TRUMAN – The No. 11-seeded Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial Knights left the No. 6-seeded Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman Jaguars stunned on Monday night in Truman.

The Knights forced a fifth game to beat the Jaguars, 9-25, 25-22, 21-25, 25-22, 15-10, during the Section 2A, South Sub-section play-in match.

“I’m at a loss for words,” Jaguars head coach Paul Steinhaus said after the match. “They (Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial) played like a team with nothing to lose.”

Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman ended the season with a 15-11-1 record, while the Knights (3-22-1) play No. 3-seeded Springfield in the sub-section quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Thursday in Springfield.

The Jaguars, who had beaten the Knights 3-0 on Sep. 13, marked a 25-9 first-game victory. The home team started with a 9-4 lead on the strength of three kills from senior middle hitter Kenlie Pytleski. The Knights notched their fifth point after Jaguars junior defense specialist Emma Ziemer hit her serve out of bounds.

But the Jaguars quickly regained possession when LCWM junior setter Emily Weston’s serve bounced off the net. The Jaguars scored seven unanswered points with the help of senior setter Hannah Johanson’s 7-for-7 serving run. Weston lobbed a set to eighth-grade middle hitter LaKesha Carter for the sideout kill.

The Jaguars outscored the Knights, 9-3, during the final portion of the game and won on an out-of-bounds hit from the Knights’ Leah Jones.

“I think they expected to play a team they lost to a couple times this season,” Steinhaus said about the Knights. “Once they saw the door was opened, their confidence level changed in terms of their level of play.”

Despite the Jaguars taking an early 5-2 lead to start Game 2, the Knights went on a 5-0 run to mark their first lead of the match.

Junior defense specialist Alex Schuder later served the Jaguars to a 6-0 run for a 16-10 advantage, starting with Johanson’s sideout kill. Pytleski followed with two more kills, and the Knights committed an error during the run. Schuder smacked down an ace and hit another serve that the Knights were unable to return. The Jaguars’ run ended when Schuder’s serve went out-of-bounds.

The Knights finally tied the game at 18 when senior right-side hitter Sydney Ziegler nailed a kill. The Jaguars took the lead back with three unanswered points, but the Knights responded with five points for a 23-21 game.

Though the Knights committed a hitting error, Carter’s kill gave them the ball back and a Jaguars’ error gave them the game, 25-22.

The Jaguars managed an early lead in the third game, but the Knights kept coming and used a 5-0 run to tie the score at 11.

The Knight committed two errors, one of which came on freshman libero Lydia Steinhaus’ serve, before bouncing back with three consecutive points. Senior setter Maddie Graham connected with Jones for the sideout, Pytleski hit the ball out-of-bounds and Graham served an ace for the 14-13 lead.

Pytleski made up for it and notched the kill, with a feed from Johanson, to tie the game. The dueling teams went back-and-forth until junior outside hitter Marissa Steinhaus tipped over a sideout kill.

Graham committed a hitting error and Marissa Steinhaus notched an ace as the Jaguars went up, 23-20.

Both teams added a point apiece, but the Knights’ second error on Lydia Steinhaus’ serve cost them the game, falling 25-21.

With the match on the line, the Knights used a 6-0 run to take a 16-14 lead in the fourth game. Knights senior libero Bailey Burnett hit a serve out-of-bounds to inch the Jaguars within one, but the Knights came back with three points.

The Jaguars then outscored the Knights, 5-1, to knot the game at 20-20 with the help of a kill from senior hitter Kierra Preston. Both teams recorded two points before the Knights took the final three points, which included a Jaguars serving error, a block from Carter and a kill from senior outside hitter Amanda Sickler, to force a Game 5.

The Knights made good on Jaguar errors for a 4-0 lead to start the final game. The Jaguars knotched their first point when Graham’s serve sailed out-of-bounds. With two more hitting miscues from the Knights, the Jaguars were within one. But Jones smacked down a kill to get the Knights back the ball.

The Knights continued to create distance, going up 11-4 in the game. Pytleski managed to flip a kill over, but Carter hit the sideout to regain possession.

The Jaguars pulled within three at 13-10, but a Weston-Carter connection put the Knights one point closer to the win. In a last attempt to rally, the Jaguars netted a hit, dropping the game, 15-10.

Pytleski was sick and the Jaguars were without starting libero Alexis Brummond and hitter Hanna Geistfield during Monday’s match.

“We were trying to overcome a couple players that we’re normally used to playing with not being here tonight. That makes a difference,” Paul Steinhaus said.

The Jaguars lose Johanson, Pytleski, Brummond, Geistfeld, Courtney Zaharia, Jordan Smith and Kierra Preston to graduation. The players were freshman during Paul Steinhaus’ first year as the team’s head coach.

“I think in terms of the level of play and numbers of wins, those kinds of things, they did a nice job of establishing where we are and where we want to go (as a program),” he said.

Iowa Playoffs

North Union 3, Emmetsburg 1 – The Warriors outdueled the E-Hawks, 25-23, 19-25, 26-24, 26-24, during Iowa Class 2A, Region 3 quarterfinal action Monday night in Emmetsburg.

North Union (18-12) advances to face No. 13-ranked Central Springs (21-6) in a 7 p.m. regional semifinal match on Thursday in Manly, Iowa. Central Springs gained the next round via a 12-25, 25-11, 26-24, 25-17 victory over West Fork.

Ironically, North Union ended its regular season with a 25-22, 25-23, 25-19 sweep over Emmetsburg on Oct. 13.

No individual or team statistics were reported.