Locked in another battle with District 14 rival Bowling Green, the South Warren volleyball team found a late kick to surge past the Lady Purples 3-1 (25-16, 22-25, 25-23, 25-15) on Thursday at South Warren High School.

South Warren (11-1 overall, 6-1 District 14) took control at the end of the third set and carried that momentum into a dominant fourth set to sweep the season series against the Lady Purples and secure no worse than a No. 2 seed in next month’s district tournament.

“They are definitely really scrappy and their offense is super good,” South Warren junior hitter Erin Nerland said. “I think we just had to go and play with a lot of energy for us to win this game.”

South Warren survived a five-set thriller when the teams met at Bowling Green on Aug. 30. Thursday’s rematch appeared headed to five sets again, with the teams exchanging wins in the first two sets.

The Spartans came out hot in the first set, with Nerland and Lexi Button combining for 11 kills to help South Warren break a 9-all tie and steadily pull away from there.

South Warren built a 21-15 lead in the second set before Bowling Green (11-7, 3-3) came charging back. The Lady Purples used a 9-0 run to get to set point. South Warren stopped the run to make the score 24-22 but didn’t get any closer.

Bowling Green opened a 5-1 lead in the third set after a kill from Riley Marshall before South Warren rallied to tie it 6. There were six lead changes and eight ties from there – including 23-all, before the Spartans closed it out with a kill from Nerland and an ace from Katie Upchurch.

South Warren never trailed in the final set, using an 8-3 spurt to build a 16-9 advantage. Bowling Green didn’t get closer than five points the rest of the way.

“It seems like every time we play them it is a battle all the way around,” South Warren coach Justin Griffin said. “I think we let a few plays get away from us and they took advantage of that, which any good team is going to do, but I do like how we fought in the third set. The fourth set, we just took care of the ball. We did a much better job of controlling the tempo, making some good defensive plays and taking good swings when we had it.”

Nerland paced South Warren with 19 kills.

“Erin is a fantastic player,” Griffin said. “I think in the first set alone she had six kills – got off to a really good start. She wants the ball out there and you can certainly tell that. When she hits it, she doesn’t hold back. She was really good out there.”

Button added 10 kills, Sophie Pemberton had seven kills and 18 digs and Sydney Clayton had 45 assists.

Charli Hodges led Bowling Green with 10 kills. Marshall and Kenley Woodyard added seven kills each. The Lady Purples were without sophomore hitter Anna Neal, who is expected to be out three weeks with a back strain.

“The energy went down (in the fourth game),” Bowling Green coach Amy Wininger said. “I didn’t even feel like I was coaching the same group. I called a timeout and it seemed like everyone was looking around for someone else to do something.

“We have a theme this year of not making any excuses. We are young. We start two eighth-graders and two freshmen, but we refuse to use that as an excuse. I enjoy the energy and enthusiasm of the girls when they are up, but you have to keep it going – even when you are down.”

Bowling Green will play at Greenwood at 7 p.m. Monday. South Warren heads this weekend’s B2B Tournament in Seigel (Tenn.) The Spartans will open play against host Seigel at 4 p.m. Friday.