals received just three of the 14 first-place votes, with No. 2 Linton/HMB receiving nine. But LA/M narrowly received more overall points, with 58 compared to Linton/HMB’s 56.

Benson County stayed at No. 4 after being ranked in the same spot in the previous poll. The Wildcats received one first-place vote.

Many of Benson County’s players, including top hitters Fautsch and Kenner, are also on the defending state champion girls’ basketball team.