NORTH ROBINSON (Crawford County Now) — For the second straight season Colonel Crawford owns a sectional title.

The No. 2 seed Lady Eagles (18-5) swept Edison 25-9, 25-14, 25-19 in a Division V sectional final match Thursday inside Mac Morrison Gymnasium.

“I thought the girls played very composed and mature tonight. That’s been some growth for us. In pressure situations — in the past — we struggled with emotions. They did a good job of handling that tonight,” Colonel Crawford head coach Jaime Valentine said.

A mid-September mini slump might have been the medicine the Black and Gold needed to right itself in time for the stretch run.

“On our 11-win stretch at the beginning of the season, I wouldn’t say we were cocky, but we were getting really comfortable,” said sophomore outside hitter Reese Redman. “Then we lost to Old Fort and Buckeye (Central) back-to-back, and it showed us that everyone’s going to give us their best game.”

Redman led the Lady Eagles with 20 kills, 10 coming in the second set. In the first set Crawford set the tone, building a 15-4 lead. Alaina Parr had a pair of kills to go along with points from Lila Plesac and Saylor Holt.

Junior Sophia Gray closed out the set with 3 aces in 5 serving attempts.

“I was really nervous coming in. You have to be because everyone’s going to be playing their best. We were really focused on playing our game and not worrying about what’s on the other side of the court, but what’s on ours,” Redman said.

Colonel Crawford plays Oak Harbor (16-7) in a district semifinal Tuesday at 8 p.m. at Seneca East High School. The Rockets topped Willard in 5 sets.

“My favorite kill was definitely the free ball. Five plays before I said if they send another serve ball, I’m sending it right back over,” she said.

“I just try to get feet to the ball and make the ball playable and not give up. I’m grateful for my teammates and everyone who’s poured into this program.”

Set 2 began with an Emmi Powers kill and ended on Redman’s slam. It was tied at 8-8 before Parr nailed a pair of kills to start an 8-2 run.

Eight seed Edison (8-16) didn’t go down easily in the third set.

Battling from an 8-3 deficit the Chargers tied it at 9, 11 and 12 thanks largely to freshman Reese Wells. She registered 4 kills and kept things close.

Redman had a pair of kills down the stretch and Holt added another as the hosts swept their way to the next round.

“Our girls fought all year. It doesn’t matter the score or how many sets we’re down. We started serving more consistently and got some better swings at spots we thought would be open,” said Chargers head coach Sean Hoover.

“They swung down the lines really well. We tried to keep them out of system a little bit more. We didn’t do it consistently enough. They have a lot of big arms in the front and it’s tough for any team to get a decent block in front of them.”

Wells, Macari Harris and Abby Cloud led the Edison offense at the net.

“We played very well in transition. We had answers when they gave the ball back or if they got a dig, we were able to do some great things offensively,” Valentine said.

“We were able to stay in system most of the night which made a huge impact, and we had some big-time kills.”

A slight flaw was a handful of service errors committed by the Lady Eagles.

“You want to serve aggressively and when you do, you’re going to have some service errors. But you don’t want them back-to-back and we had a couple of those rotations where we did. We’re going to work on those things.”

This marks the first consecutive sectional crowns for Crawford.

“It’s exciting. We definitely have some goals and we’re not finished yet. Watching them tonight on the court, they feel it too and know there’s something special with this group,” Valentine said.

“We hope we can make a long tournament run, stay focused and play with maturity like we did tonight.”