FAIRMONT — The Fairmont Cardinals swept the singles bracket in straight-set style before the St. Peter Saints rallied from one set down to pocket comeback wins in the doubles division.

Fairmont’s sophomore trio of Claire Nemmers, Briana Joseph and Maggy Totzke combined court skills with junior Lauren Green to deliver all four singles points to pace a narrow 4-3 Big South Conference tennis victory over St. Peter on Thursday at the Cardinal Courts.

“I thought Claire did a nice job against a player (Amelia Hildebrandt) who can return nearly everything hit at it, and that’s difficult to face at times,” said Cardinals head coach Eric Johnson. “Our Nos. 2 (Joseph), 3 (Maggy Totzke) and 4 (Lauren Green), like Claire, made the proper adjustments during their (singles) matches, and countered with the right shots in the right situation. That’s high-level singles play there.”

Maggy Totzke, who has a kinesio tape rotator cuff tan line to show for her efforts since returning from her shoulder injury earlier in the season, proved the first Cardinal to exit the sunny playing surface Thursday.

Totzke coasted to a 6-0 opening-set win over Oyku Celik at the No. 3 position in the lineup before losing only one game out of the next seven to stake Fairmont to an early 1-0 team lead.

Only seconds later, Lauren Green doubled the hometown lineup’s advantage by posting a 6-0 first-set win over Annika Southworth before fending off the Saints’ seventh-grader in the second set, 6-3, at the No. 4 spot.

Joseph combined her power skills with her finesse repertoire to derail Emily Salfer’s first-set comeback bid, 6-3, before gliding to a 6-1 second-set decision at the No. 2 position.

The hard-hitting Nemmers then closed out the dual meet’s decisive fourth team point by downing Hildebrandt by a 6-1 first-set margin. Nemmers then utilized her precision drop volleys and passing shots to engineer a 6-3 second-set triumph at the No. 1 spot.

“You have to give them (the Saints) credit for the way their doubles players battled back today,” said Johnson. “We played well in doubles, but just couldn’t close those matches out.”

Ellie Hernes, who played at No. 4 singles on Tuesday, returned to No. 2 doubles with Emily Hagen on Thursday, and the tandem edged St. Peter’s Josie Wiebusch and Jayna Matejcek in the opening set, 6-4. Wiebusch and Matejcek rallied for a 6-3 second-set win before outdueling Hernes and Hagen in a supertiebreaker, 10-3.

The Saints’ No. 1 doubles team of Ella Boomgaarden and Milena Lund then rallied from a 6-3 first-set loss to Bergen Senf and Lauren Davis by reversing the second set’s score in its favor, 6-3, to force a third set.

Since Fairmont held a 3-0 team lead and the dual’s final outcome hadn’t been determined at that juncture, the No. 1 doubles teams played a full third set, with Boomgaarden and Lund pulling off the 6-2 decisive win.

The Saints’ Molly Voeltz and Macy Weller dropped a 7-5 opening-set decision to the Cardinals’ Libby Totzke and Anika Haugen at No. 3 doubles before turning the tables in their direction in the second set, 6-1. Voeltz and Weller then captured the decisive supertiebreaker by a 10-7 margin.

Fairmont (12-7) travels to Mapleton today to play Maple River in a 4 p.m. rescheduled dual meet before playing host to United South Central at 10 a.m. Saturday in another rescheduled dual meet at the Cardinal Courts in Fairmont.

St. Peter plays host to Worthington at 4:30 p.m. Monday.

Varsity Meet

Fairmont 4, St. Peter 3

Singles: Claire Nemmers (F) def. Amelia Hildebrandt, 6-1, 6-3. Briana Joseph (F) def. Emily Salfer, 6-3, 6-1. Maggy Totzke (F) def. Oyku Celik, 6-0, 6-1. Lauren Green (F) def. Annika Southworth, 6-0, 6-3.

Doubles: Ella Boomgaarden-Milena Lund (SP) def. Bergen Senf-Lauren Davis, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Josie Wiebusch-Jayna Matejcek (SP) def. Ellie Hernes-Emily Hagen, 4-6, 6-3, (10-3). Molly Voeltz-Macy Weller (SP) def. Anika Haugen-Libby Totzke, 5-7, 6-1, (10-7).

Blue Earth Area 7, New Ulm 0 — The Class A No. 6-ranked Bucs shuffled their lineup on Thursday and still produced a shutout victory over the Eagles at Hal Schroeder Courts in Blue Earth.

Te’a Armstrong – BEA’s regular No. 1 singles netter – combined at No. 1 doubles with Arika Howard – the Bucs’ usual No. 3 singles player – and coasted to back-to-back 6-0 set wins over Bethany Janssen and Lauren Mages.

Britt Howard and Addison Armstrong blended their respective skills at No. 2 doubles to garner a 6-0, 6-2 win over Ellie Wilker and Emily Guggisberg, while Cali Beyer and Lyndsey Borris moved from the No. 2 position to No. 3 in the bracket and rolled to back-to-back 6-0 set triumphs over Neveah Ubl and Katie Wilker.

Macie Stevermer made a smooth transition from No. 2 singles to the top spot by shutting out Makia Otto, 6-0, 6-0, while McKenna Dutton moved from No. 1 doubles to No. 2 singles and netted a 6-2, 6-1 win over Abby Hietala.

Marissa Benz downed Malia Emerson at third singles, 6-3, 6-1, while Kylie Rosenau shifted from third doubles to fourth singles to pocket a 6-3, 6-0 win over Lydia King.

Blue Earth Area (15-1) plays host to United South Central at 4:30 p.m. Monday at Schroeder Courts in Blue Earth.

Varsity Meet

B.E. Area 7, New Ulm 0

Singles: Macie Stevermer (BEA) def. Makia Otto, 6-0, 6-0. McKenna Dutton (BEA) def. Abby Hietala, 6-2, 6-1. Marissa Benz (BEA) def. Malia Emerson, 6-3, 6-1. Kylie Rosenau (BEA) def. Lydia King, 6-3, 6-0.

Doubles: Te’a Armstrong-Arika Howard (BEA) def. Bethany Janssen-Lauren Mages, 6-0, 6-0. Britt Howard-Addison Armstrong (BEA) def. Ellie Wilker-Emily Guggisberg, 6-0, 6-2. Cali Beyer-Lyndsey Borris (BEA) def. Neveah Ubl-Katie Wilker, 6-0, 6-0.