By John RittenhouseA momentum switch late in the second game of Friday’s South Section 3AA Volleyball Tournament game against St. James in Jackson led to an early exit from the event for the Luverne Cardinals.Playing the third-seeded Saints in the quarterfinal round, No. 6 LHS was poised for an upset when it pulled out a tight victory in Game 1.Luverne was on the verge of gaining a 2-0 lead in games when it rallied to take a 24-21 advantage in the second game, but that’s when the momentum of the match swung in favor of SJ.The Saints rallied to pull out a two-point victory in the second game to knot the match at one win each, and they proceeded to outscore LHS 50-33 in Games 3 and 4 to record a 3-1 win over the Cardinals.With the victory the Saints earned the right to take on No. 2 Windom in the tournament’s semifinals. SJ beat Windom 3-0 in Jackson to advance to the championship match against Jackson County Central tonight in Windom.Luverne’s 13-13-2 season comes to an end."I really don’t know what happened after the second game," said LHS coach Lori Oechsle. "We came out and played a great first game, and we had a 24-21 lead in the second game. After that, I don’t know what happened to us."All things considered, summing up what happened to the Cardinals is rather simple. SJ picked up steam after coming from behind to win Game 2, and they never relinquished the momentum.Luverne got off to a good start in the second game, opening a 6-2 lead when senior Cassi Pap delivered a service point.SJ countered with a 12-4 surge to move in front 14-10, but the Cardinals regained the lead at 21-19 with an 11-5 spurt capped by a service point from senior Traci Evans.The score was tied at 21 when Luverne reeled off three straight points with Jessa Dahl recording the final one with a kill to give the Cards a 24-21 advantage.After the Saints scored the next three points to knot the game at 24, Luverne took a 25-24 edge before SJ scored the next three points to steal a 27-25 victory.Luverne didn’t appear to play with the same purpose after dropping the heart-breaking second game.The Cards did bounce back from a pair of four-point deficits to tie the score at five and nine early in the third game, and the contest became deadlocked at 13 when Evans delivered a kill moments later.The Saints, however, put together a 9-2 run to open a 22-15 lead that set the stage for a 25-20 victory in Game 3.Game 4 was tied at two when SJ embarked on an 18-6 surge to take a commanding 20-8 advantage.Luverne closed the gap to nine points (20-11) when Evans delivered a service point, but the Saints outscored the Cards 5-2 the rest of the game to clinch a 25-13 win."Give St. James credit, because they played a good match," Oechsle offered. "I thought we played them a lot better than we did the last time we faced them (a 2-0 loss to the Saints in the Subway Tournament in Marshall Oct. 15)."The Cards played their best game of the match in the opener.The score was knotted at three before Ashley Heitkamp served an ace to cap a 4-0 run that gave LHS a 7-3 lead.SJ battled back to move in front 10-9, and it sported a 19-18 edge when the Cards scored two straight points to move in front 20-19.The Saints regained the lead at 22-21 when Luverne put together a 4-0 run capped by a service point from Heitkamp to ice a 25-22 win.Heitkamp, who charted six digs for the Cards, led Luverne in serving by completing all 20 of her attempts and scoring 12 points. Evans, who had seven kills in the match, went 15 of 17 serving with eight points and two aces.Maggie Kuhlman led the Cards with 11 kills. Pap chipped in four kills and paced the Cards with eight digs. Dahl charted a team-high six blocks. Chelsea Park contributed 22 set assists to Luverne’s cause.
