FRANKLIN – The South Warren volleyball team is back in the Region 4 championship after beating Logan County 3-1 (25-14, 21-25, 25-18, 25-22) in the region semifinals Wednesday at Franklin-Simpson High School.

South Warren (24-10) picked up its third victory of the season against the Lady Cougars to earn a sixth straight berth in the region championship.

“Every time we play Logan County it is such a battle,” South Warren coach Justin Griffin said. “We knew coming in that it wasn’t going to be easy. We played well in spurts, let some points get away from us in spurts, but I am proud of how we played. It was certainly quite a matchup to watch.”

South Warren beat Logan County 3-0 twice in the regular season, but needed an extra game to put the Lady Cougars away Wednesday.

The Spartans closed game one with a 13-4 spurt and led 5-2 in game two before Logan County (25-13) battled back. Logan County surged ahead 8-7 after a kill by Micah Page and kept the momentum until South Warren pushed back in front 17-16.

The Lady Cougars regained control – going ahead for good on a service error that made the score 21-20 and finishing it out with a kill by Karrah Cron.

Game three was another tight battle, although South Warren never trailed before finally putting the game away with the final four points that included two kills from Erin Nerland.

The Spartans jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the fourth game, with Logan County unable to get closer than two points.

Nerland led South Warren with 25 kills. Sophie Pemberton added 15 kills and Sydney Clayton had 55 assists.

Cron had 18 kills to lead Logan County.

“I thought our girls really stepped up and played some good ball tonight,” Logan County coach Steven Lyne said. “They brought some intensity and you can’t ask for any more than that. Hats off to South Warren, they fight. You have to keep in the fight to beat them. The girls really stepped up and I am proud of them.”

South Warren will now face Greenwood in the Region 4 championship game at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. It’s the fifth straight season the two teams have met in the finals. South Warren has won four titles in that span, including a 3-2 thriller in last year’s championship game.

“It’s definitely something we look forward to every year – making it to region and having a chance to make it to state,” Clayton said. “Everyone should experience state with their team because it is a lot of fun. It’s always a very competitive game against Greenwood and we are always very excited to play them.”

Greenwood 3, Clinton County 0

The Lady Gators had 20 aces to down Clinton County (25-7, 25-9, 25-12) and advance to the region title game for a fifth straight season.

“It was a good win,” Greenwood coach Allen Whittinghill said. “I watched Clinton County play the other night. They come to play. They hustle for balls. We were able to control the ball on our side and caused them some trouble with our offense. That’s always the goal. I thought our offense clicked a lot better tonight and we got the ball where we needed to and made some good shots.”

Greenwood (34-5) never trailed, jumping out to big leads in all three games.

The Lady Gators scored the first six points and 12 of the first 13 in game one. Game two began with a 4-0 run and a commanding 8-1 lead that Clinton County (23-6) couldn’t overcome.

Greenwood led 5-0 in game three, but the Lady Bulldogs erased the deficit to make the score 7-all. The two teams exchanged the next two points before the Lady Gators put the game away with a 12-0 run that made the score 20-8.

Five Lady Gators finished with at least one ace. Anna Hewitt led the way with seven aces, while Hannah Hardison finished with six.

“We just wanted to stay confident and it all starts with the serve,” Hewitt said. “If the serve is good they are going to have a hard time passing the ball and getting in system. We did a good job of keeping them out of system.”

Katie Howard added a team-leading 12 kills for the Lady Gators, who will look for a fourth win against South Warren this season in Thursday’s Region 4 title game.

“I’m really excited,” Lasley said. “I think all of us are. I’m just ready to go and play our game.”{&end}