Cardinals fly by Southwest Christian Eagles for three-game sweep

The Luverne Cardinals progressively increased the point spread for each of the three games they won to take the match against the Southwest Christian Eagles Monday night in Edgerton.
Luverne earned the first point of the night with a bump by Trista Baustian to Reghan Bork who set for Anja Jarchow to put it over. 
The first part of the game consisted of alternating points on the scoreboard with solid offensive plays earning the Cardinal points.
For example, Bork passed to Baustian with a set to Elise Ferrell, who surprised the Eagles with a light tap over the net, taking a different approach than her usual powerful kill. 
Executing the light tap again was Christina Wagner aided by a set assist from Bork. 
Later, Baustian executed an ace serve just inside the edge of the court, which the Eagles thought would be out of bounds. 
With Luverne in the lead by one, Ferrell passed to Baustian who set to Morgan Ahrendt, and then the trio executed the exact strategic move on the next play. 
Luverne put up some effective defensive blocks by duos Wagner and Kamryn Van Batavia and another by Ferrell and Anja Jarchow. 
Shortly after that, the Eagles tied Luverne at 14. However, some hard straight-line serves by Macy Stratton along with Eagles errors put the Cardinals up by five. 
The Eagles fought back to decrease the gap by four, but a couple of blocks by Wagner and Van Batavia and some Eagles errors allowed Ahrendt to claim the final point with a kill to win Game 1 with a score of 25-21.
 Luverne started Game 2 in the lead with blocks by Jarchow and Baustian followed by some Eagles errors.
The Eagles gained some traction by getting on the board for two points until Ferrell delivered a kill, and Wagner and Baustian teamed up on a block to put Luverne up by four. 
Luverne would slowly increase that gap with the offensive plays of Ferrell catching the Eagles off balance by delivering a light serve over the net into a hole, Bork set assist to Baustian for a light tap over the net, and then changing it up with a powerful kill by Wagner. 
Southwest Christian gained control but the Cardinals went on the offensive again with Van Batavia passing to Baustian who set up Ferrell for the kill, and the trio of Ahrendt, Baustian and Ferrell executing that strategy again. 
With Luverne up by seven, the Eagles pecked away at the score. A bump pass by Stratton to Baustian who set assist for the Ahrendt kill stopped the Eagles’ run only to have the Eagles decrease the gap to three points. 
The duo of Jarchow and Bork put Luverne just shy of 25 when Baustian delivered a kill on the next play to take Game 2, 25-20. Luverne dominated in Game 3 despite Eagles getting on the board first. Ahrendt and Baustian executed a block to put Luverne up by one. 
Then Wagner put one over, which the Eagles could not control. A couple of plays later, it would seem Luverne was losing control, but Stratton saved the play with a spectacular dive to the side of the court, putting the ball back in play to help put Luverne up by four at this point in the game. 
An ace serve by Ferrell, a successful Ferrell bump pass to Bork who set assist for a Wagner kill, and two additional kills by Van Batavia increased the Cardinal lead by six points. 
The Eagles regained some control to decrease the gap to four, but after that the Cardinals soared. An ace serve by Stratton and a bump pass from Stratton to Bork setting up Ferrell for the kill initiated a steady stream of points. 
Again, Ferrell delivered a light serve just over the net, causing the Eagles to scramble, and Baustian caught the Eagles off balance again with a light delivery over the net. The final point was a gift from the Eagles with a touch net call. 
Luverne won Game 3 by a score of 25-14.