SPRINGFIELD — Springfield defeated Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s 25-20, 25-23, 12-25, 26-24 in a nonconference volleyball game on Tuesday..

Kills from the Tigers came in key times during the match with Sydney Hauger and Kora Wahl dropping the final two points of the fourth set with kills to win the game.

“They did come back but we were working harder, we had it in our hearts that we wanted it more and gave it all we had,” Springfield’s hitter Mya Mickelson said. “We are a strong front row and I think that is our highest potential.”

In the fourth set, Wahl broke away from a 17-15 points deficit with a kill from the right side and reported to the service line and went on a 7-point run to open a 22-17 lead for Springfield. Wahl recorded three ace serves in the run and Taylor Augustin tallied two kills to break away with the lead.

St. Mary’s Cassie Heinrichs stopped the charge with a kill from the middle of the court as the Knights forced their way back into the fourth set determined to make the match go all five. Maddison Mathiowetz, Trista Ibberson and Alexis Anderson recorded kills as the Knights tied the set at 24-24.

“We were down two sets and we played hard all sets, these girls dig down and figure it out by getting excited about the game and are here to prove the point that they are not ready to quit,” St. Mary’s coach Wendy Owens said.

Springfield kept pounding away from the net as its hitters put extensive pressure on the opposite side of the court. The Tigers dominated the hitting in all four sets with Wahl being key in the first two wins and Augustin and Mickelson’s hard-hitting dominating later in the match.

“We just love to compete, we just wanted to win,” Wahl said. “It was a very mental game that we had to fight through, our teammates are a huge help.”

Springfield took a commanding 23-13 lead in the first set and closed with a 25-20 win.

During the second set both teams stayed within reach when Heinrichs answered a kill from Wahl as the Knights trailed 24-22. A Tigers hitting error brought the Knights within 1-point when Augustin ended the set with a kill from the Tigers right side and a 25-23 win.

The Knights took advantage of a struggling Tigers’ defense as Springfield’s passing tallied errors and the Knights stayed strong by creating the chaos on the Springfield side of the court. St. Mary’s opened a 22-11 commanding lead by refusing to give the side-out points with Mathiowetz and Heinrichs tallying kills and Ibberson dropping two kills as the Knights sailed to a third-set win.

St. Mary’s was led by Mathiowetz, who had 11 kills and nine set assists, Leah Weiss had 16 set assists, Lauren Hoffmann had 19 digs and Alexa Owens recorded 17 digs.

Wahl led Springfield with 18 kills and three ace serves, Augustin had 10 kills, Mickelson recorded eight kills, Eva Mark tallied 31 set assists and Brittany Rogotzke tallied 19 digs.

St. Mary’s travels Wabasso for a 7 p.m. match on Thursday.

The Tigers will be on the road at 7 p.m. on Thursday against Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart.