NEW ULM — New Ulm Cathedral had a nightmare on the court as the Greyhounds lost 28-26, 25-21, 25-22 to Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s on Tuesday in a Tomahawk Conference volleyball match.

“We had 48 unforced errors. We kept trying to come back, but it didn’t work out,” Cathedral head coach Becky Wilfahrt said.

In the first set, the Greyhounds held a brief 2-1 lead when a St. Mary’s player knocked the ball out of bounds. St. Mary’s got a good block for another tie.

The Knights put together a 4-0 run to lead 21-14. Cathedral responded by getting points of its own to close the gap which eventually led to a 22-22 tie when Cathedral got a strong block at the net. Cathedral later tied it at 25-25.

Both teams exchanged points which led to another tie. Cathedral got a point on a soft drop for a 26-25 advantage. Two out-of-bounds hits and a solid spike by St. Mary’s gave it the first set at 28-26.

The Knights held the lead for much of the second set. Cathedral tied it on an ace serve. After that, St.Mary’s took advantage of some unforced errors and got some timely defense to build its lead to 24-21. A Cathedral player knocked the ball into the net for the winning point.

Things looked good for the Greyhounds in the third set as they were able to get the advantage early and they held it for about one-half of the set.

A Cathedral player knocked the ball into the net to tie it at 11-apiece. St. Mary’s remained patient and it remained level-headed.

The Greyhounds refused to quit getting an ace serve, two blocks at the net and a few St. Mary’s miscues to tie it at 21-21. Cathedral served the ball into the net to give the Knights a 22-21 advantage. Two misses one and one block increased St. Mary’s lead to 24-21. A St. Mary’s miscue closed the gap to 24-22. On the next play a Cathedral player hit the ball into the net for the game-winning point for the Knights.

“We kept battling, we were consistent and we remained mentally tough. We had to come from behind, but we were confident in winning,” St. Mary’s head coach Jen Walter said. She noted the team has learned to take it “one point at a time” no matter what.

Leah Weiss had 13 set assists and five digs for St. Mary’s. Cassie Heinrichs had 11 digs and five kills while Madison Mathiowetz added 12 digs. Lauren Hoffmann had 13 digs.

Karlie Gieseke led Cathedral with 30 set assists, Sarah Mohr added 16 digs, Maggie Fliszar had 14 digs and Lily Franta added 13 digs.

St. Mary’s (8-4) will host Minnesota Valley Lutheran on Thursday. Cathedral (7-3) will host Cedar Mountain on Thursday.