GETTING VERTICAL — Truman/Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain hitter Londyn Bowers (7) displays her vertical leap while hammering the volleyball around a double-block set by Fairmont’s Brylee Miller (1) and Ellie Ortega (10) during a nonconference match on Tuesday night at Cardinal Gym in Fairmont. (Photo by Greg Abel)

FAIRMONT — The Fairmont Cardinals’ volleyball team celebrated senior night on Tuesday with a tough 25-20, 17-25, 16-25, 25-16, 14-16 nonconference loss to the Truman/Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain Jaguars in Fairmont.

The Cardinals honored Kynlie Anderson, Corene Moeller, Chantel Moeller, Anna Ehlert, Jazlyn Geerdes, Olivia Ortega and Makayla Javers before the match.

“We had a lot of intensity,” Jaguars head coach TJ Williams said. “The girls really wanted it and they always play a little harder when they face Fairmont.”

In the decisive fifth game, the Cardinals held a 10-6 lead, but the Jaguars rallied behind timely kills from Londyn Bowers, who had three big kills to help her team win 10 of the final 14 points to claim the match.

Jaguar hitter Brianna Petrowiak’s serving was big in the final few points.

Both head coaches, Williams for the Jaguars and Kim Breamer for the Cardinals, experienced a roller coaster of emotions with their respective teams playing well at times and not so well at times. Breamer was hoarse after the marathon, which took two hours to play.

Ironically, the fifth Game was the most competitive.

Game 1 was all Cardinals, as Games 2 and 3 were lopsided victories for the Jaguars.

The Cardinals pushed the match to a fifth game after dominating Game 4, thanks to the offensive efforts of Brylee Miller, who dominated at the net with several kills.

Offensively for the Jaguars, Bowers had 14 kills, while Ella Nagorske had 13 set assists and 13 kills.

Serving for the Jaguars, Brianna Petrowiak was 15 of 17 with an ace, while Johnnie Zaharia was 17 of 19 with one ace. Lefty Hayley Stensland finished 14 of 15 serving with two aces.

Offensively for the Cardinals, Geerdes and Miller finished with 17 and 15 kills, respectively.

Fairmont’s Grace Pendergast had a team-high 21 set assists and Anderson finished with 14.

Fairmont’s Ortega was a perfect 19 of 19 serving and Pendergast was 14 of 15 with two aces. Ehlert was steady with her serving too, making 15 of 16 with an ace.

Both Fairmont (5-18) and Truman/Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain (6-22) will await the results of the sectional seeding meetings and open their respective Section 3AA and Section 2A sub-section playoff matches on Monday night and Thursday, Oct. 27, respectively.