LOGAN – After a season which entailed a 19-3 regular season record, a sectional championship and a district championship, the Union Local Jets’ playoff run came to a close Thursday in the regional semifinals against the Wheelersburg Pirates, falling 25-20, 25-11, 25-22 in Logan, Ohio’s Jim Myers Gymnasium.

Olivia Wortman paced Union Local in kills Thursday with 12, followed by Laken Vinskovich with seven. Ameera Saunders had four blocks, and Alayna Logan and Delaney Butler tied for the team-high in assists with 14 apiece. Emma Yager’s 21 digs led the Jets.

Union Local says farewell to a five-woman senior class of Olivia Wortman, Emma Yager, Alayna Logan, Ella Pietranton and Cassidee Collins. Wortman, Yager, Logan and Pietranton played all four years at Union Local.

“All I can say is that we had a great season and I will miss this group of seniors- four of them played for me for four years and one for two,” Union Local head coach Kaye Sechrest said via text after the game.

“What can I say? They worked hard in the offseason and summer. They have continued to pass the work ethic and skills on to the younger players. They are an amazing group of young women who will be successful in whatever they do. We have a solid group of underclassmen returning and I’m looking forward to it.”

The action started out tightly contested Thursday. Aside from a 6-3 Wheelersburg lead, the Jets’ deficit was never greater than two in a back-and-forth start until Wheelersburg took a 13-10 lead which grew to as much as six points before reaching it’s final mark of 25-20.

The second set started off with a ferocious kill by Saunders, but Wheelersburg answered right back with a big kill of their own by Laynee Walker, and kept on plowing ahead from there. After the Jets opened the set with an attack, the Pirates tallied the next eight points to put early distance between them and Union Local, which the Jets could not close. Wheelersburg’s Gracie Perkins ended the second set with a kill.

The third set began similar to the first, with Wheelersburg holding down a steady but razor-thin lead of one or two points until the set reached double-digits, where the Pirates started to extend a bit. Building up as much as a 19-12 advantage, Union Local’s Saunders and Vinskovich combined for three blocks, and Vinskovich tallied a kill to rattle off four straight points for the Jets and trim the Pirates’ lead to one, 21-20, but Wheelersburg regrouped and put the pedal down to tamp down the Union Local comeback and take the next four volleys, Perkins finishing off match point.

Wheelersburg advances to face the winner of Frankfort Adena and Chillicothe Zane Trace in the regional final, set for Nov. 2 in Logan.