GRANADA — Last year, the No. 6-seeded Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman Jaguars were dealt a stinging upset loss by No. 11-seeded Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial in the opening round of the Section 2A, South Sub-Section volleyball playoffs.

One season later, the Jaguars, who received the No. 8 seed, avoided early elimination with a 25-20, 25-23, 25-19 opening-round sweep over the No. 9-seeded Mountain Lake Area Wolverines on Monday night in Granada.

“It’s always good to win the first one. Last year, we didn’t quite do that and pull it off, so it was kind of hanging in the background a little bit,” Jaguars head coach Paul Steinhaus said.

The Wolverines finished with a record of 5-19, while the Jaguars (8-20) move on to face No. 1-seeded Waterville Elysian-Morristown at 7 p.m. Thursday in Waterville in a sub-section quarterfinal match. The Class 1A, No. 8-ranked Bucs received a first-round bye.

“Part of the whole maturity process is to beat the best, and well, now from this point forward, we’re going to (take it) one game at a time and beat the best,” Paul Steinhaus said about his young team.

Down 9-8 in Game 1, Wolverines senior right-side hitter Marta Stoesz hit the ball out-of-bounds, and Jaguars senior outside hitter Marissa Steinhaus served up five straight points.

Wolverines junior middle hitter Rylie Tollefson used one of sophomore Destiny Sybounheuan’s 12 set assists to get the sideout.

The Wolverines pulled within two points after Jaguars junior defense specialist Shawna Appel netted her serve. Jaguars freshman middle hitter Michaelah Petrowiak then smacked down a kill, with the assist from sophomore setter Lydia Steinhaus, to get senior libero Alex Schuder to the serving line.

Schuder went 19-for-20 to produced 14 points in the match, including three straight points to put the Jaguars up, 23-19.

Lydia Steinhaus then lobbed up two sets for Petrowiak to close out the game with the 25-20 win.

Junior libero Chloe Hartman, who went 9-for-9 with an ace and four points, then served the Jaguars to a 12-5 lead to open Game 2.

A sister-sister connection between Lydia Steinhaus and senior outside hitter Marissa Steinhaus later doubled the Jaguars’ lead to 16-8. Marissa Steinhaus followed with an ace serve and finished the contest with 12 points on 18-for-19 serving.

Petrowiak’s height and long outstretched arms then provided the Jaguars with a block to put the home team up by 10.

The Wolverines strung together runs and outscored the Jaguars, 11-4, to get within two after the Jaguars struggled to return senior middle hitter Jeneel Rodney’s serve.

A Wolverines hitting error, however, gave the Jaguars the game point. Petrowiak managed to nail one of her team-best seven kills over the Wolverines’ blocking for the Jaguars’ 2-0 match lead.

The Wolverines committed a blocking error before Schuder served up nine more Jaguars points to open the third game. Her 11th serve was short and hit the net to stake the Jaguars at 10-1.

The Wolverines later pulled within four points after sophomore outside hitter Margo Stoesz’s ace serve and a Jaguars error on an attempt at returning Morgo Stoesz’s next serve for the 19-15 score.

The Jaguars held the Wolverines at bay, though, and got the final point when the Wolverines mismanaged Lydia Steinhaus’ final serve. The sophomore completed all 10 of her serves with an ace for five points in addition to dishing out 14 assists.

“Lydia’s been doing a good job,” Paul Steinhaus said. “She’s just a sophomore (and improved) in terms of making decisions, getting the hitters in positions to make good swings. She’s done a nice job even in terms of the leadership role.”