SHELBY — Second-seeded Seneca East and third-seeded New London appeared to be two evenly-matched teams, entering the Division VI district semifinal at Shelby High School.
And, as it turned out, the first two games showed that, as both went into overtime. New London won the first game, 30-28, and Seneca East won the second, 30-28.
From that point on, however, the Wildcats took control of the match at the net, and never looked back.
New London won the third game, 25-13, and captured the fourth game, 25-16, to advance to the district championship game.
With the win, the Wildcats (12-12) will face top-seeded Buckeye Central (19-5) on Wednesday night at 6 p.m. at Shelby High School. Seneca East finished its season at 13-11.
The matched turned at the battle of the net, according to Seneca East coach Greg Hendrix.
“We knew they were a big team, and we were going to have to deal with their block and everything at the net,” Hendrix said. “They knew where we needed to go with the ball and the block was out there.
“Sometimes we got it through,” he added. “There at the end, I didn’t know if they were getting tired or what, but, as the game went on, we were having more trouble getting it through and keeping it in play.”
New London middle hitters Pailee Wilson, Bella Rayburn and Gracie Thomas had their way with the Tigers, particularly in the final two games. Wilson led the way with 17 kills and six blocks while Rayburn added six kills and three blocks.
“They had some great outside hitters, and our blockers did an amazing job of getting a hand on the ball, slowing it down on a deflection or just getting kill blocks,” New London coach Sarah Thomas said. “Pailee Wilson did a great job as our middle and Pailee just broke our block record tonight. We’re really proud of her.
“We were able to scout them so we kind of had a game plan and I think we did a good job of putting them in a position to kinda get hands on the ball. That helped our defense so we could set up and run an offense,” she added.
In the first and second games, the Tigers held a 24-23 lead and had the serve with a chance to win each game.
But neither team could put the game away. Seneca East’s Luella Burkholder dropped a big kill to tie the game at 27-27, and teammate Haley Boes got a kill to tie the game at 28-28.
But a wide shot by the Tigers and a Wilson ace ended the first game.
In the second game, Boes got a kill, Brie Price added a block and Lillian Burkholder added a kill as the Tigers took a 27-26 lead.
New London got a kill from Ava Ringler and a kill from Brooke Clouse to take a 28-27 lead, before Seneca East’s Ella Daniel got a kill to tie the game at 28-28.
Two Seneca East aces, however, ended the game.
That was the high-water mark for the Tigers. New London led 12-3 in the third game and scored seven of the final nine points to seal the win.
In the fourth game, the Tigers trailed 10-8 on an ace by Jaidyn Kagy-Alexander but that’s a close as they would come. New London scored six straight points late in the game on the serve of Luella Burkholder, then got a Carver kill and a Thomas block to end the match.
“Give New London a lot of credit,” Hendrix said. “They made a lot fewer unforced errors than we did and, really, that was the difference in the game. We were going back and forth, back and forth; they kept their play under control. We just got out of sorts, a little bit every once in a while.”
Thomas said she was thrilled for the girls, as New London hasn’t played in a sectional tournament in many years.
“This is big for us,” Thomas said. “New London hasn’t been to a district semifinal in a really long time. I’ve been coaching in the program somewhere for the last 16 years. And it’s never happened, as far as I’m aware.”