The Lowell Cardinals beat the ICA Spartans 3-0 on Oct. 12 at home for their tenth victory of the season, with only one loss to their name.

The first set was both quick and brutal. Senior setter Sinead Beaupain and sophomore middle blocker Alina Qi scored the first point. While a few blunders slowed their progress at first, Lowell quickly moved into the lead. The Spartans’ disorganized defense and porous formation gave way to the Cards’ repeated scores. Both senior outside hitter Eunice Go and Qi proved themselves extremely valuable players by blocking numerous shots and scoring several times consecutively. Inevitably, the set ended the same way as it began, with a serve by Beaupain and a block by Qi sealing the score 25-9 for Lowell.

The second set echoed the first, both in rapidity and contention. Lowell quickly took and maintained their lead from early on. Though several mistakes on the part of the Cards served to close the disparity in score, they still took advantage of the Spartans’ struggling teamwork to score. Again, Go’s relentless strikes racked up several points for the Cards. ICA was their own opponent to the end of the set, which Lowell won 25-10.

The third set was as brief as the preceding sets but with far higher stakes for the Spartans. As the Cards rotated through their roster, some other players got to display their skills. Freshman outside hitter Alexandra Chiao scored for Lowell several times, and sophomore and senior middle blockers Kenedi Edmunds and Betsi Li formed the core of Lowell’s defense. As the set dragged on, ICA’s desperation to score stretched the Lowell defense to its limit. But this desperation yielded very little and any edge gained was quickly regained by Lowell. Qi again demonstrated her skill just before a hit by junior middle blocker Mariko Tanaka finished the set 25-9 for Lowell.

The Cards will advance into the playoffs against the Lincoln Mustangs, who are currently the top team in the AAA/CIF San Francisco Section, on Tuesday, Oct. 30, at 5:15 p.m. at Lowell.