Senators fall in four games in semistate semifinal

CASTON | With momentum a major factor in the Caston Semistate semifinal, Wes-Del found its way to capitalize more than Washington Township.

In the four-game defeat of the Senators, Wes-Del ended Washington Twp.'s season 23-25, 27-25, 25-22, 25-14 Saturday morning.

In the second game, the Senators thought they had the momentum when they were awarded a point with a 23-20 lead as Wes-Del hit the ball into the net. Vickie Flanders was about to serve, when it was found that the scorekeepers had advanced the rotation, resulting in a 15-minute break to sort out the details.

Ultimately, the point was taken away from the Senators for the 22-20 lad.

"The momentum going your way, and when they mess up the book at the table, it kind of takes the wind out of your sails," Washington Twp. coach Scott Campbell said. "It was a big game we let slip away when we had the momentum going for us."

"One my players on the floor kept insisting that it (the rotation) wasn't quite right, and that made the break even longer," Wes-Del coach Biff Wilson said. "They were thinking through it and gained some satisfaction getting a point back."

After two aces by Logan Millspaugh, the Warriors tied the game at 23-23. Both teams kept going point-for-point, until Wes-Del rolled off two straight points.

"We tend to get better as we go during the match, and sometimes we get off to slow starts," Wilson said. "In this case, we were getting out worked. (Washington Township was) awfully good. We might have gotten caught off guard (at first)."

The Senators jumped out to a 12-8 lead in the first game, but Wes-Del went on a 5-1 run to tie the game at 13-13, as no team had a lead larger than two points through until the Senators won.

"I'm glad we got them in the first game," said Vickie Flanders, who lead the Senators with 13 kills. "I wish we would have kept the momentum going, but we didn't. We lost momentum in the second game (after the long break)."

Game 3 saw the Senators take a 12-7 lead -- the largest of any team up to that point -- but the Warriors responded with an 8-1 run. Hannah Sneed had a kill that put Wes-Del up 22-19, and the Warriors would take the game on a Natalie Heaton ace.

"Wes-Del is a very good team. I give them credit, they executed their game plan. Their hitters did an awesome job," Campbell said.

Alexa Antrim led the Warriors (30-7) with 19 kills, while Marisa Matthews had 16 and Hanna Sneed added nine. Maddy Johnson added six blocks and six kills for Washington Township (32-6), while Kerry Uhrina had five kills.

"Record wise, it's the best team in school history," Campbell said. "It's a great group of seniors to go out with. They played their hearts out today."

"I'm really glad we made it this far," Flanders said. "Especially as seniors and in Scott's last year."