ABOVE: Fairmont’s Lilly Meyers spikes the ball past a pair of Luverne defenders during Tuesday night’s Big South Conference matchup at the Fairmont High School

FAIRMONT – A Luverne spike sent the ball flying in the latter part of the Fairmont back row during the waning moments of the fourth set.

Cardinals defenders raised their hands to avoid contact, eagerly awaiting the ruling of the sideline judge. With the flag raised in the air and the Fairmont home crowd bursting into cheers, volleyball head coach Stacy Garbers knew her team came out victorious.

The Cardinals (6-15) took down Luverne (13-12) during Tuesday night’s Big South Conference battle at Fairmont High School, 25-22, 20-25, 25-22, 25-20. Fairmont is now back in the win column after dropping its previous nine contests spanning back to Sept 13.

“Just super proud that we finished tonight,” Garbers said. “We came here with a purpose, and they played hard, even though we let up on that one game. We came back and fought till the end, and that’s what we have been telling them. We have to find a way to finish, and we did. They played really well, and I’m super proud of my girls.”

Nora Fitzgerald finished the night leading all Cardinals with 17 digs. Brylee Miller gathered a team-high 17 kills while tacking on 10 digs of her own. Jadyn Montgomery wasn’t far with 12 kills. Finally, Leslie Zarling put together a nice night of passing with 30 set assists.

An ace and a spike from Miller gave Fairmont the initial push early on in Set 1, stretching the lead to 9-6 after rattling off three consecutive scores. But this lead was short-lived.

Consecutive out-of-bounds hits from the Cardinals gave Luverne the perfect amount of momentum moments later, with back-to-back kills from Kianna Winter and Anna Banck propelling the team’s first lead of the night at 14-11.

Following a mini 3-point swing from Fairmont that brought the game knotted up at 17, the rest of the match saw both clubs trading blows in a desperate attempt to steal the first set.

It was Montgomery who was able to jump-start the final Fairmont rally late in the set, spiking the ball past Luverne’s defensive lineup to tie things up at 23. Fitzgerald finished things off with a well-placed service point that gave her team the match’s early advantage.

In hopes of mounting a comeback, Luverne took the momentum early in the match’s next set, exploding to an 11-6 cushion with the help of Gabriella Nath-Huls and Taya Johnson picking up perfectly timed kills.

Consecutive spikes from Montgomery and Lilly Meyers inched Fairmont closer, facing an 18-16 deficit and gaining some momentum. But Luverne was committed to evening up this match.

Scoring 7 of the next 11 points, Jocelyn Altman was able to cap things off with a light tap over the net that fell perfectly in between a slew of Fairmont players, evening things up at one apiece.

Set 3 saw much of the back-and-forth gameplay that fans in the Cardinals’ gymnasium were used to seeing all night long. No team was able to stretch their respective leads by more than three points until the final moments of the set.

Fairmont was able to break away from the tightly contested set after taking advantage of a handful of missed serves and out-of-bounds hits from Luverne, with Miller spiking the ball to stretch the lead to 18-15 while keeping the rally going.

Montgomery scored 2 of Fairmont’s final 4 points via spike, ending the set and inching Garber’s team one step closer to victory.

“Their attitude,” said Garbers, regarding her team’s ability to fight back. “They were more upbeat, and they were swinging hard. When we swung hard, they couldn’t stop us, and that’s what we continued to tell them. ‘Keep swinging hard at the net and keep their defense on their toes.'”

Victory started to become a reality in the opening sets of the fourth set. Consecutive kills from Makayla Lowry, Meyers, and Montgomery set up Miller for three straight service points, giving Fairmont a 12-6 lead and forcing Luverne to call a quick timeout.

While Luverne kept battling with points from Nath-Huls and Johnson keeping the game close, Fairmont’s momentum seemed to be too much to mount any sort of comeback.

Montgomery was able to fend off Luverne simply with her own efforts. With Fairmont leading just 13-10, the middle hitter scored her team’s next 4 points in a barrage of methods: blocking, spiking, and setting balls over the net to constantly keep Luverne on their heels.

“We kind of talked to our setter, ‘When you have a hitter that’s on, you keep feeding them because they are scoring,'” Garbers said. “I feel like that connected pretty well.”

Fairmont scored its last three points on Luverne errors to finish off the match and prevent a fifth and final set. Despite the victory, Garbers and her coaching staff know there are still things their team can build on with postseason play right around the corner.

“We have to keep working, and I told them that in the huddle,” Garbers said. “While we did win the game, now we get ready for the next team.”

Fairmont will play another home game at 7:15 p.m. Thursday, this time against fellow Big South Conference opponent Worthington at the high school gymnasium. Meanwhile, Luverne will travel to Adrian/Ellsworth to take on the Dragons at 7:15 p.m. Friday.