Staff photo by Ari Selvey Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ Morgan Mathiowetz goes up for a spike as Cedar Mountain’s Cloey Wildt (5) and Bailey Woodford (14) move to defend during a Section 2A Volleyball Quarterfinals match Thursday at St. Peter High School.

ST. PETER — Perhaps it didn’t deserve to, but the Section 2A Volleyball Tournament quarterfinals match between No. 4-seeded Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s and No. 5-seeded Cedar Mountain ended in a sweep for the Knights on Thursday.

St Mary’s came away with a 25-23, 25-23, 25-15 win and now advance to play top-seeded Mayer Lutheran on Tuesday.

St. Mary’s had defeated Cedar Mountain in five sets in the regular season, and it wouldn’t have taken much for this match to have repeated that.

“Cedar Mountain always comes out really strong,” St. Mary’s head coach Karri Hoffmann said. “They’re a really well-coached team. So we knew going into this we had to have a good block. We knew that they were going to be really scrappy, so we knew that we would have to mix up our hitting with full shots, tipping, to get open spots on the floor because we knew they were a scrappy team. They proved that tonight, not a lot of balls hit the ground. They were all over the floor on the other side.”

Coach Hoffmann also mentioned that the Knights’ serving was excellent in the match, especially in Set 3, helping trim the margins to make the match a sweep.

Morgan Mathiowetz led the Knights with 17 kills and 21 digs, while Reese Hoffmann had 13 kills and 10 digs. Josie Helget had 29 set assists and 13 digs, and Natalie Fischer had 10 digs.

For Cedar Mountain, Reagyn Kleinschmidt had eight kills, 14 digs and five set assists, while Kendra Erickson had seven kills, nine digs and nine set assists. Aubrey Steffl had five kills and 14 digs, while Brynn Hoffbeck had 15 digs.

Cedar Mountain came out hot in Set 1, with Steffl getting the Cougars fired up with a kill and a block. The Cougars put up a good block, and Cedar Mountain was able to take a 16-12 lead to force a St. Mary’s timeout.

“[We had to go] around the block,” Reese Hoffmann said. “Just those smart shots just to go around the block and push it through the block. They are a very good blocking team. Very good. It is challenging going up at the net, figuring out what is a smart shot to hit.

St. Mary’s used the timeout to mix up their sets, with Helget back setting to Schwartz on St. Mary’s next two points.

“We know we had strong hitters all the way around,” coach Hoffmann said. “We knew we had to mix up our sets to get the blockers on the other side moving so we could get all of our hitters involved. So once we got that going, then we got into the game flow.”

The Knights were able to fight back to tie the game at 19 with help from a pair of kills from Mathiowetz as Cedar Mountain Called a timeout.

The Cougars were also able to rally after the break, going on a 3-0 run with an ace from Samantha Gruendemann drawing another timeout from the Knights. However, St. Mary’s prevailed, with kills by Helget, Kailey Nelson and Schwartz leading a 5-0 run to close out the game with a 25-23 win.

St. Mary’s kept the momentum up in Set 2, taking a 4-2 lead to open on a kill by Mathiowetz. The Knights continued to push to a 12-6 lead on another kill by Mathiowetz. Cedar Mountain pushed back, going on a 12-2 run, led by a pair of kills and a block by Erickson, to take a 18-14 lead through two St. Mary’s timeouts. The Knights recovered, with Ella Pollard getting a block and a kill to retake the lead, and Mathiowetz closed it out with a pair of kills for another 25-23 win.

Despite the back-and-forths, St. Mary’s was able to keep its energy up, pushing to make Set 3 less competitive for a 25-15 win to complete the sweep.

“[We needed] to make sure everybody’s up when we go down,” Reese Hoffmann said. “Just being a team, cheering for everybody, and it’s nice that we have a good atmosphere here too. Just being a team and knowing that everybody has energy too.”

St. Mary’s will have its toughest test of the season now against Mayer Lutheran, who came away with a convincing sweep of Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther to advance to the semifinals.

“We know they run a fast offense, and we know that they’re tall,” coach Hoffmann said. “So we’re bringing in some people to be blockers for us. Hopefully that will help with getting some taller blockers getting them to go around the block. We know they’re a good serving team, so we just have to play our best game against them, and if we play our best game, maybe we can win.”

“We have nothing to lose,” St. Mary’s assistant coach George Schwint added. “We’re the underdogs, it’s a nice feeling going into it that way. Just play loose, play fun. The girls play well when they do that.”

Reese Hoffmann said that the team would have to go all out to continue its playoff run against Mayer Lutheran.

“It’ll take a lot for us, knowing that they are a very good team,” she said. “But I think just having the confidence and a lot of effort and fight, we have to fight just to push through.”