Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Cedar Mountain libero Brynn Hoffbeck (11) digs out a serve next to teammate Aubrey Steffl during the Section 2A Volleyball Tournament quarterfinals match against BOLD on Thursday at Sibley East High School in Arlington.

ARLINGTON — After getting some momentum back with a dominant second-set win to even Thursday night’s Section 2A Volleyball Tournament quarterfinals match, the No. 3 Cedar Mountain Cougars couldn’t get past a scrappy defense by the No. 6 BOLD Warriors after that.

The Warriors ended up winning 25-20, 17-25, 25-21, 25-18 at Sibley East High School.

The Cougars (21-8) fell to BOLD (18-10) in two sets at a tournament in Nicollet on Sept. 27, but Thursday’s playoff match was the first chance for the Cougars to even the score in a full match when it mattered most. The Warriors made things tough on the Cougars with consistent touches, however, ultimately putting things away with a convincing win in the fourth set.

“BOLD played well,” Cougars head coach Beth Hill said. “They were very scrappy and kept everything in play.”

Cedar Mountain was led by a three-headed attack from Kendra Erickson, Aubrey Steffl and Reagyn Kleinschmidt, who each had 15 kills. Erickson also had 19 set assists and 14 digs, while Kleinschmidt had 13 assists, Brynn Hoffbeck had 28 digs, Steffl had 20 digs and Kendra Lueck had three kills.

The Cougars started the first set well with a 4-0 lead, getting quick kills from Kleinschmidt and Steffl. The Warriors hung around, though, tying it up at 8-all. Back-to-back kills from Erickson put the Cougars back in front and they stretched their lead back to 4, 14-10, after a violation.

The lead was brief, however, as a 7-0 run had the Warriors in front 17-14, the first time they led in the set. Hill took a timeout to try to stop the run, but the Warriors extended it to a 10-0 run and 20-14 lead, with a kill from Kaitlyn Flann giving BOLD the final point of the run.

Cedar Mountain got within 3 after that, but a double-hit violation ended the set in favor of the Warriors.

The Cougars again started the next set with a lead, this time a 2-0 lead after back-to-back aces from Erickson. A block from Steffl had the Cougars up 7-3 moments later, but the Warriors chipped away to trail 11-10. A 5-0 run that ended with a kill from Steffl had the Cougars down 17-10. A 5-0 run had the Cougars a point away from evening the set, but BOLD stayed with it briefly before an attack error gave the Cougars the set.

The Cougars ultimately couldn’t quite keep up with the defense BOLD showed as the Warriors took the final two sets to move on in the playoffs.

“There aren’t words to describe how immensely proud I am of this team,” Hill said. “This group is special. They fought until the very end. Tonight just wasn’t our night. However, it isn’t about the end result but about the journey getting there. Our journey was filled with incredible moments.”

Hill also credited the senior leadership from Hoffbeck, Jasmine Schultz, Jaylyn Welter, Miley Renville, Bailey Woodford and Kaedee Okins, who she said did a tremendous job leading the team this year and would be missed.