LUMBERTON — Taking a break from United-8 Conference play to face nonconference foe Fairmont, which entered Monday winless on the season, the Lumberton volleyball team was able to easily dispatch the Golden Tornadoes with a straight-sets victory.

“We’re trying to have our energy up so we can keep the momentum up into our conference, and I think we did good just keeping the energy up, passing the ball,” Lumberton’s Ava Hanna said.

“We’ve got to stay more focused,” Lumberton coach Bryan Hales said. “But they did good. … I was pleased, they served good. Ava had a lot of good hits and Giselle (Leach) did too.”

Leach had 14 kills and Hanna had nine kills for the Pirates (6-5).

“I’m just trying to kill the ball, come into the set, hit the ball harder, not looking for the blocks,” Hanna said.

Lumberton’s Kaylee Lancaster had 10 digs and seven aces, while Chloe Campbell had 31 assists with four aces.

“A freshman out here setting in the pressure games and stuff, especially when we play the big schools, that’s a lot of pressure, especially for the setter,” Campbell said. “She’s doing good so far, and I hope she’ll continue to do as good as we’ve been doing.”

Jerrian Taylor had 29 digs for Fairmont (0-6), while Shonesty Hunt had 18 digs with eight assists.

“Lumberton, every time we play them they bring great hits with those girls, and for those girls to be able to get up under them and get the digs on them,” Fairmont coach Kaitlyn Hunt said. “That means that what we’ve been working on this summer and going into the nonconference, getting under them, we’re doing well on that part.”

Kersten Hunt had five kills, six blocks and four digs for the Golden Tornadoes and Kensley Newberry had four blocks with nine digs.

Lumberton led 6-5 in the first set before a 13-6 run through the middle of the set to take a 19-11 lead. The Pirates maintained no less than a six-point lead the rest of the set and won 25-18.

The Pirates dominated the second set, using a 9-1 run to take a 13-5 lead en route to a 25-10 win.

Fairmont led 5-2 in the third set and the score remained close for much of the set; Lumberton held a 14-13 lead before an 11-2 run to win the set 25-15 and clinch the match.

“I think they didn’t give up and they just pushed through everything,” Hunt said. “They brought the energy that I’ve been seeking from them all season. This is the first game that they’ve actually played from the first of the match all the way up until the very last point.”

Lumberton resumes conference play this week, playing Tuesday at Douglas Byrd and Thursday at home against Seventy-First.

“After this week we’re done with half the season,” Hales said. “So we start all over again, and we already know who beat us and we’ve already got plans for them. We’ll change a little bit of strategy this time, but hopefully we’ll come out at least third or fourth in the conference and make the playoffs. That’s our goal, to make the playoffs.”

Fairmont plays a makeup game at home Thursday against Purnell Swett before opening Southeastern Athletic Conference play Thursday at home against Red Springs.

“I think we’ve grown from the very first match until now,” Hunt said. “Playing this tough nonconference and going into our conference, we’re not going to take them lightly, because we have some pretty good teams in our conference.”