By MICHEAL COMPTON / micheal.compton@bgdailynews.com

EDMONTON – The Bowling Green volleyball team is back on the Region 4 mountaintop after a 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-18) win over Warren East in the region title game on Wednesday at Metcalfe County.

Bowling Green (33-6) fought off a game effort by the upset-minded Lady Raiders to earn the program’s third region title in four seasons and advance to the opening round of the state tournament on Monday.

“(It’s) quality volleyball by a bunch of really good young ladies,” BG coach Keith Carver said. “They worked for it. They deserve it.”

Tournament MVP Amirra Bailey said it was a satisfying championship, especially after being upset in the region semifinals last year.

“It means so much,” Bailey said. “As a team, we’ve tried so hard and done so much hard work to get back to where we were last year. It’s really great to be in this position again and be able to move forward with our team.”

Bowling Green’s third region title didn’t come without a fight from a Warren East team fresh off a 3-2 come-from-behind win against defending region champion Logan County in Tuesday’s semifinals. Bowling Green jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first set, but Warren East (21-11) responded with seven straight points – including three aces from Kaydi Stunson to move in front.

The lead volleyed back and forth, until Bowling Green scored four straight to surge in front for good 19-15. The Lady Raiders were able to fight off one set point before Morgan Rockrohr’s kill clinched the first set for BG.

The second set featured 14 ties and nine lead changes, with no one leading by more than two points before Bowling Green finally got control – using a 9-2 run to build a 22-16 lead. Warren East got within 24-23, but the Lady Purples scored the next point to go up 2-0 in the match.

The third set was another back-and-forth battle, with Bowling Green scoring seven straight points to finally get separation with a 21-15 advantage. Warren East was unable to get closer than four points the rest of the way.

“It’s a reboot when you start a region championship game,” Carver said. “Everybody is going to make plays. Everybody is gonna touch a ball they don’t usually touch. We did well and were able to stay ahead.

“We didn’t allow runs. They scored a bunch of points and were able to fight off a bunch of points, but we didn’t really allow runs on that side. That is really what kept us ahead most of the three sets.”

Bailey finished with 14 kills for Bowling Green. Rockrohr added 10 kills and an ace, while Addie Kincheloe added seven kills. Rockrohr, JoEllen Marshall and Leyla Spurlock were named to the all-tournament team.

Senior libero Claire Lawless, one of four Bowling Green seniors, said being a part of three region titles in four years is special.

“It means a lot to me,” Lawless said. “It means a lot to all of the seniors. We love to be a part of it and (it is) special that we are allowed to be part of it.”

Kaytlin Miller had 12 kills for Warren East, while Stunson added six aces and five kills. Stunson, Caylie Hoffman and Catherine Montgomery were named to the all-tournament team for the Lady Raiders. Warren East finished region runner-up for the second time in three years, earning the spot after wins over South Warren and Logan County in the tournament.

“We had a hard path to get here,” Warren East coach Shea Moore said. “This was not easy and we talked about that in the practice before we started the tournament. It was going to start hard and only get harder. I asked them to step up the last two weeks and they did much more than I could ever ask for.”

Bowling Green will play at the Region 2 champion on Monday with the time to be announced.