ST. PAUL- In a heartbreaking reversal of fortune, the Ely Timberwolves surrendered a 2-0 match lead Friday against third-seeded New Life Academy of Woodbury (NLA) and suffered a 16-14 defeat in the fifth and final set to end their season at 28-5.

Everything was going Ely’s way through the first two sets. The Wolves shot out of the gate fast in the first set, getting a pair of kills by Charlotte Hegman and a third from Clare Thomas to set the tone with a 3-0 lead. NLA kept within striking range through the middle of the match, and then the Wolves started creating some distance. Kills by Hegman and Audrey Kallberg, an ace from Thomas, and an NLA error put the Wolves up 23-15, and kill by Hegman closed out the 25-18 Ely win.

Set two resembled two heavyweight fighters standing toe-to-to exchanging blows as the score was tied 13 times and included eight lead changes. Tied at 21-21, a pair of NLA errors and a Kallberg kill gave Ely a 24-21 edge, and the Wolves held on for a 25-23 win and a 2-0 match lead.

Ely’s stellar performance in the first two sets made it all the more puzzling as fans watched them sputter in the third. With two all-staters in the lineup, the Eagles found their rhythm as they extended a 6-4 lead to 15-7, finding holes in the Wolves’ defense while effectively stunting Ely’s offensive attack. The Eagles continued to pile it on, claiming a stunning 25-13 win.

Ely righted the ship after the break in another heated battle, with a Kallberg kill knotting the score at 8-8. But by riding an ace and three consecutive errors by Ely, NLA broke out to a six-point advantage at 14-8. In a contest between teams equally matched when playing at the top of their games, that lead was enough. Ely got back to within three at 22-19, but the Eagles evened the match 2-2 with a 25-19 win.

To say that the fifth set was a torrid affair would be an understatement. Neither team wanted to go home as they battled through 11 ties and four lead changes in the 15-point finale. The Wolves pulled even at 13 and again at 14 on kills by Kallberg. Then the Eagles got the benefit of the doubt on a close call of a Kallberg shot to the baseline, and the 20th kill of the match by the Eagles’ all-stater Marisa Michaelis was the final blow in New Life’s remarkable resurrection.

The loss put a damper on numerous strong individual efforts by the Wolves. Ely had four players with double-digit kills, with Kallberg nailing a team-high 19, Lilly Rechichi scoring 15, and Thomas and Hegman collecting 11 each. Rechichi converted 26 percent of her total scoring attacks to lead the team in that category. As a team, Ely had five service aces, four of those coming in the first set and none in the final three. Kallberg and Rechichi topped the team in digs with 15 each, followed by Sadie Rechichi with 12. Lowe had 49 set assists.