CENTERVILLE — The district volleyball match between Beavercreek and Troy Oct. 25 came down to a pair of points in the second set.

After taking the first set, the fourth-seeded Beavers trailed from the start of the second but clawed their way back into it and were tied at 23-all after a pair of huge blocks at the net. Despite regaining some momentum, a serve-receive error and a Troy kill gave the third-seeded Trojans the set and they cruised to a 21-25, 25-23, 25-9, 25-17 win at Centerville High School.

Those two points made all the difference.

“If we’d have taken that set and go up two sets to none, it would have been a different match,” Coach Tim Green said. “We did a good job coming back. (But) we could never get back our intensity level from that first set. That was really the key.”

Troy improves to 20-4 and takes on top-ranked Ursuline in Saturday’s district final. The senior-laden Beavers end 19-5.

During the first set it appeared it would be the Beavers who would get a crack at Ohio’s best team. Tied at 14-all, the Beavers went on a 7-3 run to lead 21-17 after a kill by senior Sarah Laughman, who unofficially had three kills and a pair of blocks in the set.

Troy cut it to 22-20, but a kill by junior Lauren Goenaga-Lask and a block by seniors Anna Engelland and Hanna Lefevers put ‘Creek up 24-20. Troy got a side out, but a Trojan player served into the net to give the upstart Beavers the set.

Tied a set apiece, the Trojans jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the third set — which featured a plethora of Beavercreek serve-receive errors — and cruised to a 2-1 lead in the match. Troy again jumped out to a quick lead in the fourth, but after trailing 14-9, a serve error by Troy, an ace by Goenaga-Lask, and a miss by Troy, the Beavers trailed just 14-12. That’s as close as they could get, however, as more ‘Creek serve-receive errors allowed Troy to pull away.

“We had some lulls there, with serve receiving,” Green said. “(It) started to break down a little bit.

He added that the Beavers expended a lot of energy coming back in the second set which hurt.

“That mindset, we could never regain that mindset and that energy,” he said.

Other seniors for the Beavers, who won 63 games the last four years, are Amelia Jones, Kaylee Fugate, Kelly Goenaga-Lask, and Sara Skaggs.

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By Scott Halasz

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Contact Scott Halasz at 937-502-4507.