Staff photo by Travis Rosenau BOLD’s Zoey Lippert attacks the ball while Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart’s Lily Hubin (5) and Jamie Novotny (20) go up for a block during a Section 2A volleyball playoff match Thursday at Minnesosota Valley Lutheran High School’s Storm Fieldhouse in New Ulm. Also pictured behind her BLHS teammates is Elizabeth Ovitt (3).

By Travis Rosenau

trosenau@nujournal.com

NEW ULM — Comebacks were the name of the game for the No. 2-seeded Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart Mustangs on Thursday night at Storm Fieldhouse.

After the No. 7-seeded BOLD Warriors took the opening set and appeared to have the fourth set locked up in the Section 2A Volleyball Tournament quarterfinals, Lily Hubin led a late rally to win the fourth set and match 19-25, 25-17, 26-24, 26-24.

With the Warriors looking primed for a fifth and final set up 24-21 in the fourth set, Hubin and the Mustangs weren’t interested in playing another set. A kill by Hubin, followed by an ace serve from Callie Hable and two more kills from Hubin gave the Mustangs a 25-24 lead and a point away from the semifinals. Even though the final point wasn’t as climactic, a BOLD hitting error, the Mustangs were happy to take it as they punched their ticket to the next round.

“I’ve always been coached that if you’re down, you don’t play like you’re down, you play like you’re up by 10,” Lily Hubin, junior setter and right-side hitter said. “So, just going into it like, ‘I have the whole game to lose right now and I have to go up and just pound it as hard as I can, there’s no other choice or we go home.'”

When it comes to the tournament, the Mustangs will indeed not be going home as they will trek to St. Peter High School on Tuesday for a 7:45 p.m. matchup with third-seeded Cleveland, who swept sixth-seeded Martin County West earlier Thursday.

The Mustangs fell behind 17-13 in the opening set. They managed to come back and tie it at 18-all after a kill from Hable and an attack error, but the Warriors ended the set on a 7-1 run, getting the final 2 points of the set consecutively on a kill from Kenley Elfering and a BLHS error.

Neither squad could create much space from one another in the second set until later on. A block from Jamie Novotny, the Mustangs’ lone senior, energized her team and put them up 11-8. The Warriors took that energy back, though, with a kill from Lilly Henriksen.

The Mustangs were finally able to create some distance over the midway point of the set, getting a 5-0 run to lead 20-14. A Hubin kill gave the Mustangs their largest lead of the set, 24-16, and she added another kill moments later to finish the set and tie the match.

The third set saw the Mustangs take a 13-8 lead early on before BOLD chipped away at its deficit and eventually tied it at 15-all to force a BLHS timeout. The Mustangs got the first point out of the timeout and then increased their lead to 18-15 after back-to-back aces from Chloe Schultz. BOLD tied it with a 3-0 run, but BLHS matched that run and added another point to it to lead 22-18 and force a BOLD timeout.

After another late rally by the Warriors to tie it up at 24-all on a block by Peyton Sander, Schultz played hero with back-to-back kills to give the Mustangs the third set.

Schultz is one of seven juniors for the Mustangs, and her play in the third set was a big reason for her team moving to 26-3 overall on the year and earning another playoff match.

“It’s been so awesome,” Schultz said of the season so far. “I love my team and we’re just all here for each other, so it’s super fun to play together. We just really work well together and it’s super fun.”

It was an ugly start to the fourth set for the Mustangs that saw them commit six early errors to trail 10-4.

“Their blocking was super strong every time and it really frustrated us,” Schultz said. “And even when we got past the block, their passing was always there, too, so that was tough.”

An ace by Sander then put the Warriors up 11-4.

But as the saying goes, it’s not how you start but how you finish.

The Mustangs’ first rally of the set got them a 15-all tie on an ace from Hubin. After the Warriors pulled away late, Hubin ignited the Mustangs’ 5-0 run to end the match.

“They’ve always been like our rivals, whether it’s volleyball, basketball, whatever, so, it’s just like a confidence thing,” Hubin said. “Coming into it, we were a little shaky, didn’t all have our confidence … but we flipped a switch and dug it out of ourselves to win the game. Like, ‘We need to tonight or it’s over.'”

Now the Mustangs turn their attention to 22-8 Cleveland, a Valley Division team from the Tomahawk-Valley Conference. While the Tomahawk and Valley Conferences merged this year to form the Tomahawk-Valley Conference, the Tomahawk Division Mustangs didn’t play the Clippers this season in any crossover matchup.

“Cleveland is our next opponent and obviously they’re a super good team, but it’s just figuring out their weaknesses and drilling them there and getting up on that,” Hubin said. “They’ve got great hitters and a good setter and we’ve just got to block hard and then watch film and just really attack their weaknesses.”