Staff photo by Ari Selvey Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart’s Lauren Hubin dives for a dig as teammate Kelsey Ulrich (left) looks on during the Section 2A Volleyball Semifinals against Cleveland Tuesday at St. Peter High School.

ST. PETER — Despite a strong 25-21 win in Set 1, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart fell in four sets to Cleveland, going down 25-23, 25-14 and 25-19 in the final three sets of a Section 2A Volleyball Tournament semifinal match at St. Peter High School.

“The first set, we applied a lot more pressure offensively with our serve to keep them out of system,” BLHS head coach Aaron Hubin said. “Our swings, I don’t think they were used to blocking middles, and we have a heavy middle attack a lot of times. So it gave us a lot of confidence and I think it surprised them a little bit. They were able to make some adjustments in the second set, and they were able to shut us down, which dipped our confidence level. I thought we’d respond stronger at the end, but it didn’t turn out that way.

The Mustangs had a well-rounded attack in the game, with four players getting over five kills. Lily Hubin led the group with 17 kills and an ace, while Lauren Hubin and Chloe Schultz each had 11 kills. Callie Hable added six kills and a block.

Set 1 started out tight, with neither team gaining a 3-point lead until an ace by Lily Hubin helped put the Mustangs up 13-10. Cleveland called a timeout, but BLHS maintained the lead with kills from Jamie Novotny, Schultz and Lily Hubin. Cleveland called another timeout down 19-15, but a pair of kills by Lily Hubin set up Novotny for a set-winning kill.

Set 2 was again close, but this time Cleveland began to get a stronger block on BLHS. The Clippers were the first to take a 3-point lead this time, much later in Set 1 as Cleveland went up 22-19 to force a BLHS timeout. Two kills and a block by Lily Hubin tied the game at 23, but an error and a kill by Cleveland’s Melia Sathoff ended the set with a Clipper win.

Cleveland took that momentum in the Set 3, going up 6-1 with three aces from Anika Sathoff. After a timeout, BLHS stormed back with a pair of kills by Schultz to cut the lead to 7-1, but a 4-0 run by Cleveland forced another timeout out of the Mustangs as they went down 11-6. Cleveland held off further comeback attempts by BLHS, taking the set 25-14.

BLHS looked more in sync in Set 4, keeping the game close once more, but never took the lead in the game. Schultz got a kill to cut the lead to 13-12 but Cleveland went on a 11-3 run to extend the lead back to 24-15. A 4-0 run by BLHS got the crowd on its feet, but a final kill by Melia Sathoff gave Cleveland the victory and moved the Clippers on to a section finals meeting with Mayer Lutheran at 6 p.m. Thursday night at St. Peter High School.

BLHS ends its season with a 26-4 record.

“Overall our season was terrific,” coach Hubin said. “We got further into the playoffs than we have in a lot of years. I’m really proud of the girls. We’re such a small team, and only one senior. I’m really proud of how the girls fought and worked all year long.

“We’ve had not so many injury issues, but we were up against a lot bigger schools at times and a lot bigger teams, and we just can’t sub as much, and they worked through that. Overall, we had a great season, and unfortunately we lost today to a team that we could have beat, we didn’t show up like we should have, but I’m very proud of them.”