The Luverne Cardinals volleyball team advances in subsection playoffs with a victory over Pipestone in five sets Monday night in Luverne.
It wasn’t an easy win for the LHS girls, but coach Sarah DeBeer said the Cardinals’ clean serving was a key part of the game.
She said almost all Luverne players were error-free, and their hard work at the net contributed to Monday night’s success.
“This match was the outcome we hoped for after dropping a five-set game to Pipestone earlier in the season,” DeBeer said.
She said the Cardinals have been growing as a team and are currently riding a seven-game winning streak.
Pipestone won the first set 25-18, LHS took Set 2 with a score of 25-19, Set 3 went to Pipestone 25-18, and Luverne won Sets 4 and 5 by scores of 25-21 and 15-12 respectively.
Pipestone lost on a service error in Set 5 while Elise Ferrell (20 kills for the night) supplied five attacks in Set 5 to seal the match.
Christina Wagner contributed 13 kills in the game.
The Cardinals will take on Big South Conference foe Jackson County in Worthington on Thursday, Nov. 4. Game time is 7 p.m.
Cardinals take first-round game from Fairmont
By Reva Sehr
For the Star Herald
No. 2-seeded Luverne volleyball team was expected to make quick work of No. 7 Fairmont Friday in Luverne, but the Cardinals had to work for their 3-0 win in the first round of Section playoffs.
After some Fairmont errors at the start of Game 1, Luverne was up by four points with a Kamryn Van Batavia dig to Reghan Bork, who set for Elise Ferrell to drop a kill followed by a light serve from Bork into the Fairmont hole.
A few errors by Luverne and a Fairmont kill tied the game at four. Luverne pulled ahead after a kill by Ferrell followed by another Ferrell kill with assistance from Macy Stratton in the back row and Bork on the set assist.
The Cardinals fell behind Fairmont after a series of out-of-bounds plays but managed to inch their score back up with a surprise over-the-net by setter Trista Baustian and kills by Ferrell and Morgan Ahrendt.
Fairmont gained the advantage again on a series of kills and Luverne errors to put Luverne behind by three points.
A block by Christina Wagner and Baustian followed by a dig from Stratton to Baustian who set for Ahrendt’s kill closed the gap to one point. An ace serve by Baustian tied the game at 16.
A couple of errors on both sides tied the game at 18. After a couple of Luverne out-of-bounds plays, Fairmont getting through Luverne blocks, a kill by Luverne, and a double by Fairmont, the game was tied at 21.
Then the magic happened. After a nail-biting volley, Luverne was scrambling to get control when Van Batavia made a diving save to allow a Luverne point.
This was followed by a couple of Bork serves and some good Cardinal net play for Luverne to cinch Game 1 by a score of 25-21.
Luverne dominated Game 2, and the closest Fairmont came to Luverne was in the beginning of the game by three points.
Luverne started to pull away with kills by Wagner and Van Batavia.
Then Baustian passed to Macy Stratton who sent it over to Ahrendt who strategically placed the ball into the Fairmont hole.
Anja Jarchow and Ahrendt followed with a block that came back to the Luverne side, but Jarchow was expecting it and tipped it back over the net.
Later, a Luverne back row dig sent the ball bouncing down off the ceiling, but Wagner saved the play by diving for a successful pass for Luverne to get it over the net.
Luverne continued to gain points from Fairmont errors and earning points on offense and defense.
Fairmont lost control after a Morgan Gonnerman hit, and Baustian pulled her signature move, sending the ball over the net rather than setting, landing the ball into the hole.
Luverne won Game 2 with a score of 25 to 8.
The first 10 points of Game 3 saw the teams exchanging the lead, but Luverne pulled away after a Fairmont time-out.
Luverne responded with a Van Batavia pass to Bork set to Stratton for a back row attack.
Rattled by Luverne, Fairmont proceeded with errors, giving Luverne four points while Stratton was serving.
Grace Sandbulte and Wagner teamed up on a block to put Luverne up by 10 with the score at 22 to 12. Fairmont went on to block a Luverne kill, but Sandbulte, assisted by Stratton and Bork, executed a kill right back at them to keep the lead at 10.
An error by both teams still kept the gap at 10 and the score was now 24 to 14.
Luverne won the game 25 to 14 when Baustian strategically placed the ball into the Fairmont hole.
Coach DeBeer commended her team for their cool heads in the playoff game.
“The ladies did a nice job of taking control from the service line during the match against Fairmont,” she said.
“We are hoping to utilize our serving game against Pipestone on Monday. It should be a great match to watch.”
Stat Highlights:
Serves: Macy Stratton 19/20 with 1 Ace; Reghan Bork 19/20 with 2 Aces
Set assists: Reghan Bork 15, Trista Baustian 10
Blocks: Anja Jarchow 2 solos and 2 assists, Christina Wagner 1 solo and 1 assist
Attacks: Elise Ferrell 7, Morgan Ahrendt 5
Overall record: 17-6