Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s Jaci Domeier (2) tries to hit the ball past Cedar Mountain’s Teresa Larsen (16) on Thursday night in Tomahawk Conference volleyball action at St. Mary’s High School.

SLEEPY EYE — A strong attack led by Madison Mathiowetz and Jaci Domeier kept Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s unbeaten this season as the Knights downed Cedar Mountain 25-14, 25-17, 25-15 Thursday night in Tomahawk Conference volleyball action.

The win guaranteed the Knights (23-0, 7-0) sole possession of the Tomahawk Conference title for the second consecutive season.

Mathiowetz finished with 19 kills, 13 digs and two aces, while Domeier finished with 19 kills and 12 digs.

Domeier said that in addition to her being able to hit to the right back row well, she also thought the Knights played one of their better matches this week in their third matchup of the week.

“I think we did really well,” Domeier said. “I think we worked really well as a team and we pulled it together. It was one of our better games of the week.”

The Knights also got 18 digs from Reagan Severson, while Bella Hoffmann had 27 set assists, eight digs and two aces and Allie Labat had 22 set assists. Julia Helget added 12 digs and three kills for the Knights, while Abby Schwartz had five kills and Katelyn Rutscher had four kills.

For the Cougars, Hailey Hollar led with seven kills and nine digs, while Nadia Meyers had five kills, 12 digs and seven set assists. Morgan Engholm added 12 digs for Cedar Mountain, while Mykenna Vollmer and Teresa Larsen each had two kills.

The Cougars (16-9, 6-2) started the first set off with an early 2-0 lead before the Knights stormed back with an 8-0 run to lead 8-2. The Knights pushed their lead to 13-4 after an ace by Mathiowetz, prompting a Cedar Mountain timeout.

After a kill by Hollar out of the timeout stopped the Knights’ run and had the Cougars down 13-5, the Knights were able to consistently trade points to keep distance. St. Mary’s took a double-digit lead four times after that kill from Hollar and ended up getting the set point on a kill from Domeier.

In the second set, Cedar Mountain started off with a quick 2-0 lead before the Knights got on the board with a kill from Mathiowetz. An ace serve by Engholm had the Cougars up 7-3, but the Knights battled back to take a 12-10 lead after kills by Mathiowetz and Helget. After two kills from Domeier and a Cedar Mountain attack error made it 16-13, the Cougars called a timeout.

The Cougars got a block by Larsen out of the timeout, but the Knights quickly got a 6-0 run to go ahead 22-15. Moments later, a spike from Mathiowetz gave the Knights a 2-0 lead in the match.

The third set saw the Knights take an early 8-4 lead before the Cougars got within 2, 9-7, on a kill from Hollar. A 3-0 run quickly put the Knights ahead 12-7, though, with a kill from Domeier ending the short run and forcing another Cedar Mountain timeout.

The Cougars got no closer than 4 points after that timeout, however, as the Knights went up 21-11 after a 6-0 run. St. Mary’s got the match point after a Cedar Mountain service error.

The Knights continue their busy week on Saturday when they host Springfield for their final conference match of the season. Domeier said that not getting overconfident will be key closing out the season and heading into playoffs.

“We need to push hard and [think] that we’re not the perfect team,” Domeier said. “We have to work hard for it.”

The Cougars are at Renville County West on Monday.