Cowgirls volleyball defeat Titans, one win away from return to state

The C-G-D volleyball team will play in their second straight regional final, and third in the past four years, after turning back a challenge from South Central Calhoun last Thursday night in Clarion. Set scores were 25-17, 26-24 and 25-18. By the time you read this, they will have had their match with East Sac County. Look for that story in next week’s Monitor.

The Titans asserted themselves early in set one in building a lead. The Cowgirls kept their cool and slowly chipped way at it to soon go ahead 12-11 forcing a SCC timeout. Jadyn Jondle would serve them to 20-14 later in the set, with a net call giving the ball back to the Titans at 22-17. A serve into the net gave the Cowgirls the ball back at 23-17, followed by a Morgan Middleton serve the Titans couldn’t get the handle on for 24-17. Following SCC’s final point of the set, a Kendall Lienemann tap over the net wouldn’t be returned for the win.

Set two saw the Cowgirls open an ever so slight lead at 19-16, with a Middleton kill taking them to 20 points. A Titan front row player would tap it over, and the Cowgirls couldn’t respond for a 20-17 advantage. An ace serve by SCC made it 20-18, with a Nicole Waters smash from the left side making it 21-18. The Titans kept fighting to stay in it at 21-19, with another SCC point followed by a ball just out on the Titans side tying the set at 21-21. Coach TerHark called a timeout to regroup, but the Titans kept up the pressure to go up 23-21 to force another Cowgirl timeout.

For the full story, see this week's Monitor