BROOKINGS — The Brookings Bobcats jumped out to a two-set lead during its homecoming match, but Watertown rallied to win the final three sets as the Arrows scored a 3-2 victory at Brookings High School on Tuesday evening.

The match started with a comeback after Watertown took a 15-10 lead in the first set. While the Arrows extended the lead to 21-15 later in the first set, the Bobcats scored four straight points to climb within 21-19 and took a 24-23 lead before winning the first set 27-25.

“We talked about having two blockers up on every hitter and working hard to get touches on their attacks and transition into our offense with big, aggressive swings,” Brookings coach Erinn Thomas said of the adjustment made to come back. “We had a few great back row kills, tough serves and scrappy defense in the final seven points that helped us win that first set. That momentum carried us into set two as well. We were siding out and able to run quicker sets and take aggressive swings.”

The momentum carried over as Brookings used a run in the middle of the second set to jump ahead 14-6 and win earn a 25-22 victory. But Watertown took the momentum back by jumping out to an 8-4 lead and leading from wire-to-wire with a 25-19 victory in the third set.

The win set the stage for a back-and-forth fourth set where Watertown pulled ahead for a 19-16 lead that set up a 25-20 victory. By that point, Watertown had seized control and a 5-1 lead in the fifth set led to a 15-8 victory to complete the comeback.

“Watertown got into their offense and utilized their hitters better in the third and fourth sets,” Thomas said. “We still played well, but there were a few too many easy balls over the net and a couple of serving and blocking errors that were the difference.”

Macy Even led the way for Brookings with 19 kills while Rylee Thompson also had 18 kills for the Bobcats. Kymber Buys chipped in with eight kills.

Kamryn Streich had a team-high 25 assists while Buys had 18 assists.

The Bobcats had five aces including two each from Tess Burns and Morgan Norgaard. Buys had the fifth ace for Brookings.

Norgaard had a team-high 23 digs while Buys (15 digs) and Even (14 digs) finished in double figures.

Burns had seven block assists for the Bobcats while Arielle Ferrell had three block assists. Buys had two block assists. Even had a solo block and a block assist. Rylee Thompson had a block assist.

While the loss, which dropped the Bobcats to 10-7 on the season was disappointing, Thomas remained optimistic about her team’s outlook and ability to get back on track ahead of a non-conference matchup against Marshall (Minn.) on Thursday night.

“I’m excited for our team to play Marshall,” Thomas said. “If we compete like we did (Tuesday night), it will be a great match.”