Staff photo by Ari Selvey Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Olivia Hammer hits a ball past Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ Jenica Schroepfer during a nonconference volleyball match Thursday at St. Mary’s High School.

SLEEPY EYE — Powered by strong blocking at the net, Minnesota Valley Lutheran had a comeback win over Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s in five sets, wining 21-25, 11-25, 25-5, 25-23, 15-8 Thursday in a nonconference volleyball match.

“It was a huge win for us,” MVL head coach Amy Pearson said. ” A lot of resilience, a lot of determination to not give up. It was awesome to see the girls fight back and do that.”

MVL had 16 blocks as a team in the game, led by Marley Schauer with seven blocks. Schauer also had six kills and four digs.

“Getting blocks made a big difference for us,” Pearson said. “They started having to go up and over the block, then the balls went out of bounds. That helped us, getting our hands on so many of those blocks. It was great for different girls to step up and do what they needed to do tonight.”

MVL played the game without Ava Munsen, who has been a leader on the team in kills and blocks, but many players on the team were able to step up and replace her production.

“We have great senior leadership,” Pearson said. “Kerrigan [Brau] of course is always steering the ship from the setter position. She continues to do a great job with that. I thought that Gabbie [Bleick] from the defense really picked apart the defense with her attacks tonight. Marley did a great job of blocking, Claudia [Weisensel] stepped up and fulfilled her role for us, getting blocks on the right side. And then Mackenzie Merseth, she really came on strong especially in sets four and five.”

Merseth has played every position aside from setter for the Chargers this season, giving MVL a flexible tool to put anywhere on the court. Merseth had 18 kills on the night, leading the Chargers, to go along with 16 digs and two blocks. Bleick had 14 kills, 16 digs and two blocks, while Brau had 32 set assists, 10 digs and two kils. Olivia Hammer added four kills and 10 digs for the Chargers.

St. Mary’s was led by Jenica Schroepfer, who had 17 kills and 15 digs. Reese Hoffmann, who came back from an ankle injury earlier in the week, had 11 kills and 18 digs. Josie Helget had 47 set assists, and Addie Hoffmann had 26 digs.

Set 1 started evenly, with the teams tied at 14. The Knights scored four unanswered points, capitalized with an ace by Schroepfer. MVL called a timeout and regained its footing, staying trading points with the Knights, but St. Mary’s held on to win the first set 25-21.

St. Mary’s came out strong in the second set, jumping out to a 9-1 lead behind a pair of kills by Reese Hoffmann, but MVL battled back after a timeout to pull to 11-7. St. Mary’s pulled ahead to take a 18-9 lead before finishing out the set with a 7-2 run, with Schroepfer getting three aces, to finish out the set.

In set Set 3, MVL made an adjustment to their lineup that immediately saw dividends.

“I think once we sat into that lineup, that made a big difference for us,” Pearson said. “We’re trying to adjust from losing Ava, then we lost Jenna [Bates] last game. We’re still figuring things out, but it was great to see our seniors and Marley step up with the blocks. That was big.”

MVL scored 15 unanswered points to open the set before Reese Hoffmann stopped the bleeding with a spike kill. However, MVL continued to play strong, with Merseth coming alive with three kills to finish out the set wit ha 25-5 win.

St. Mary’s recovered somewhat to start the fourth set, battling to a 14-10 lead. After trading a few points, MVL went on a 7-0 run to go up 21-18, forcing a Knights timeout. The Chargers held onto their lead, despite a trio of kills by Schroepfer, to win 25-23 on a kill by Bleick.

Schauer got a pair of blocks for the Chargers to start out the final set, and a kill by Merseth forced a St. Mary’s time out with a 7-4 MVL advantage. MVL continued growing their lead with a pair of kills and a block by Merseth, taking a 12-6 lead and drawing out St. Marys’ second timeout. Another two kills by Merseth and an error by St. Mary’s was enough to give MVL the comeback victory.

MVL (9-13) hosts Sibley East on Monday. St. Mary’s (12-11-1) travels to New Ulm Cathedral on Monday.