Last year’s Air Academy volleyball team might have dropped the final set of Thursday’s match.

After going up two sets to none at Palmer, the Kadets were on the wrong end of a gritty Terrors’ rally, which saw the hosts force a decisive fifth set.

“Last year, we started taking sets from teams that we hadn’t taken sets from before and that year’s team almost felt like that was good enough. This year, they want to win more. They’re hungry for it,” second-year Kadets coach Sarah Husemann said.

Air Academy made good on that goal in the last set on Thursday, earning 15 points against a resilient Terrors squad that clawed its way back from a five-point deficit. The Kadets held on to win 25-18, 25-19, 22-25, 23-25, 15-13.

In a battle between two resilient teams, the extra effort put Air Academy over the line. The Kadets fought for every point like their lives depended on it, diving to the court to make incredible digs and keeping rallies alive. Junior outside hitter and defensive specialist Mae Magoon’s knees served as a testament to her team’s dedication.

“There’s definitely a lot of bloody knees and bodies flying around. I had to change my kneepads two times,” she said. “Coach Sarah, one of the times, was like, ‘Guys do not let the ball drop, go for everything,’ and it’s that mentality because the ball is never dead unless you give up.”

Magoon, a junior for the Kadets, has a distinctive style of play. With nearly every hit or serve, she sends the ball whizzing just over the net with a speed that Palmer had trouble reacting to in the early sets. The Air Academy kills leader entering Thursday, said it’s the product of both physical and mental training.

“A lot of practice, I do private lessons and a lot of it is mental. I’ve been practicing a lot, high school, club,” she said. “It takes a lot of practice but you also have to believe in yourself and not get in your head.”

Magoon’s hits may have been in the minds of her opponents for a spell on Thursday, but the Terrors found a way to adapt. Air Academy jumped out to a 14-5 lead in the opening set but then Palmer narrowed the gap to 20-15. Even though the Terrors dropped the set, they learned and every subsequent set was a back-and-forth battle with the teams tying at 18 in the second set, 21 in the third, 18 in the fourth and 12 in the fifth.

Magoon went for a pair of back-to-back kills in the fourth set with the match knotted at 18, Palmer’s wall blocked the first, and a player deflected the second back into play as the Terrors took the crucial point to break the tie.

After Palmer took the fourth set, Magoon said her team regained their focus in a huddle before the fifth.

“We had to go back to our basics because we were kind of stressing out, and we know how to play great volleyball. We just have to get over the mental part and just calm down and play our game,” she said.

Air Academy senior Audre Husemann started the set with an ace, and senior Aurelia Matzelle also served up an ace to help the Kadets earn a 6-1 advantage, but Palmer fought until the ball bounced out of bounds on the match’s final play.

With the win, Air Academy improved to 4-1, the same spot they were in a season ago before suffering a series of losses in league play. Magoon believes Thursday’s experience will help this team avoid a similar slide.

“It shows us to never give up. We have some tough teams coming up in conference like (Lewis-Palmer) and Cheyenne Mountain and it shows us that even when we’re really close and fighting to the max, we can give our best, pull together and most likely win,” she said.  “It’s how we play the game regardless of how we win, if we give it our all,”