With the win, the Knights improve to 17-5 overall and 6-1 in conference, Sleepy Eye, meanwhile, drops to 5-14 overall and 1-7 on the season.

St. Mary’s used a lot of movement and change of pace in its attack, led by senior setter Josie Helget, who recently passed 2,000 career set assists.

“It really depends a lot on the pass,” Helget said. “It’s always the goal to mix up our offense, but the pass makes the biggest difference. If the pass isn’t on, we can’t run our offense, so a lot of credit goes to them.”

Helget added 29 set assists in the game, while Morgan Mathiowetz had 17 kills and seven digs. Reese Hoffmann had seven kills and seven digs, and Ella Pollard had six kills.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Sleepy Eye’s Sam Price tips the ball over the net while defended by St. Marys’ Ella Pollard (11) and Kailey Nelson (14) during a Tomahawk Division volleyball match at Sleepy Eye High School on Tuesday.

Sam Price led Sleepy Eye with 12 kills, six digs and three aces, while Jaelynn Schauman had seven kills and five digs. Hannah Meyer had 16 set assists and seven digs.

St. Mary’s went on a 8-1 run early in Set 1 to take a 10-4 lead. A pair of kills by Reese Hoffmann and another pair of kills by Mathiowetz forced a Sleepy Eye timeout with the Knights up 16-8. Sleepy Eye battled back with a 4-0 run, with two aces by Price and a kill from Makayla Strong cutting the lead down to 21-15, but a St. Mary’s timeout slowed the momentum, and an ace from Audra Hoffmann ended the set.

St. Mary’s again took a commanding lead early in Set 2, going up 11-3 after a kill from Mathiowetz. The Knights continued to build the lead, going up 19-8 on a kill by Reese Hoffmann and 23-9 on a kill by Pollard. Another kill by Pollard and an error closed out the game.

Sleepy Eye got things going again with a thunderous kill by Price to kick off Set 3. Sleepy Eye parlayed that into a 3-0 lead after a pair of kills by Schauman. St. Mary’s tied it up with a block by Kailey Nelson and a kill by Reese Hoffmann, but Sleepy Eye pushed the advantage, taking an 11-6 lead after aces by Schauman and Price and another kill by Price.

“We just woke up a little bit,” Sleepy Eye head coach Sydney Geiger said. “Our hitting started to connect, and they had to play a little more out of system. I think in the first couple of sets, we were sending a lot of them over for them to set up and they were hitting well. They hit well throughout the match, and we were able to hit right back at them and I think that helped.”

St. Mary’s battled to cut the lead down to 12-11, but a 4-0 Sleepy Eye run led by a pair of kills by Schauman forced a St. Mary’s timeout as Sleepy Eye took a 16-11 lead. Sleepy Eye continued to push, with a kill by Price and a block and a kill by Schauman put the Indians up 19-13.

But St. Mary’s stayed in it, going on a 5-0 run to cut the lead back down to 19-18.

“I think energy — just supporting each other all the way through and keeping our energy high,” Helget said. “The mental game is huge in volleyball, so to be able to come out when we’re down is a really big deal, and that was big for us tonight.”

A kill by Price widened the lead back out to 20-18, but St. Mary’s continued to push, with two kills by Pollard and two more from Mathiowetz helping to tie the game at 23. An error and one final kill by Mathiowetz sealed the set and the match for the Knights.

St. Mary’s has three more regular season games scheduled, with a tough Section 2A tournament after. Helget said the team is working to play its best volleyball at the end of the season.

“Just keep working hard,” she said. “Stay us and make sure we’re peaking at the right time. That’s always the goal, but just keep working hard and be us.”

St. Mary’s hosts Madelia on Thursday. Sleepy Eye plays at Cleveland next Tuesday.