FAIRMONT — Kim Breamer literally understands the meaning of the phrase, “There’s always a first time for everything.”

Breamer will make her debut as the Fairmont head volleyball coach when the Cardinals open the season against Pipestone Area in a 2:30 p.m. Big South Conference Showcase match today at Redwood Valley High School in Redwood Falls.

Ironically, this fall’s senior student-athletes were Breamer’s original core of players during her first year as Fairmont’s C-squad spiking instructor in 2016.

“They were my first group of players as freshmen, and I think we meshed well at that level,” said Breamer, who enters her fifth year as the Fairmont Elementary School’s band teacher. “They’ve shown they possess the talent and ability in this sport. Now, we (coaching staff) have to find out what combinations work and how to put it all together.”

Breamer fills the void at the Cardinals’ volleyball helm created when Haley Loerts resigned last fall on the heels of her fifth varsity campaign at Fairmont.

Breamer will look to make the transition from C-squad mentor to head coach with insight from Sally Schmitz, who returns as the program’s varsity assistant, along with a pair of coaching newcomers and former Fairmont standouts in Tori Edgington and Brooke Wubbena this fall. Edgington will handle the B-squad coaching duties, while Wubbena will mentor the C-team.

“I was officially hired at the end of May, and got my coaching staff in place by the middle of June, so we’re ready to go,” said Breamer.

Breamer inherits nine returning seniors, paced by varsity veterans and co-captains Jen Moeller and Andrea Westcott, to complement nine juniors and one sophomore to round out her opening-day varsity roster.

Moeller merited all-Big South Conference honorable mention accolades and Sentinel All-Area volleyball honors as an all-around player during the 2018 season.

Breamer anticipates Moeller and sophomore 6-footer Cassidy Schultz playing all six spots in the rotation, but will re-evaluate her personnel’s skills as the schedule progresses.

“We plan to run a 6-2 offense, with Andrea and (junior) Sabrina (Segar) handling the setting, while (junior) Kaitlin Scott will be in the mix, too,” said Breamer. “We will dress all 19 players, but some players will split time between varsity and junior varsity throughout the season.”

Westcott, Segar and Scott will look to distribute sets to senior outside hitters Kylee Harder, Macey Bearson, Savannah Glienke and Moeller, along with junior outside spikers Maddy Schwieger and Acacia Schmidt.

Senior Cambrie Anderson will play in the middle hitting position, as well as junior Natalie Tonne, while Schultz and junior Bryn Miller will likely see action both on the outside and near the center of the net.

Seniors Chloe Murphy, Sophie Johnson and Kaitlyn Freese will join forces with junior Madysen Allen as the Cardinals’ backrow defensive specialists, while juniors Mia Collazo and Emma Blair will serve as the team’s utility players this fall.

“Communication (on the court) has been our biggest hurdle in the past,” said Breamer. “That aspect of the game IS essential in order to have any kind of success.”

In addition to improving their communication skills, Breamer and her coaching staff have returned to the basics during their first two weeks of preseason practices.

“Reading the serve, service receive, passing, digging, serving, setting, and attacking at the net are what we’ve been working on,” said Breamer.

“From a coaching standpoint, one of my goals is to find the success that I know they (the players) have inside them and bring that out on the court.

“We need to pull out enough wins during the regular season to get a good seed in the playoffs, and then make it past the first round.”

Fairmont finished with a 6-19 overall record, including a 3-0 loss to Waseca in the Section 2AA, South Sub-Section quarterfinals, in 2018.

“Every team is beatable on any given night. Now we need to gain confidence and develop a consistent high level of play every time out,” said Breamer.

Fairmont travels to Waseca for a Big South Conference meet on Tuesday night.