NEW ULM — Minnesota Valley Lutheran defeated Sleepy Eye 25-14, 25-21, 22-25, 25-17 on Thursday in a Tomahawk Conference volleyball match.

“We lost the momentum,” MVL head coach Amy Pearson said. “It takes us a while to get started, but tonight, it took us a while to finish. We held our ground [during the fourth set]. It was good to get to a lead and hang onto it.”

The Chargers build a 10-point advantage getting back to back ace serves followed by Ella Schlei’s kill in the fourth set. Later Abigail Riederer’s kill made it 16-5 MVL.

Sleepy Eye responded with 4 points of its own, taking advantage of Charger errors and getting a block from the front line. Breaunna Mertz led the Indians back late in the set when she had two kills and a tip with her knuckle dropping the ball over the net, making it 23-14. Sleepy Eye was unable to return the ball, which gave MVL the set and the match.

The Chargers won the first set because they led the entire time. MVL’s biggest lead was 10 points, with that being 22-12. MVL also had a 6-0 run to help its cause.

The second set was a battle. There were seven ties in it, with both teams leading throughout the set. MVL won on it taking advantage of back-to-back Sleepy Eye mistakes.

Sleepy Eye won the third set when it was able to get the lead and get it back when MVL came back. MVL’s final lead of the set was 3-2. Mertz’s kill tied it. MVL had an unforced error to give Sleepy Eye the lead that it would keep.

Kaylee Hunter had 21 set assists, five kills and four blocks for MVL. Samantha Dalueg had 14 set assists and 12 digs. Schlei had 14 kills and three blocks. Riederer added 13 kills and nine digs.

Mertz led Sleepy Eye with 19 kills, six digs and two blocks. Emma Schieffert added nine kills. Priscilla Martinez had 10 set assists and six digs.

MVL (9-12, 2-5) will host Wabasso on Monday in the regular season finale. Sleepy Eye finished its regular season (10-13-2, 0-8).