Cowan’s Diana Campbell helped her team to a win against Liberty Christian on Saturday.
Cowan’s Diana Campbell finished with 16 kills in a three set win over Liberty Christian.
COWAN — What’s a volleyball sectional semifinal without a little adversity?
Daleville defeated Southern Wells in five sets, 25-15, 25-11, 24-26, 22-25, 15-7, while Cowan defeated Liberty Christian 25-14, 25-21, 25-21 in the semifinal round of the Cowan Sectional. Daleville and Cowan will meet for the championship tonight at 7 p.m.
After taking a 2-0 lead, the energy level dropped for Daleville. Players looked slow, something Broncos coach Beth Etchison was worried about.
“In games three and four, we were playing safe,” Etchison said. “We have to battle to win rather than playing not to lose and I think they got those first two sets rather easily and got complacent.
Daleville’s Lindsay Ingenito echoed the same words her coach said. She finished the night with a team-high 21 kills and added an ace and block in the final set to help clinch the win.
“In that fourth set, we got to the point where we were up so much in the first two, we sat back,” Ingenito said. “We all said ‘This is the fifth set, we all were saying “Let’s get it in gear, let’s go berserk.’”
Daleville opened the fifth set on a 5-1 run and never looked back at that point.
But Daleville wasn’t the only team to see adversity in the semifinals, as did Cowan.
After taking the first set convincingly, the Blackhawks fell behind 18-10 in the second set. Cowan coach Whitney Stewart used a timeout, reminding her team to stay aggressive and not let the energy fade.
“They refocused during that second timeout, we talked about how we wanted to put pressure on Liberty Christian throughout the entire game,” Stewart said. “But we were letting them dictate what was going on, we were a step behind on defense, but we corrected it.”
A 15-3 run gave Cowan the set, and never looked back. The offense flowed through senior Diana Campbell, who finished with a team-high 16 kills for the Blackhawks. Gabriella Harrington was second with 13.
With the third set drawing to a close, Harrington served up three straight aces to help give Cowan a seven-point cushion at 23-16 that her team needed to withstand one more Liberty Christian run.
“We talked well, we communicated well out there,” Campbell said. “We’re in beast mode, we’re ready to go.”
Contact prep reporter David Polaski at dpolaski@muncie.gannett.comFollow his volleyball coverage throughout today on his Twitter, @DavidPolaskiTSP.