Warren East's Elizabeth Young (18) hits against Warren Central's Azra Sehic (4) and Tiona Shaver (7) Monday, October 16, 2017, during Warren East's 3-0 (25-14, 25-14, 25-21) win in the District 14 volleyball tournament at South Warren High School. (Bac Totrong/photo@bgdailynews.com)

Warren East found a way to ease past Warren Central in the opening round of the District 14 volleyball tournament despite losing one of its biggest weapons at the net.

The Lady Raiders swept Warren Central 3-0 to set up a date with top-seeded Greenwood in the district semifinals Tuesday at South Warren High School, but they’ll do it without senior middle hitter Cressida Duncan, who is out with a leg injury.

Warren East (22-14) found other ways to attack Warren Central (6-18) and won in straight sets 25-14, 25-14, 25-21.

“You take out one of our middles and she’s a blocking machine,” Bloyd said. “She controls that when she’s there. She’s hitting right around .500 on her swings. She’s monumental to us. … It’s been a long road. The younger girls take time and they’re finally filling in to make sure they get the spots. They’ve come a long way a little at a time without just being run into the ground.”

Sophomore Greenlee Shipman and senior Elizabeth Young combined for eight blocks at the net in absence of Duncan, the team’s leader in blocks (77) and second-best attacker with 172 kills.

Young also led the offense with 11 kills on a .556 hitting percentage.

Warren East built a nice lead in the first set with the first five points and made it a double-digit lead at 17-7 after Warren Central’s second timeout. Kendall Bloyd had three kills and Shipman had a pair of blocks to make it a 12-point cushion.

The Lady Dragons service error gave Warren East the 25-14 edge to take Game 1.

Hallie Willis powered the Lady Raiders with five of her 10 kills in another dominant second set. Tiona Shaver had back-to-back blocks and a kill from Azra Sehic gave Warren Central a 4-0 run to cut the deficit in half. The Lady Dragons had another 4-0 stretch at the end before falling 25-14.

Warren Central took advantage of mass substitutions from Warren East and changed the pace by jumping out with the first three points of the final set. Warren East took the lead back at 8-7 with three straight points on a combined block from Jordan Fulkerson and Greenlee, an ace from Willis and a ball put out of play by the Lady Dragons.

Back-to-back aces from Morgan Dobelstein and Makaylah Cason gave Warren East its first two-point lead of the set at 13-11. Another Sehic kill brought Warren Central within 20-18. Young’s final kill over the middle put the finishing touch on a 25-18 final frame victory.

“The first and second set was absolutely phenomenal,” Bloyd said. “They’ve done everything I needed them to do with adjustments from Cressida. The third set was the more inexperienced ones trying to get them out.”

Next for Warren East is Greenwood (29-2), which is ranked ninth in the state in the latest KVCA top 25 poll.

“We just have to keep our game face on and play to the last ball,” Bloyd said. “That’s all we can do.”

– Follow sports reporter Elliott Pratt on Twitter @EPrattBGDN or visit bgdailynews.com