The Luverne Cardinals volleyball team picked up a pair of victories this past week by defeating the Windom Area Eagles 3-0 and Jackson County Central 3-2.
The Cardinals defeated the Eagles 3-0 at home on Friday, Nov. 13.
With Luverne holding a 6-4 lead in the first set, the home team went on a 5-0 scoring run to open up an 11-4 lead.
The Eagles managed to trim Luverne’s lead to 14-11 before the Cardinals went on another run. Luverne scored the next five points to build a 19-11 lead and took the first set 25-21.
Gracie Zewiskie led the Cardinals with four kills in the opening set. Elise Ferrell chipped in with three kills.
Trista Baustian recorded two aces in the opening set. Christina Wagner recorded one block.
In the second set the Eagles held an 8-4 lead and looked well on their way to tying the match. The home team had other plans though.
The Cardinals went on a 7-0 run to take an 11-8 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish as they went on to win the second set 25-19 to take a 2-0 match lead.
Zewiskie and Ferrell both recorded four kills in the set.
Reghan Bork recorded two aces.
In the third set with the two teams tied at 15-15, the Cardinals outscored the Eagles 10-2 to pick up a 25-17 victory and to complete the sweep.
Ferrell led the Cardinals with four kills and finished the match with a team-leading 12 kills.
Bork recorded one ace and finished with 13 assists. Baustian recorded 20 assists.
Luverne 3, JCC 2
The Cardinals picked up their second win of the week by defeating JCC, 3-2.
During the early stages of the opening set, it appeared the two teams were going to go down to the wire.
With the Cardinals holding a 7-4 lead, JCC went on a 4-0 run to take an 8-7 lead. That would be the last lead JCC would hold in the opening set.
The Cardinals outscored JCC 18-4 to close out the opening set with an impressive 25-12 victory.
Ferrell finished the first set with three kills and three aces.
In the second set the Cardinals raced out to a 12-2 lead.
JCC was slowly able to chip away at the lead. At one point JCC got it within three points at 14-11.
The Cardinals were able to withstand JCC’s comeback attempt and win the second set 25-17.
The tables turned in the third set. It was JCC that dominated the set, winning 25-17 to force a fourth set.
Ferrell and Zewiskie both recorded three kills in the set for Luverne. Macy Stratton recorded an ace.
The fourth set was all JCC. The Huskies defeated Luverne 25-13 to force a fifth set.
With the two teams tied at 3-3, Luverne went on a 5-0 run to open up an 8-3 lead.
From there the Cardinals never looked back, winning the fifth set 15-7 to win the match 3-2.
Ferrell finished the final set with two kills and a pair of aces. Zewiskie recorded a pair of kills in the final set.
With the victory the Cardinals have now won three straight and own a 4-5 overall record.
They’ll be back in action on Thursday, Nov. 19, against the same Jackson County Central team in Jackson.
Luverne 25 25 25
Windom 21 19 17
Kills: Ferrell 12; Zewiskie 10
Bocks: Wagner 3; Zewiskie 6
Assists: Baustian 20; Bork 13
Digs: Stratton 12
Aces: Bork 3; Baustian 2
Luverne 25 25 17 13 15
JCC 12 17 25 25 7