Photo by Jake Olson The New Ulm volleyball team gathers together during the first set of Thursday night’s match against Fairmont at Fairmont High School.

By Jake Olson

jolson@fairmontsentinel.com

FAIRMONT — The packed stands at Fairmont High School aided the Cardinals throughout the night on Thursday in their home opener as they swept the New Ulm Eagles 25-14, 25-17, 25-19.

“It kept our girls positive and up,” Fairmont head coach Stacy Garbers said. “We kept hearing all week, ‘Wait for your first home game, and we will fill the gym,’ and they definitely did, which was great to see.”

Leading the Cardinals was outside hitter Brylee Miller. The senior ended her night with a team-leading 18 kills while tallying up four aces. Setter Leslie Zarling was dynamic all night in finding her teammates, ending the match with 27 set assists.

Calli Koop, Karly Meier, and Keira Sullivan all recorded four kills for New Ulm. Sullivan and Meier combined for seven blocks.

New Ulm got off to an early lead in the first set of the night. After both teams traded points initially, the Eagles powered to a 7-4 lead after a handful of aces from Koop.

But following a hit out of bounds from the Eagle offense, Fairmont rattled off 4 consecutive points, all coming off kills from Miller. This gave the Cardinals their first lead of the set since it was 3-2.

Fairmont held onto this cushion for the rest of the set, not allowing any sort of rally from the opposing Eagle offense.

With the score at 12-10, Fairmont collected 5 consecutive points coming from the likes of Miller and Montgomery.

Miller finished the set off with one last kill. After receiving the ball just over the right side of the net, Miller elevated and delivered on a wood-shaking spike, erupting the home crowd in the process.

“Just great senior leadership,” Garbers said when referring to Miller. “She goes out and gets the job done, works really hard, and I am proud of her.”

New Ulm jumped out to their second set with some more firepower early. The Eagles clawed to an early 5-3 lead following a spike from Meier.

Both teams traded runs, with Fairmont ultimately finding themselves up 11-9.

Following a kill from New Ulm’s Isabel Krenz, the Cardinals went on a nine-to-four run, taking a 20-14 lead after the ball catapulted off the fingers of Miller for an ace serve.

Fairmont continued this momentum by scoring 5 of the last 8 points, capping off the second set victory with a kill from Harper Artz.

With their backs to the wall, New Ulm again started off the set with some rhythm, finding themselves down 8-7 following a block and a kill from Keira Sullivan and Meier.

Fairmont then scored 6 of the next 8 points. Using kills from Montgomery and Miller, the Cardinals once again found themselves in the driver’s seat of the game’s third set, up 14-9.

But the Eagles weren’t done.

New Ulm rattled off 5 consecutive points, tying the score after an aggressive kill from Sullivan over the Cardinal defenders’ reach.

Settling things down for Fairmont was none other than Miller, who calmly placed the ball perfectly over the net to take back the lead.

The two teams continued to rattle off points off of each other in what was potentially the final set of the evening. However, following an out-of-bounds hit from the Cardinals that put New Ulm down 21-19, Fairmont made its final push to seal the victory.

The Cardinals took advantage of a handful of Eagles free points from New Ulm via a missed serve and out-of-bounds hit.

Fairmont secured the final 2 points of the set, winning 25-19, and earning the team’s third victory of the season-one shy of last year’s mark.

Fairmont (3-1, 2-1) continues its season this Saturday in the Waterville-Elysian-Morristown tournament, while New Ulm (2-6, 0-3) hosts Tri-City United on Monday.