WILLMAR - Madi Stall turned in 29 digs and Nicole Borg recorded 10 kills for the Brainerd Warriors who outlasted the Willmar Cardinals 3-2 for their second Central Lakes Conference win of the season Thursday night.
After winning the first game 25-21, Brainerd dropped the next two falling behind 2-1 in the match. The Warriors evened the match with a 25-19 win in the fourth and refused to die taking Game Five 17-15 to snap a 3-match losing streak.
"The gym was scorching hot. Everyone was dripping with sweat," Warriors coach Jared Diem said. "I kept challenging Nicole Borg. She had the hot hand and she came through. She pounded three big kills at the end of the game.
"The team I used to know would have folded or broken down, especially being away, but the girls fought back. We were up 14-11, they came back to tie it up, then we went up 15-14.
"Then we got a horrible call and I got a red card and got ejected from the game so I was out of the gym. It was 15-15 and we won 17-15. I couldn't be any prouder. I would like to say I purposely got a red card to get the girls fired up but that's not the case. The girls earned it on their own all way."
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Willmar 21 25 25 19 15
Brainerd 25 18 20 25 17
Brainerd statistics
Cara Helgeson 9 digs, 10 set assists
Courtney Russell 6 kills, 1 dig
Kaylee Johnson 4 digs
Kellie Fletcher 4 kills, 1 ace serve, 2 digs
Kirsten Johnshoy 1 kill, 2 ace serves, 9 digs, 2.5 blocks, 17 set assists
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Madison Stall 2 kills, 4 aces, 29 digs, a set assist
Mercedes Stavig 6 kills, 2 ace serves, 4 digs, 2.5 blocks, 1 set assist
Nicole Borg 10 kills, 1 ace serve, 1 block
Samantha Moser 2 digs
Lillee Hardee 3 kills. .5 block, 1 set assist
Katie Jobe 7 digs
Conference: Brd 2-6. Overall: Brd 8-12. Next: Brainerd at Bemidji 7 p.m. Tuesday.
