Adena Warriors volleyball
Brock Netter

Brock Netter

Brock is SOSA's primary writer and has worked for the Coshocton Tribune, the Kankakee Daily Journal (Ill.) and the Vinton-Jackson Courier. He's a two-time award-winning journalist, a lifelong WWE fan, a suffering Bengals fan and calls the sidelines his home.

Adena battles back, tops Wheelersburg to punch Elite 8 ticket

The Warriors will meet with Meadowbrook in a regional final.

Brock Netter, Staff Writer

Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.

LOGAN — No matter the stage, no matter the moment, the Adena Warriors handle their business.

Adena’s Hannah Burns helped her Warriors top Wheelersburg on Thursday to advance to the Elite 8.
CREDIT: Cory Hall/SOSA

After a first set letdown, the Warriors regrouped and flexed their muscles over the next three sets, earning a four-set victory over Wheelersburg — a 14-25, 25-20, 25-18 and 25-20 final — in a Division III regional semifinal on Thursday. 

Adena (24-2) will now have a chance to play for the program’s 11th trip to the state tournament.

“We got a feel for [Wheelersburg] and I don’t think we were fully prepared to play,” Adena senior Sydney Foglesong said. “But once we got a feel, we knew we had to turn it up and get it on.”

Wheelersburg set the tone early as a pair of blocks from Gracie Perkins and two aces from Makenna Walker allowed the PIrates to jump ahead 6-1. 

The Pirates (24-2) continued to press forward as Walker served up another ace before Lexie Rucker and Madie Mays joined the fun with multiple kills to push the lead to 12-6. 

Riding the wave of momentum, the Pirates upped their lead to double digits at 23-12 before back-to-back kills from Perkins ended the first set at 25-14.


WATCH: Division III Regional Semifinal: Adena vs. Wheelersburg


Wheelersburg wasn’t taking its foot off the gas, and Adena knew it had to kick things into high gear from the start of the second.

After a long rally, Adena was able to take its first lead of the night after a kill from Hannah Burns — a common theme throughout the rest of the way — for a 9-8 advantage.

It was nip and tuck from that point on after both teams exchanged ties and leads all the way up to 20-20. 

Then, Adena senior Brenna McQuiniff stepped to the service line and ripped a pair of aces to spearhead a 5-0 run and end the set with a Warrior victory in hand. 

“I thought we were still getting a feel for what we were doing. We weren’t our typical selves,” Adena coach Laura Smith said. “I think they started thinking they could do it in the second set when things started going our way. It helped that Wheelersburg made some mistakes. Our girls saw they weren’t perfect either.”

McQuiniff’s magnificence from the line continued to give Wheelersburg problems in the third. Meanwhile, Hannah Burns was just about to get going.

After taking a 9-6 lead, Burns ripped a pair of kills to push the lead to 11-7. 

Wheelersburg battled to tie the set at 11-11 and later at 16-16. But Burns and her younger sister, Katie, started to turn up the heaters. They took turns attacking the Pirates’ defense, whether it was with blocks or kills, with one dagger after another to power their team to a 2-1 match lead.

The Warriors jumped ahead 6-2 to open the fourth and never relinquished that lad. Maintaining advantages of 10-6, 13-9 and 16-11, they began to smell victory and a trip to the Elite 8.

Although Wheelersburg attempted to make a late push and eventually cut the lead to 23-20, the hole dug was too deep to come out of.

Adena’s Hannah Burns notched a kill and Brinlee Preston came up with a block to seal the victory.

While Wheelersburg’s 23-win season comes to an end, the Warriors advance to a Division III regional final at 2 p.m., Saturday at Logan High School.

There, they’ll meet with Meadowbrook, who defeated South Webster on Thursday in straight sets to advance.

“We’ll have to play our hearts out,” Smith said, with a smile. “We just have one day to prepare. We’ll come in the gym tomorrow and get loose and talk about what we see. I’ll be up half the night watching video.”

SPONSORED BY HOMELAND CREDIT UNION

Share this post