WASHINGTON TWP. | After dropping the first two sets of a Porter County Conference Tournament matchup by a combined four points, Hebron girls volleyball coach Kelly Dickensheets knew her team could play better.
"We should have taken those first two sets," Dickensheets said.
Coming back to force a fifth set, Hebron put a scare into 23-2 South Central.
The Satellites came back and held on in the tie-breaker for the 25-23, 25-23, 24-26, 21-25, 15-12 win. They will face Kouts in the second semifinal of today's PCC action. The Fillies beat LaCrosse 25-11, 25-17, 25-14 in the first game Friday.
"After the fourth set, I kept telling them ‘I believe in you, one hundred percent, one hundred and fifty percent'," South Central coach Ashley Rinker said.
Aimee Hanna had 20 kills for the Satellites, and Stephanie Balon added 19 more in the victory.
"We came out intimidated," Hanna said. "Once we got the third and fourth sets out of the way, we knew we could play (to win)."
Hayley Marshall and Lynn Tokarski both had three blocks, while Marshall led Hebron (16-8) with 15 kills.
"We just let it slip away. It was another heart-wrenching loss," Dickensheets said.
The Kouts and South Central semifinal will follow the Washington Twp.-Boone Grove match, which starts at 4 p.m. today.
Sarah Clemens led Kouts (16-7) in the early game against LaCrosse with 14 kills, and Kelsey Blood added seven aces.
One of Kouts' regular-season losses came at the hands of South Central earlier in the season.
"It's in our hands, and we have to play our game we know how to play," Fillies coach Karyl VanDyke said. "We sometimes lose our focus, and now we'll have to get refocused (for our next game)."
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