FAIRMONT — It’s been more than two decades since the Fairmont Cardinals boys tennis team has had a player go undefeated during the regular season.

Fairmont’s No. 2 singles player Tyler Head became the first in the new millenium with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Luverne netter Mark Robinson on Monday.

“It feels awesome,” Head said about his perfect individual season.

The win was bittersweet, however, as Luverne won the meet, 5-2, for the Big South Conference tennis championship.

Ironically, Luverne beat Fairmont by the same score on May 8, and Head beat Robinson, 7-5, 6-2, on that day.

“The second time is a lot more difficult, so it feels a lot better,” said Head.

“I thought Tyler played really well today,” Fairmont head coach Eric Johnson said. “(Robinson) pushed him and he just stayed steady. When things started to get a little close, he didn’t panic.

“He’s undefeated and that could have easily gone to his head. I thought that was really good.”

Also just like in that meet last week, Ben Hernes provided Fairmont with its other win at the fourth singles spot. Johnson moved Hernes up from fourth to third singles, and the junior responded by taking a 7-5, 6-3, win over Cade VerSteeg.

Trey Baustian and Luke Jarchow provided Luverne with its first win via a 6-0, 6-2 decision against No. 3 doubles netters Evan Carlson and Blake Haugen.

Dalton Schoeneman and Layne Curtis added a second win for the visiting Cardinals at the first doubles position. The senior duo marked a 6-4, 6-2, win over Andy Hagen and Tony Joseph.

“I thought Andy and Tony played really well,” Johnson said “(Schoeneman and Curtis weren’t) making many mistakes. We were executing pretty well, we just couldn’t quite get it.”

Shortly thereafter, Luverne No. 1 singles player Chris Jelken defeated Carter Klanderud, 6-2, 6-3.

Jim Erickson and Isaac Gillette sealed the dual-meet win and the conference championship with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Connor Madsen and Thomas Klanderud. Erickson and Gillette were down, 4-1, in the second set and came back to record the win and doubles sweep.

At fourth singles, Tyrell Zieske rebounded from a 6-4 first-set loss to beat Matt Jelken, 6-0, to force a third set. Jelken ultimately won the match with a 6-2 third-set score.

Luverne finished the regular season with a 15-2 record and await the seeding for the Section 3A team quarterfinals today.

Fairmont (7-11) received the No. 4 seed and hosts No. 5-seeded Cotter in the Section 1A team quarterfinals at 4:30 p.m. Monday at the Cardinal Courts. The two teams last played against each other on April 22, with Cotter winning a 4-3 decision.

“That’ll be a really good match,” Johnson said. “We’ve been playing good competition all year, so we’ll be okay with that (team) again.”

BSC Championship

Luverne 5, Fairmont 2

Singles: Chris Jelken (L) def. Carter Klanderud, 6-2, 6-3. Tyler Head (F) def. Mark Robinson, 6-2, 6-4. Cade VerSteeg (L) def. Ben Hernes, 7-5, 6-3. Matt Jelken (L) def. Tyrell Zieske, 4-6, 6-0, 6-2.

Doubles: Dalton Schoeneman-Layne Curtis (L) def. Andy Hagen-Tony Joseph, 6-4, 6-2. Jim Erickson-Isaac Gillette (L) def. Connor Madsen-Thomas Klanderud, 6-4, 6-4. Trey Baustian-Luke Jarchow (L) def. Evan Carlson-Blake Haugen, 6-0, 6-2.