Staff photo by Ari Selvey Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Ava Munsen (15) and Olivia Hammer (1) go up for a block against New Ulm Cathedral’s Jenna Hotovec (7) during a Tomahawk Conference volleyball match Tuesday at MVL High School.

NEW ULM — For the first time since 2019, Minnesota Valley Lutheran defeated New Ulm Cathedral in a Tomahawk Conference volleyball match.

It took five sets and several come-from-behind wins to do so as the Chargers won 16-25, 25-21, 23-25, 31-29, 15-11 in the Tuesday match at MVL high school.

“We’ve really been working on grit and determination,” MVL head coach Amy Pearson said. “Our focus is always intensity, trust and focus. We were finally able to do that at the end of the game.

“We’ve always come out strong at the beginning of games, but from time to time we’ve struggled to finish the game, so it was a huge win for us to be able to finish the game tonight. Especially Sets 3 and 4. We battled back, made it a long battle, and then came out strong in Set 5 and were able to hang on. It was awesome for the girls to be able to get this win.”

The Chargers were swept by the Greyhounds early in the season in a nonconference match but came away with the victory in the conference matchup.

The Chargers were led by Ava Munsen, who, after tying a school record 10 blocks Thursday against Cedar Mountain, got another seven blocks, along with 23 kills.

“Ava is just a solid, all-around player,” Pearson said. “She spends a lot of time in the offseason seeing good attackers in her JO program. She’s ready for what comes her way and can get and over the block with her hitting. That helps, when you’re not hitting into the block, but can go over the top of it.”

Munsen said she put a lot of work into improving her vertical in practice time.

“There’s one specific drill we do in practice where we just do defense for two minutes straight,” Munsen said. “And that’s just me jumping. That has really helped with my vertical a lot. And also working with my setter [Kerrigan Brau] to get the chemistry we need for those quick sets as well.”

Munsen said the team had gotten together to discuss how the would approach the match before they took to the court.

“What helped a lot was we had a pre-game talk,” Munsen said. “Which we don’t usually do, but we talked about what we wanted to to. We were all very intentional, we were picking each other up the whole time. I always say that the team with the most energy wins, so having the most energy really helped us get through that and show some grit.”

Also key for MVL were Marley Schauer with 11 kills and two blocks, Gabbie Bleick with seven kills and 15 digs, and Brau with 44 set assists and 17 digs.

Jenna Hotovec led the Greyhounds with 20 kills and 24 digs, while Shay Wilfahrt had 18 kills, 14 digs and two aces. Madelyn Haala had 45 set assists and three aces, while Jaylin Hartness had 23 digs.

Cathedral took the first set 25-16 after going on a 9-2 run, but Set 2 was a more even game as the score with MVL held a 20-19 lead. MVL went on a 5-2 run to take the set off of a Munsen block and kill.

Set 3 looked to be a repeat of Set 1, with the Greyhounds taking a 15-7 lead off of a Hotovec kill, but MVL shored up and went on a 12-3 run, tying the game on an ace serve by Mackenzie Merseth and taking the 19-18 lead on a kill by Munsen. However, a trio of kills by Wilfahrt sealed the game up for Cathedral as it won 25-23.

The Greyhounds jumped out again in Set 4, taking a 12-6 lead and forcing an MVL timeout. The Chargers came out of the break hot, taking the next 4 points, but Cathedral pulled ahead again with a 7-2 run with kills by Wilfahrt, Hotovec and Ava Krueger. The Chargers retook the momentum, going on a 10-2 run, tying the game with a kill by Schauer and taking a 22-21 lead on an error by Cathedral.

Hotovec tied the game back up again on a strong spike, and the teams traded points for several serves, battling out to a 29-29 tie before a kill and a block by Schauer sealed the game for MVL.

Riding their momentum from winning the set, the Chargers jumped out to a 10-3 lead in the final game, and though Cathedral pushed back with the help of a pair of kills by Wilfahrt, it couldn’t replicate MVL’s success as the Chargers won the game 15-11 on a kill by Schauer.

MVL (7-11, 3-2) has six games left in the regular season, starting with Wabasso on Thursday. Pearson wants to see her team gain some confidence as they head to the Section 2AA playoffs.

“Our goal for the rest of the season is to start and uphill momentum,” Pearson said. “We have two super tough teams in Wabasso on Thursday and [Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart] the following week, so those are going to be battles. We are just going to take it one game at a time though the rest of conference [play]. I was looking at our section, and we’re right around sixth [seed] right now, so I’m hoping we can get up to four or five and have a competitive first match.”

Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial looks to be the team to beat in the section, and MVL lost to the Knights 3-1 in their first match of the season but looked competitive in all the sets.

“If we saw them again, we lost to them first game of the season, but they were close,” Pearson said. “So I think that that would be a fun battle for us. Just like we lost to Cathedral early in the season and then came back, I think that if we can get some more momentum going on our side, it will be a good finish to the season.”

Cathedral (7-9-1, 0-4) hosts Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop on Thursday.