South Central bounced back from a first set loss and then clawed out a third set comeback win to take the match win over Carlyle 19-25, 25-22, 27-25 in the semifinals and advance to the St. Elmo 1A Sectional Championship game. The Lady Cougars fell behind early in the first set 5-2 and couldn’t sustain any runs in the set to fall behind in the match 1-0. After again falling behind by two points early in the second set 3-1, South Central got a side out and then a pair of kills and a pair of big blocks from Mya Schaal and Maddie Peddicord to go up 5-3. After a Sophie Wodtka tip kill along the net and a kill from River Yingst kept the momentum going, Carlyle committed a couple of hitting errors and South Central pulled ahead 11-7. Carlyle came back with a run and tied things up 18-18 before the two teams traded hitting errors and consecutive aces by Yingst had South Central up 24-22. A Carlyle hitting error then gave the Lady Cougars the 25-22 win to force the deciding third set. South Central got out to a quick 2-0 lead but Carlyle tied it up at 2-2. After the two teams briefly traded the lead, the Indians went up 11-7 and South Central was held at arms length for several points, trailing 19-12 at one point. The Lady Cougars kept fighting and after a 10-4 run punctuated by a timely kill from Kennah Hiestand, had pulled themselves to within a point, 23-22. Carlyle got a kill to go up 24-22 and be at match point, but a hit into the net by the Indians and a tip kill from Schaal tied the set up at 24-24. Carlyle again retook the lead, 25-24 when a hit ball tipped off the South Central defender but the Lady Cougars tied the set up again at 25-25 and took the lead 26-25 on a kill by Sophie Wodtka. After a Carlyle block, Bailey Wodtka, Peddicord and Annie Ruholl made three straight quick saves to continue the volley before a tip by Schaal over a double block was unable to be played by Carlyle and gave South Central the 27-25 set win and the match win. South Central, now 26-8 on the season, advances to the Sectional Championship game on Thursday at 6:00pm where they will take on Okawville. The Lady Cougars will attempt to win the program’s second ever Sectional title and first since 2011.
South Central Statistics:
Annie Ruholl – 2 assists, 13 digs
Sophie Wodtka – 2 kills, 1 block, 19 assists, 2 digs
Bailey Wodtka – 8 kills, 1 block, 2 digs
Maddie Peddicord – 7 kills, 1 block, 6 digs
Mya Schaal – 12 kills, 1 block, 1 dig
Emmie Ruholl – 1 kills, 6 digs
River Yingst – 2 aces, 2 kills, 14 assists, 9 digs
Kennah Hiestand – 8 kills, 2 blocks, 3 digs
