Alyssa Stanton (second from left) and the Titans celebrate theiir Divison I preliminary round win over Windham on Tuesday night in Nashua. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Some tournament victories are more special than others, regardless of the round.

For the Nashua North High School girls volleyball team, beating Windham 3-0 in the Division I preliminary round on Tuesday evening was important. Other than two years ago when the tourney was all random draw, the No. 5 Titans (14-5) were able to host a tourney match on merit for the first time in head coach Nicole Fitzgibbons tenure.

And prove they deserved to by winning.

“This was us getting to host in our gym for our record,” Fitzgibbons said. “It was a big win for us, the girls have had such an incredible season and we were proud to have this in our gym, to be able to show everything we’ve been working for this year.”

The Titans squeaked by in the opening set, 25-23, as the No. 12 Jags kept knotting the score down the stretch but never able to break through for the lead. North then controlled the final two sets, 25-18, 25-16.

“We’re really looking forward to where the draw takes us next,” Fitzgibbons said.

That would be at No. 4, 15-4 Exeter, a 3-1 winner over Concord in their home prelim, on Thursday in the quarterfinals.

But first the Titans want to enjoy this win. Winning that close first set set the tone.

“I think when you win a really close first set it’s a real big momentum strike,” Fitzgibbons said. “You always have, especially in playoff rounds, everyone wants to win. … For seniors it’s that last strike. No matter what record you have coming in, you can never underestimate a senior who’s not ready to be done. Winning that was a big momentum boost going into sets two and three.”

And seniors were the key. Titan Mardy Novak had a fantastic night with 14 assists, three kills and 14 digs.

“She was all over the floor,” Fitzgibbons said. “She really moved around the offense, which helps, because as you move around it spreads out the blocks and gets the hitters to jump on it. And the 14 digs showed she was playing both sides of the ball, offense and defense.”

Senior Alyssa Stanton had 12 kills, two aces and 13 digs. Kelechi Okorie had three blocks and seven digs. Also for North, Kailyn Sung had 34 digs with an ace.

North jumped out to a 12-5 lead in the second set, and although the Jags started the third up 6-4, the Titans went on a 5-0 run to take the lead for good.

“Definitely a tough loss,” Windham coach Kelsey Higgins said. “It was a hard-fought season getting here. We have a young team, still developing … We’re scrappy, we have long rallies, unfortunately, a lot of them didn’t fall our way tonight.”

Yes, the Jags had just four seniors, half as many as North. Senior Zoe Leclerc played well defensively in the back row for Windham, while sophomore Ella Conrad led the Jags with seven blocks in the front row. The Jags (9-10) did keep the Titans in long rallies, but North persevered.

“We were very excited with that, we knew they were going to put us in some long rallies,” Fitzgibbons said. “They had some really good defense.”

But not good enough. There was a reason North played at home, and that’s where the special wins are.