Staff photo / Preston Byers Howland’s Michelina Wayt watches her serve during the Tigers’ loss to Austintown Fitch on Tuesday at Howland High School.

HOWLAND — Austintown Fitch earned a much-needed win Tuesday evening in Howland, sweeping the Tigers to get back to an even record in the All-American Conference.

The Falcons entered the match having lost six of their last eight overall, including three of four during a tournament over the weekend.

“Honestly, this is a good one for us kind of getting back on our feet,” Fitch head coach Kylee Herberger said. “We’ve had a little bit more adversity this season than we’re used to. The AAC is strong, so this is a good way to get back on our feet.”

Until Tuesday, Fitch and Howland boasted an identical conference record; each beat Warren G. Harding but lost to Canfield and Boardman.

The Falcons arrived in Howland with much more energy than the home Tigers, who fell behind 6-1 in the opening set. While Howland eventually pulled within three with a rally to make it 19-16, the high-flying trio of Kaliana Ray, Kylie Folkwein and Preslie Watts proved too tough to stop during the Falcons’ 25-16 first-set victory.

The Falcons largely repeated things in set two; after jumping ahead 7-1, buoyed by three Watts aces, they held off two separate Howland rallies and earned four of the final five points to close out the set 25-18.

Howland grabbed the lead to start the third set and took a commanding 9-3 advantage.

The Tigers, like the Falcons in the first two sets, squashed Fitch’s momentum at various points to keep a 19-14 lead going into the final stretch.

However, Fitch continued to gnaw away at the lead, tying it at 19, before going ahead 21-20 for its first lead of the set.

A failed Howland block brought about match point at 24-22, although the Tigers mounted their own mini-rally to tie it at 24.

Unfortunately for Howland, both of the next two points went to the Falcons, including an errant hit by the Tigers that found the center of the net.

“I think it was just that little bit of a step off the gas after winning the first two sets,” Herberger said of the comeback. “We just needed to get our mentality right and get back into a nice little rhythm there and controlling the tempo.”

The loss dropped Howland to 8-4 for the year and 1-3 in the AAC.

“It was expected to be a high-powered match. Everything in the AAC [is],” Howland coach Amanda Kiley said. “Every match is competitive between Boardman, Fitch, us, Canfield. It never fails to be a good match.

“Everybody in our conference — we all should fall somewhere in the state rankings. Again, every match is a close match, multi-set matches.”

The Tigers will get a chance to avenge last month’s 3-2 loss to Boardman on Thursday, when they travel to meet the Spartans.

Fitch (6-7, 2-2 AAC) will host Girard in a non-conference match today. Next week, the Falcons will host Boardman and play at Canfield on Tuesday and Sept. 25, respectively.