ABOVE: Fairmont outside hitter Harper Artz taps over the ball to the Spirit Lake defenders during Monday night's contest at Fairmont.

FAIRMONT – There aren’t many moral victories in sports no matter what level. But during Tuesday night’s loss to Iowa opponent Spirit Lake, Cardinals head coach Stacy Garbers was proud of the way her team fought throughout the four sets.

After dropping the first two sets 25-23 and 25-20, Fairmont bounced back with a must-win victory in set three, winning 25-19. The Indians withstood the Cardinals’ rally in the fourth set, however, finishing the match with a 25-22 victory.

Brylee Miller led the Cardinals with 19 kills and 18 digs on the night. Leslie Zarling finished the match with a team high 29 set assists, while Nora Fitzgerald recorded 17 digs.

Fairmont started set one with aggression immediately, taking an early 7-4 lead off a pair of Miller kills and a Makayla Lowry block.

After ballooning the lead to 14-10, Spirit Lake rattled off a run of its own.

Starting the comeback with a kill from Lauren Travis, the Indians scored eight of the next nine points to crawl ahead of Fairmont 18-15, causing a quick timeout from Garbers.

Following a mini 3-point run from Fairmont, the rest of the set saw both teams again trading punches.

With the set even at 23-apiece, it was Spirit Lake who picked up the final 2 points to take the early match lead. Following a kill from Natalie Wollmuth, the Indians secured the last point after a Miller spike attempt got blocked back over by Travis.

Spirit Lake carried set one’s momentum over into the second, quickly jolting to a 5-0 lead following a pair of aces from JJ Wassenaar.

A long rally ended in the Indians favor after Kinley Dodds placed a ball perfectly in opposing territory, giving Spirit Lake a 9-5 lead.

However, Fairmont was able to rally once more.

Taking advantage of a pair of out-of-bounds hits, the Cardinals evened the score at nine apiece following a well placed kill from Alexis Haycraft.

Later in the set, with Fairmont leading 13-12, Spirit Lake rattled off 5 consecutive points with kills from Dodds, Anabel Sinz and Leah Bolluyt.

The Indians stretched their lead even further following another 3-point swing, putting the score at 21-15 after a handful of out-of-bounds hits from Fairmont.

Despite Fairmont’s late rally, getting kills from Miller and Harper Artz, Spirit Lake put the finishing touches on the set in a 25-20 winning effort.

Heading into what could have been the final set of the night, Garbers started making adjustments for her offensive attack.

With the length Spirit Lake posed in the middle, highlighted by Sinz and Travis, Garbers told her hitters to change their spike approach, using different speeds to get the ball through.

This change in strategy worked immediately for the Cardinals, who used a pair of tap over’s from Miller and Haycraft to propel to an early 6-2 lead.

“We shortened it up a little bit,” Garbers said. “We stopped hitting it quite as hard, and sent over a few more tips and roll shots, and that seemed to work, helping us kind of get back into the game. Sometimes that is what you have to do, adjust as you go.”

Unfortunately for Fairmont, Spirit Lake wouldn’t go down without a fight.

With the Cardinals lead at 10-6 following a Lowry ace, the Indians rattled five consecutive points after kills from Sinz, Travis, and Wollmuth broke through the Fairmont defense.

But this set was all Fairmont from then on out.

Using the motivating words from Garbers and her coaching staff, the Cardinals threw together four consecutive points, breaking the tie at 13, and never letting go of that cushion the rest of the way.

Fairmont finished things off after the Indians cut the lead to 21-18. After a kill from Miller extended the lead to four, the senior scored two of the remaining three points on her own and finished things off with a hardwood shaking spike to take the set.

“She’s a leader on the floor,” Garbers said. “I always look to her to kind of get things done, and yeah, she definitely came through in that third game. Put a lot of balls for kills on the floor.”

Set 4 was similar to the rest of the night between these two opponents: close.

It seemed like things were pulling away from Fairmont after evening the score at six following a Lowry spike.

Spirit Lake rattled off 5 straight points of their own after spikes from Anthea Leupold and Sinz proved to be too powerful for the Cardinals.

However, after falling down 16-10, Fairmont was not done yet, posting another rally of their own.

Scoring 9 of the next 14 points, the Cardinals found themselves down 21-19 in the set’s final moments.

But it was the Indians coming out on top.

With the score at 23-22, Spirit Lake’s Sinz had another kill to bring the match to a near end. Maggie Bruinsma finished things off for Spirit Lake, picking up a net scratching ace that left the home crowd in disappointment.

Fairmont (3-6) continues the season on Tuesday with a home contest against Blue Earth Area. Spirit Lake (5-3) will play Central Lyon on Tuesday.

“They never gave up,” Garbers said. “We have another game [Tuesday] night, we play again Thursday, and we have a tournament on Saturday. So we have a lot of games ahead of us, and we just have to keep upbeat and keep working hard.”