Staff photo by Ari Selvey Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ Reese Hoffmann (far left), Brynne Ibberson (4) and Audra Hoffmann (far right) celebrate after a kill by Morgan Mathiowetz (3) late into Set 4 of a Section 2A Volleyball Tournament match against Martin County West Thursday at St. Peter High School.

ST. PETER — Fourth-seeded Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s advanced to the Section 2A Volleyball Semifinals with a 25-16, 21-25, 25-19, 25-21 win over fifth-seeded Martin County West Thursday at St. Peter High School.

Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s was down 19-15 in the fourth set before going on a 10-2 run to close out the set and the match.

“I think the biggest difference is how much energy we ended the game with,” Morgan Mathiowetz, who had six kills for the Knights during that final run, said. “Just knowing that we were up the whole time, and when they kept tipping, we kept hitting and we kept that energy throughout the whole game. We never backed down and never stopped being aggressive, so just staying consistent and being confident was the biggest thing for us.”

St. Mary’s setter Josie Helget said the team needed to keep swinging down the stretch of the final set.

“We swung and they tipped,” she said. “Thats really big for momentum when you can get big kills from swinging, so a lot of credit to the hitters for swinging big all the way through.”

Mathiowetz led the Knights with 19 kills and 10 digs, while Helget had 43 set assists. Reese Hoffmann had eight kills, Audra Hoffmann had seven kills and eight digs, and Natalie Fischer had eight digs.

St. Mary’s controlled Set 1 early, taking a 6-1 lead on a kill by Ella Pollard. The Knights continued to hold an 11-4 lead on a kill by Mathiowetz to force an MCW timeout, but the Mavericks went on a 4-0 run, with a kill and a block by Chase, to cut the lead to 11-8. St. Mary’s fought to extend the lead back out to 21-12 with a kill by Audra Hoffmann, forcing another MCW timeout, and two more kills by Audra Hoffmann helped seal the 26-16 win.

Set 2 was more even early, with the teams battling to a 7-7 tie. MCW took an 11-7 lead after a block by Jaylee Hanson, but the Knights tied it again at 12 a few serves later. MCW went on a 9-1 run, led by two kills from Carlson and an ace by Brynlee Haukoos, and while St. Mary’s fought back with a 5-0 run, MCW held on for the 25-21 victory.

Mathiowetz said that getting that final run was helpful for the Knights going into the second set.

“I think just knowing that momentum was with us coming out of that second set,” she said. “We knew we were going into the third set and we had to bring the energy, we had to stay up, we had to attack. We executed very well, we didn’t start tipping in the game we attacked the whole time. That was the biggest thing, and then getting our passes on so that we can run what we want.”

St. Mary’s went up 4-0 to start Set 3 with help from three aces by Helget, but MCW responded with a 4-0 run of its own, with a kill by Haukoos. The teams traded points for several sets, but St. Mary’s eventually climbed to a 16-12 lead on a kill by Kailey Nelson. MCW called a timeout, but it wasn’t enough to stop the momentum as a kill by Mathiowetz gave the Knights the 25-19 win.

Set 4 was close throughout, with MCW gaining the first advantage with a 10-6 lead thanks to a pair of kills by Carlson. However, St Mary’s fought to tie the game at 13 on a kill by Reese Hoffmann. The Mavericks got out to a 19-15 lead on an ace by Carlson, but the Knights went on their 10-2 run to close out the match and advance in the tournament.

St. Mary’s now plays against top-seeded Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart on Tuesday at St. Peter High School. BLHS beat St. Mary’s twice in the regular season and are a tough challenge for the Knights.

“Swing big,” Helget said. “Same as tonight. Passing is always a really big deal just so we can run our offense, and then swing like we know how. That’s what worked for us against them last time, and we’re ready to go after them and hopefully come out on top this time.”