POSEN-The Posen volleyball team found one last burst of momentum at the right time on Thursday.

The Vikings rallied from a 2-1 deficit against Fairview to force a deciding fifth set and finally pulled away from the Eagles to win 15-12 and take the match.

Posen won 25-19, 14-25, 17-25, 25-16 and 15-12.

Much like most of the night, the fifth set was back-and-forth with neither team able to stay ahead very long. After a series of ties, Fairview pulled ahead 11-8 prompting Posen coach Laurie Maynard to take a timeout.

It turned out to be the right move.

“(I told them) just that we needed to keep our heads on and play the game smart,” Maynard said. “They were already focused and we go through momentum period where we rest and we’re not strong. They were fired up.”

A tip from Faith Romel and an attacking error by Fairview made it 11-10 and after a Fairview kill, the Vikings scored the last five points of the match. Arianne Chojnacki had a kill and a push from Sam Lenard tied the set at 12-12. An ace from Romel gave Posen the lead for good and two attacking errors from the Eagles closed out the Posen win.

“It was so good. We needed that,” Maynard said. “I’m very proud of them to keep playing the game with their minds and not their emotions.”

The win was welcomed after an up-and-down night from both teams. Posen started the night strong, scoring points in bunches to win the first set, but struggled to focus in the next two sets and couldn’t find a rhythm. Fairview started the second set on an 11-2 run before going on to win and pulled away from the Vikings down the stretch in the third set to go up 2-1.

“That’s almost our signature, ups-and-downs,” Maynard said. “We’ve been struggling daily in practices to get past that by pushing harder and working ourselves harder. We’ve got to keep pushing.”

Posen started the fourth set with an early 4-1 lead, but Fairview stormed back and take a 6-4 advantage. After exchanging points for several minutes, Posen was able to pull away and take a 19-12 lead that later turned into a 23-13 lead before it won to force the final set.

Cami LaTulip and Sam Lenard were Posen’s top passers with 50 passes each and finished the night with 25 kills and 10 kills respectively.

Chojnacki served for 12 points, Brianna Kuffel served for 10 points and Hannah Stone had 40 assists.