Zeps Zap Knights
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WHEELING -- Needing to win one more set to advance to the OVAC 2A title match, No. 3 Shenandoah stormed back in the third game to sweep homestanding No. 2 Wheeling Central 25-21, 25-17 and 27-25 in Tuesday's OVAC 2A Semifinal.
The Zeps used a 14-4 run to turn a 17-7 deficit into a 21-21 deadlock in the third set before completing the comeback and earning the sweep.
The win sends Shenandoah (10-10) into a championship bout with top-seed Shadyside (17-2) on Saturday at Union Local at 1:30 p.m.
"We are young," Shenandoah coach Megan Grywalski said. "We have no seniors and one junior. We have a tough schedule, too. We play more out of division opponents than in our division. We play up a lot and I think that helps them get that mental toughness."
The Knights fall to 12-8 with the loss.
"We started off strong but I think we just made too many mistakes," Central coach Delaney Denniston said. "We played sloppy and couldn't bounce back from our mistakes."
The third set began with Rachel Cupp and Nicole Reasbeck reeling off four and five consecutive points, respectively, for Wheeling Central to put their team up 17-7.
That's when the comeback began and Shenandoah's Tara Pakes delivered four straight points to even the score at 21-21.
Soon after, Mya Leach provided a kill to give the Zeps a 26-25 edge and Charli Wickham stepped behind the service line to capture the game-winning point.
"We were beating ourselves," Grywalski said. "In the first set we did that, too. We had too many errors and we were handing them balls that we didn't need to give them but we did a really good job of making that comeback.
"Sometimes if you just give them a little extra push and raise your voice at them they kind of get the hint and fire into gear, so they did. It was a really good comeback for them. It's a good experience for us to have those tight third set games. We'll have more of those come tournament time."
The two teams supplied another back-and-forth match during the first set with Shenandoah jumping out to an 8-4 upperhand before the Knights grabbed a 20-17 cushion.
Makenna Clift refused to let her team fall, however, as she collected six straight points to put the Zeps on the brink of victory with a 24-20 advantage.
The Zeps finished the set with Ryleigh Sherman setting up Leach for the game-winning kill .
Shenandoah took that momentum into the second set with a decisive victory before the thrilling third and final set.
Leach finished with 15 kills, , 13 digs and four points, while Laney Hitchens tallied 11 kills, Pakes accounted for eight points, six aces and six kills and Sherman dished out 35 assists for the Zeps.
Central received nine kills, nine digs and four aces from Reasbeck, seven kills from Tristen White, 21 assists and six digs from Alexis Hood, 13 digs from Gabby Leadbitter and seven digs from Meredith Romanek.
"They are very fundamentally sound," Denniston said of the Zeps. "They do the little things, they dive for balls and they don't let anything hit the floor and that is something we don't do. That is what it came down to."