Not only did Wilfahrt hit that 1,000-kill milestone in the match, she also set a single-season school record for kills as she finished with 21 on the night to lift the Greyhounds to a 25-12, 25-21, 25-19 sweep.

Wilfahrt passed the Greyhounds’ previous single-season record of 399 kills and now sits at 416.

“It means a lot,” Wilfahrt said. “I feel like it does show the work that I’ve put in. It’s not just me, it’s all my teammates. We’re in the gym like all the time.”

Wilfahrt’s 1,000th career kill came after picking up her second kill of the second set, assisted on by Margo Finstad.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm Cathedral’s Shay Wilfahrt (9) goes up to hit the ball past Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop’s Kjerssa Jasinski (16) and Lauren Schafer (4) during a Tomahawk Division volleyball match on Tuesday in Winthrop.

“I knew it was going to be Margo, I just knew it,” Wilfahrt said. “We spent a lot of time trying to calculate it and everything, but I just try to not think about it. I knew I was going to get it, but I didn’t want to get worked up or anything.”

Wilfahrt also had four aces, 17 digs and a block in the win, while Finstad finished with 23 assists, 17 digs and three aces. Ava Krueger also had eight kills, 15 digs and two aces for the Greyhounds, while Jayde Altermatt had 14 digs and four aces.

Ella Nachreiner led GFW with seven kills, while Kora Schwarzrock had six kills and Chloe Henrichs had four kills and five digs. Kinley Bruns led the Firebirds in digs with 15, while Lauren Schafer added five digs and two blocks, Kjerssa Jasinski had two blocks, Natalie Ahlbrecht had 10 assists and Maren Kemkes had six assists.

A block by Schafer opened the first set for a GFW lead, but that was the only lead the Firebirds had in the set from there out. After a kill by Henrichs had the Firebirds down 8-7, a kill from Krueger started a 5-0 run that put the Greyhounds up 14-7.

A kill by Ahlbrecht ended that run, but the Greyhounds went on another 5-0 run to stretch their lead to 19-8. The Greyhounds finished the first set on a kill by Maddy Hazuka.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop’s Lauren Schafer (4) is hugged by defensive specialist Kinley Bruns after a kill against New Ulm Cathedral during a Tomahawk Division volleyball match Tuesday in Winthrop.

Wilfahrt got the first 3 points of Set 2 all on kills, with a brief pause to celebrate with her teammates after her 1,000th career kill. The Firebirds made a push after that, getting a 5-0 run moments later that ended on a big spike from Nachreiner to put her team up 8-5 and prompt a Cathedral timeout.

After falling behind 13-7, the Greyhounds chipped away to trail 13-11, but the Firebirds got another 5-0 run to lead 18-11 and force the Greyhounds to use their final timeout of the set. During that 5-0 run, the Firebirds got a kill from Schafer and an ace serve from Henrichs.

The Firebirds went up 20-12 after the timeout, but the Greyhounds ran back with a 10-0 run to lead 22-20. GFW errors and four kills from Wilfahrt were the story of that Cathedral comeback run. After a service error ended the run, the Greyhounds got another kill from Wilfahrt, followed by an ace from Abbey Hillesheim and a GFW attack error to finish the set.

“I think it ws just taking a second and just resetting,” Wilfahrt said of her team’s comeback in Set 2. “We had a lot of stupid mistakes I should say, but we just needed to reset. Even in the timeout and when we were on the floor when we would huddle up and everything, we just had to forget about the last couple of points and just play our own game on our side.”

Set 3 saw the Firebirds in early control with a 7-2 lead after a kill from Nachreiner. The Greyhounds battled back again and took an 8-7 lead. The teams traded the lead four times after that, with the Greyhounds getting the final lead after a 4-0 run put them up 19-16.

The Greyhounds finished the set and match on a kill from Wilfahrt, an ace from Finstad and a kill from Krueger.

Cathedral (14-12, 6-1) has a tough test in its final home game of the regular season when it welcomes Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart (23-1, 7-0). With it being the final Tomahawk Division game of the year for both teams, a win by the Greyhounds clinched the Tomahawk title on a head-to-head tiebreaker. A win by the Mustangs ends their season with a perfect 8-0 Tomahawk record to clinch the Tomahawk title. The winner of the Tomahawk Division will play the Valley Division champion Cleveland Clippers at a date to be determined.

GFW (1-22, 0-8), meanwhile, hosts Renville County West on Monday in the Firebirds’ regular season finale.