BETWEEN DEFENDERS — Fairmont’s Jazlyn Geerdes (left) elevates to drill a spike between Jackson County Central blockers Andria Benson (18) and Sawyer Flatgard (10) during Big South Conference volleyball action Monday night at Cardinal Gym in Fairmont. Fairmont’s Olivia Ortega (12) watches the play. (Photo by Greg Abel)

FAIRMONT — In a possible sectional playoff preview, the Fairmont Cardinals’ volleyball team hosted the Jackson County Central Huskies on Monday night at Cardinal Gym in Fairmont.

Currently, the Huskies are second in the Section 3AA South Sub-Section with a 119.8 QRF, while the Cardinals are seventh with a 47.2 QRF.

On Oct. 3, Jackson County Central head coach Deidre Wierson collected her 150th career win at the helm of the Huskies. Wierson is at 156 wins and counting.

This was the Cardinals’ second-to-last regular-season match. They lost to the Huskies 25-12, 25-6, 25-13 on Monday night.

“We’re starting to get healthy,” Wierson said. “We played very well tonight.”

“We have to come out and play well instead of coming out and not have that intensity,” Fairmont head coach Kim Breamer said. “Our intensity has to be there in every match.”

The Huskies jumped out to early leads in Games 1 and 2 and never allowed the Cardinals to get any momentum.

Game 3 was close early before the Cardinals made several unforced errors to give their visitors the win and sweep.

JCC’s Emma Haren finished with a team-high 18 kills and was 14 of 16 serving, while Maci Farmer had 29 set assists and was 17 of 17 serving. The Huskies had 11 serving aces.

Defensively for the Huskies, Haren made 10 digs.

For the Cardinals, Brylee Miller had a team-high three kills, while Grace Pendergast finished with seven set assists. Miller, Oliva Ortega and Anna Ehlert were perfect on their serves, going 5-for-5, 4-for-4 and 5-for-5, respectively.

On defense for the Cardinals, Kynlie Anderson had nine digs, followed by Miller with eight.

Next for Fairmont (5-17) is its regular-season finale at 7:30 p.m. tonight against the Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman Jaguars in Fairmont.

“It’s senior night, so our girls will be pumped,” Breamer said. “We played them earlier this season and beat them. We’re hoping for better results.”

The Cardinals won the match in three games back on Oct. 1.

Jackson County Central (18-11) awaits the announcement of its Section 3AA South Sub-Section tournament opponent, time, day and location.

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Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial 3, Blue Earth Area 0 — The Knights posted consecutive wins of 25-13, 25-12, 25-16 over the Bucs during nonconference action Monday night in Lake Crystal.

Eloise Blair led Blue Earth Area’s defense by recording 15 digs, while Katherine Armon and Taylor Klabunde contributed eight scoops apiece.

Klabunde also smacked three kills and scored six points, including three aces, on 11-for-11 serving, while Berkley Hagedorn notched six points on 7-for-7 serving.

Haley Kalis doled out eight set assists and went 6 of 6 serving for the Bucs, while Armon and Kylee Eckmann each drilled four kills. Hailey Becker added three kills and three set assists.

Blue Earth Area (9-15) awaits the results of the sectional seeding meeting and opens sub-section action Thursday, Oct. 27, against an opponent and at a time to be determined.