NEW WASHINGTON (Crawford County Now) — Admittedly, it wasn’t the most attractive performance. But Buckeye Central took county and Northern 10 Athletic Conference rival Wynford in three sets Thursday night in a Division VI sectional final.

The Buckettes won 25-14, 25-14, 25-17 and will face Mansfield Christian at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Shelby in a district semifinal. The Flames topped New London in three sets in the nightcap.

“It’s a win and a sectional championship. We’re never going to be upset about that,” Buckeye Central head coach Missy McDougal said.

“The one thing is we had some errors and the last two sets we didn’t start off well. But I didn’t see any bad attitudes come out or get mad at themselves. They fought through it and maybe we’re showing some maturity.”

Freshmen Harper Kantzer registered two aces and Milania Chamberlain a kill as the hosts took an 8-4 lead. Wynford fought back with Brooke Frombaugh and Sydney Holbrook responding with points.

After watching the margin get whittled to 16-12, Maren McDougal and Megan Siefert put the set out of reach before Adrienne (AJ) Jury ended it with a resounding kill.

Wynford (7-16) put up a scrappy effort.

“We definitely prepared this week very well. They knew where we needed to be and what we needed to do coming into tonight. But we just didn’t capitalize on it,” Lady Royals head coach Donielle Crall said.

“I thought we had some plays, and we were up early on them in the first two sets. We had pretty good starts and just couldn’t keep that momentum going.”

Set two was back and forth with Wynford going ahead 5-4 on a side out hit. Several aces by Kantzer helped push the lead to 14-6 before senior Addison Sebring got a kill.

“One thing we talked about was not letting them go on a run,” Crall said. “Unfortunately, that’s what we did tonight.”

The Buckettes did just that in set two, reeling off 10 straight points after falling behind 5-1.

“We were focused and probably had some of our best practices this week,” Crall said. “We struggled in serve-receive tonight and we haven’t done that in a while.”

Emma Keller had a block for BC, while Jenna Filliater and Natalie Adams did likewise for Wynford in the second set.

“I didn’t call any timeouts. I wanted the girls to struggle a little bit. The only time I thought about it was when Mara had a little blood on her hand,” McDougal said.

“At the beginning I wasn’t too worried, it’s not the first time we’ve started out slow, but I’d like to fix that, so we don’t continue to do that the rest of tournaments.”

Serving was a distinct advantage for the Buckettes.

“Megan Siefert and Harper Kantzer both served well and probably had 10 or 12 aces between them. We only had a couple of misses and kept Wynford out of system for most of the game.”

Set three started similarly to the previous one. Wynford led 6-4, but BC rallied to lead 9-6, with Kantzer recorded several aces and Keller three kills.

Sebring and Frombaugh countered for the Lady Royals, but Buckeye Central pulled away each time and got a 25-17 decisive third set victory.

“Even when we weren’t getting aces, we made it hard for them to get the ball to their hitters,” McDougal said.

To prepare for the tournament, BC scrimmaged Norwalk St. Paul on Monday.

“That was a different speed than what we were used to seeing. So that was good. Wynford came out and was scrappy and keeping balls alive. You’re going to get everybody’s best,” she said.

Next up is Mansfield Christian, which upset reigning district champion New London.

“We (watched) their game here and we’ll watch some film,” McDougal said. “It’s gonna be who shows up, who’s ready to move, who’s ready to dig up some balls.”

For Wynford, it marks the end of the career of three seniors — Makayla Morgan, Briley Hildreth and Addison Sebring.

“We competed. We weren’t getting blown out in games this season. We’ve got some shoes to fill and have the majority of our team back,” Crall said.

“Addison is the one who tries to keep our spirits up. Our two back row players, Makayla and Briley, they bring it. Those two were locked in and didn’t want their season to end. They’re definitely going to be missed.”