"This was big," Minnehaha Academy coach Kim Benka said. "This was a big goal for us."

The Redhawks' goals have been getting bigger every year. Minnehaha Academy finished 14-13 last season for its first winning record in six seasons. Beating a strong Mounds Park Academy squad that upset top-seeded Southwest Christian in the first round of the Class 2A state tournament last fall was another big step in the long process of program-building at Minnehaha Academy.

"It's been a growing process," Benka said. "We're such an athletic school and we've been trying to build up the volleyball program. It's been fun to see the growth every year."

After winning 19 games in 2015, the Redhawks won 11, eight, eight, seven and five games over the next five seasons. But with players such as junior outside hitter Maddy Benka (the coach's daughter) and seniors Violet Sahlstrom and Camryn Thurow, Minnehaha Academy has improved rapidly. And while it's still early in this season, the Redhawks players are feeling success and learning what it takes to sustain it.

It has shown in the first four games after the Redhawks' 5-0 showing at the season-opening St. Paul Humboldt tournament. Minnehaha Academy has needed four sets in each of its four games since. Mounds Park Academy started Thursday by winning the opening set 25-17.

"We just have to keep fighting," Kim Benka said. "I don't care what just happened, we just have to fight for the next point."

It's an attitude the Redhawks are beginning to assimilate. 

Mounds Park Academy kept Maddy Benka from making a big impact at the net and walked away with the first-set victory. But Minnehaha Academy freshman Vivien Affeldt served five consecutive points to start the second set and set the tone for the rest of the match. The Redhawks' serves were on point while Mounds Park Academy struggled to return serve, taking the ball out of the hands of their talented junior setter Else Kunze-Hoeg, who in nearing 3,000 career assists.

"Ball control, missed serves, communication errors," Mounds Park Academy coach Jeff Kunze-Hoeg said, rattling off the issues that hounded his team against the Redhawks.

It didn't help the Panthers that senior hitter Lola Pilon remains a limited participant as she recovers from a torn anterior cruciate ligament suffered in a semifinal loss at last fall's state tournament. Pilon played only in the back row on Thursday and still looked hesitant on her recovering leg. While she did help settle her team's handling of the serve in the third game, it wasn't enough against the Redhawks.

The teams will play again on Sept. 27, and Kim Benka said she expects another tough test for her team.

"We'll be better and they'll be better," she said.