WAYNE CITY — Sub-sectional top seeds NCOE and Cumberland advanced to the championship match at the Wayne City 1A Sectional thanks to semifinal sweeps.

NCOE got out to a quick start in the opener against South Central. It was 7-1 with three points by Hollan Everett before the Lady Cougars could call a time out.

The Lady Cougars showed some nervous energy early and the Fighting Cardinals took advantage with the early first set lead. After the timeout, Everett keyed another 7-1 run for a 14-2 NCOE lead.
The Lady Cougars finally got a run started with a couple of points off NCOE errors which made it 14-4 and then a couple of kills pulled SC within 14-6.

That’s as close as the Lady Cougars would get in the opener, as NCOE took the first set 25-12 with Miah Scroggins serving it out.

With nerves settled down, South Central began the 2nd set with a run and some momentum. A pair of kills and and a pair of NCOE errors helped the Lady Cougars jump out to a 4-2 lead which extended to 5-3.

NCOE answered by scoring 11 of the next 15 points to build a 14-9 advantage, leading to another South Central timeout. It didn’t help as NCOE closed with an identical 11-4 run after the timeout to finish off a 25-12, 25-13 victory.

The Fighting Cardinals improve to 34-3 on the season and advance to their fifth sectional championship match in six years. South Central ends the season at 21-6.

Cumberland met Woodlawn in the second semifinal. With two experienced programs in postseason, one would expect a tight match, and this one did not disappoint, especially starting out.

The first set was back and forth with the teams taking turns with the lead. Three points was the largest advantage for either team. Woodlawn called a timeout after the Lady Pirates nudged out to a 19-18 lead. Cumberland then closed out the first set with an impressive rally—three kills, an ace, and a pair of Woodlawn errors propelled a 6-2 run by the Lady Pirates to win the first set 25-20.

Set two started out similara the first as both teams battled back and forth. Tied at 11, Cumberland went on a 4-0 run to take a 15-11 lead prompting a Woodlawn timeout. Trailing by six, Woodlawn closed the deficit to 19-16 on the strength of three straight kills leading to the Lady Pirates to call a timeout.

Cumberland was able to keep Woodlawn at bay and went on to take the second set 25-21 to complete the sweep. The Lady Pirates improve to 29-7 and advance to the sectional championship match against NCOE at 6:00 Wednesday night. Woodlawn ends the season at 26-8.