Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Sleepy Eye St Mary’s Amelia Schwartz (10) and Reese Hoffmann (18) go up to block a tip at the net by New Ulm Cathedral’s Abbey Hillesheim (3) on Thursday in a Tomahawk-Valley Conference, Tomahawk Division volleyball match at Cathedral High School.

NEW ULM — In a meeting between two teams that have shown their grit so far in the prep volleyball season, Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s had a bit more of that grit than New Ulm Cathedral on Thursday.

Despite the Greyhounds battling back to take Set 2, they couldn’t get enough momentum going in the end as the Knights earned a 26-24, 22-25, 25-23, 25-19 win in a Tomahawk-Valley Conference, Tomahawk Division volleyball match at Cathedral High School.

The Knights (8-4, 3-2) were led by Morgan Mathiowetz’s 14 kills, while Reese Hoffmann had 10 kills and 13 digs and Josie Helget had 20 set assists and 19 digs. Natalie Fischer added 19 digs for the Knights.

As the second set concluded in favor of the Greyhounds (4-8, 1-3), fans in attendance and Knights head coach Karri Hoffmann were well aware of what kind of a match they were in store for.

In the end, coach Hoffmann said it was her team’s fight that tipped the scales in their favor.

“I think a lot of it for them is they’re just fighters,” she said. “They’re a really group that keeps fighting to the end and that’s what’s so fun about coaching them. They might mistakes, they might get down on themselves, but they figure out a way to get through it and then we can do well. One of our setters [Brynne Ibberson] actually went out and we were playing a different rotation the last game, and they adjusted well and they played with their heart.”

The Greyhounds were led by Shay Wilfahrt’s 17 kills, while Jaylin Hartness had 15 kills, 10 digs and two aces. Madelyn Haala also had 24 set assists and 20 digs, while Abbey Hillesheim had 14 set assists and two blocks.

Greyhounds head coach Becky Wilfahrt said that while she was happy with her team’s fight in the second set, they weren’t able to get enough momentum going due to errors.

“We killed our own momentum,” she said. “Every time we got a big block or an ace serve or a kill, we’d turn around and make an unforced error, whether it was a serving error or a hitting error. We just didn’t build any momentum, we killed our own momentum, we gave the game away. Between our missed serves and our serve receive and our hitting errors, we gave the game away.”

Cathedral jumped out to a 10-4 lead in Set 1 to force a St. Mary’s timeout, which the Knights responded too well out of with a kill from Mathiowetz. Hartness got a kill back for the Greyhounds, but the Knights go a 5-0 run to trail 11-10. The Greyhounds maintained their lead until a 3-0 run put St. Mary’s up 17-15 and forced a Cathedral timeout. The Greyhounds fell down by as much as 5 after that before tying it at 24-all, but the Knights got a kill from Kailey Nelson and a Cathedral attack error to put the opening set away.

A 10-4 lead was again taken to start Set 2, but this time that lead belonged to the Knights, who capitalized on five Cathedral errors during a 9-1 run in that time. Cathedral got a 4-0 run midway through the set to lead 16-14 after a kill from Olivia Macho and stretched their lead to as much as 4 after that before winning the set on a Knights violation.

The Knights built a 5-point cushion in Set 3 and led 16-11 before Cathedral got a 6-1 run to tie it up at 17-all. The Knights ended the set on a 3-0 run, however, with a kill from Mathiowetz ending the set.

St. Mary’s was in the driver’s seat for most of the fourth set, with Cathedral never leading by more than when it started up 2-0 after a Hillesheim block. A 4-0 run that ended in a kill from Shay Wilfahrt gave the Greyhounds a 7-6 lead, but a Cathedral service error followed and a Mathiowetz kill put the Knights back in front. Shay Wilfahrt got another kill after that to tie it at 8-all, but that was as close as the Greyhounds could get it after that as coach Wilfahrt took her final timeout down 18-14. The Knights ended the set with a 4-0 run, getting two kills from Mathiowetz and a pair of aces from Helget to finish the night.

“We always know Cathedral’s going to be tough,” coach Hoffmann said. “They’re going to play us tough, they’re a well-coached team and so that shows on the court. They come out every time playing and I think that’s what a lot of it is. And they had some really good hitters and serving, they did a good job serving at us. I think those were some things that kept us on our feet throughout the game.”

The Greyhounds are at a tournament in St. James on Saturday, while the Knights are at cross-town rival Sleepy Eye on Monday night for a Tomahawk Division matchup.