Facing its second conference test of the season, the Fairview volleyball team was ready to go early Saturday on the road against the R&L Fusion. The Warriors came away with a victory in three games by scores of 25-14, 25-23 and 25-11.

“We were really fired up coming into the game,” Fairview senior Morgan Klose said. “Richey has always been a rival for us, so we wanted to come out strong.”

The Warriors did just that taking an 11-2 lead in the first game behind a trio of kills by Klose. R&L did its best to fight back behind a kill by Shanna Olson and an ace by Sarah Jensen. A kill by Laken Olson got the Fusion within three, but Fairview controlled the action from there. A Jordan Gifford kill and a block by Masyn Klose made the score 18-8 in favor of Fairview. An ace by Dennell Benson and a Tiffany Kittleson kill gave Fairview momentum on way to the team’s 25-14 win.

“I was really pleased with the team’s intensity in that first game,” Warrior coach Katrina Werner said. “We came to play today.”

R&L came out quickly in the second game looking to even up the match. A nice play by Bailee Fink and kills by Alexis Johnson and Jennifer Trotter gave the Fusion an 10-8 lead. Fairview answered back as Alyson Cayko made a nice defensive play and Morgan Klose added a kill.

The serving of the Warriors gave the team an edge momentarily as Morgan Klose and Kittleson added aces to make the score 18-14. The momentum switched over as Trotter and Jensen added kills to tie the game up at 21. The Fusion took a one-point lead, but the net play of Gifford and Masyn Klose were just too much as Fairview won 25-23.

“You could really feel that momentum switch mid-way in that second game,” Werner said. “I thought we did a pretty nice job keeping our composure and pulling out the close win.”

It was all Fairview in the third and final game as the Warriors took control early with a pair of Morgan Klose aces to make the score 12-5. Kittleson and Masyn Klose recorded kills while a Gifford block gave the squad an 18-6 lead. The Fusion did their best to keep it close with a kill by Laken Olson and an assist by Jensen. Fairview, however, closed out the victory with a kill by Morgan Klose.

Fairview was led by Morgan Klose with a game-high 23 kills and nine digs. Masyn Klose had three aces and four blocks. Kittleson led Fairview with 18 assists. Benson added three aces while Cayko had nine digs.

“We covered the court very well today,” Gifford, a junior captain for the Warriors, said. “I also thought our serving was good.”

Johnson led the Fusion with five kills and six blocks. Laken Olson and Trotter had five kills each while Sarah Jensen had five aces and eight assists. Bailee Fink rounded things out with eight assist and 15 digs.

With the win, Fairview sits at 2-0 in the conference.