Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm Cathedral’s Jaylin Hartness hits the ball during a Tomahawk-Valley Conference, Tomahawk Division volleyball match Thursday at Sleepy Eye High School.

SLEEPY EYE — The New Ulm Cathedral Greyhounds fought for a 21-25, 26-24, 25-15, 25-21 win over the Sleepy Eye Indians Thursday in a Tomahawk-Valley Conference, Tomahawk Division volleyball match.

Cathedral overcame significant deficits in both the second and fourth sets of the game, rallying to finish strong in each.

“I just thought we did a much better job tonight of staying composed and not worrying about the score,” Cathedral head coach Becky Wilfahrt said. “Understanding that every ball is a 50-50 chance to get the ball back. Just because you missed the last two doesn’t mean we’re going to miss the next point. I thought, overall, we did a much better job of that tonight. Just staying composed and continuing to play regardless of what the score was.”

Shay Wilfahrt led the Greyhounds with 18 kills, 18 digs and two blocks, while Ava Krueger had 12 kills, 10 digs and three aces. Jaylin Hartness had eight kills, 22 digs and five aces, while Abbey Hillesheim had 20 set assists, 11 digs and three aces. Madelyn Haala had 15 set assists, 11 digs and two aces.

The Greyhounds have adapted from the beginning of the year where they used just one setter in the game to now splitting setting duties between Hillesheim and Madelyn Haala. Coach Wilfahrt said the change was to bring more size to the front line defensively and the team had two capable setters they could use in the rotation — Hillesheim for the front row and Madelyn Haala in the back.

“It started better tonight,” she said. “We blocked better tonight and we blocked better at the beginning of the night. On Tuesday night we blocked really well. I’ve seen us putting up a lot more blocks than we were. We just have to stay a little more consistent with that and finish as the match goes on.”

For Sleepy Eye, Paige Haala had 17 kills, 21 digs and two aces, while Sam Price had 16 kills, 17 digs and two aces. Makayla Strong added six kills, while Ava Kunkel had 41 set assists and eight digs while Nora Coulson had 17 digs.

Despite starting strong in Set 1, the Indians found less and less consistency as the match wore on, costing them several key points throughout the night.

“If we had a 5-, 6-point lead, and we gave them 1, you could slowly see us start to deflate,” Sleepy Eye head coach Sydney Geiger said. “It came down to errors. Controlling what we can control, not giving them points necessarily and looking at some of our errors. We had quite a few errors that we could have went with out. That would have helped with our consistency. At that point, we just have to try to find the court and try to find holes versus risking those errors. I think that’s the biggest thing right now is that consistency piece that we’re working on.”

Jaelynn Schauman got things going in Set 1 for Sleepy Eye with a kill, and the two teams stayed within two points of each other for several serves. Cathedral was the first to break free with a 4-0 run, capped off by two kills from Shay Wilfahrt, to put them up 15-12. Sleepy Eye responded with a 4-0 run of its own, with kills from Price and Paige Haala, to tie the game at 16. Sleepy Eye continued to push, building the lead and eventually taking the 25-21 win.

Sleepy Eye carried the momentum into Set 2, going up 4-1 early on a kill by Price. The teams traded points for several sets, with Sleepy Eye holding onto the lead until Cathedral went on a 6-0 run to tied the game at 17 after two aces by Hillesheim. Sleepy Eye retook the lead on a tip kill by Price, but Cathedral stayed within striking distance and was able to score 5 straight points to win the set 26-24.

The momentum now swinging their way, the Greyhounds put together its best set of the night, taking a 25-15 win in Set 3 to put the pressure on the Indians in Set 4.

Price started off Set 4 with a thunderous kill to help put Sleepy Eye up 4-0 to open. Sleepy Eye maintained that lead, with the score set at 17-13 as Cathedral called a timeout. The Greyhounds began to crawl back into the game and a 10-3 run saw them take a 23-20 lead. Sleepy Eye cut the lead to 23-22 on a pair of Cathedral errors, but a kill by Hartness helped ensure Cathedral completed the comeback with a 25-22 win in the final set.

Cathedral (8-10, 3-3) hosts Martin County West on Monday. Sleepy Eye (6-9-1, 1-6) plays in a tournament at Nicollet on Saturday.