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ST. PAUL - The Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop volleyball team got off to a good start in Friday's consolation bracket match against Nevis, winning the first set 25-20.

But that was about the only plus the rest of the way for the Thunderbirds as the Tigers found weaknesses in the GFW defense and exploited them after the first set.

The Tigers survived the first-set loss, then came back to beat the Thunderbirds 25-17, 25-22, 25-16 in the next three sets to eliminate the Thunderbirds from the 2009 Class A State Volleyball Tournament at Xcel Energy Center.

GFW ends its season with a final record of 25-9.

"We played with a lot of heart and we played our game," GFW junior Cheyenne Briese said. "They hit it to the holes on our court and we just couldn't get back into it."

Lexi Platz led the Thunderbirds with 21 kills and Briese tallied 13 kills.

Freshman Riley Hanson had 23 kills to lead the Tigers. Maggie Lindow, who has verbally committed to play at Southwest Minnesota State University next year, finished with 20 kills. Amanda Allman had 46 set assists and Annessa Feder had 20 digs.

In Thursday's quarterfinal loss to top-ranked Bethlehem Academy, the Thunderbirds got off to a slow start and it appeared nerves may have got the best of them. In Friday's match, however, the Thunderbirds turned things around and jumped out to an early lead in the first set.

Platz slammed a kill that put the Thunderbirds up 10-9, and as the set went on, neither team was able to get much separation from the other until Platz ended the set with another kill to make it 25-20 GFW.

But in the second set and beyond, the Tigers rode the dominant hitting of Hanson and Lindow for the rest of the way.

Nevis trailed 6-5 at one point, but the Tigers got a rally going and found some gaps in the GFW defense. Soon, the Tigers were leading 14-6 and they were running away with the second set, finally closing the door at 25-17.

Nevis carried that momentum into the third set, jumping out to a 3-0 lead, but the Thunderbirds fought back and led 13-10 at one point.

But the Tigers were once again too tough, and they pulled away late to take a 2-1 set advantage.

The Tigers used an 11-0 run in the fourth set to all but seal the match. Platz had a kill to make it 21-13 in favor of the Tigers, but the Thunderbirds were simply down by too much.

For GFW, it was just a matter of not being able to rebound after Nevis went on some big runs in the match.

"We struggled a little and they took advantage of us when we were down," Briese said.

Stephanie Howe had 31 set assists for the Thunderbirds and Briese had 21 digs.