SARAHSVILLE — State-ranked Shenandoah defeated Columbiana, 25-14, 25-23, 20-25, 25-19, in an Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Tournament Class 3A semifinal Tuesday.

The Zeps, ranked ninth in the Division VI state poll, were coming off consecutive losses to Union Local and Warren. They improved to 18-3.

Columbiana lost its second straight match after winning 41 of its previous 44 in the regular season. The Clippers are 18-3, too.

Topping the Clippers were Evy Rapp with 15 points, four aces, four kills and 16 digs; Addisyn Dangler nine points, 11 kills and three digs; Landry Smith seven points, three aces, 19 kills and two blocks; Eva swaller five points, three kills, 32 assists and four digs; and Layla McCarthy had 17 digs.

The Clippers will play at OVAC consolation match Thursday.

Shenandoah also won the junior varsity match, 25-8, 25-21.

Sylvia Rapp had three points and nine digs for the Clippers. Riley Fisk had three kills and two digs, Ella Eisenbraun six assists and four digs and Abby Barborak two kills, two assists and three digs.

The Clippers will play at OVAC consolation match Thursday.

Madonna 3, Heartland 2

WEIRTON, W.Va. — The Weirton Madonna volleyball was looking to make quick of its opponent in an Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Class 1A Tournament semifinal, however, Heartland Christian displayed the heart of the lion, battling back and improbably found themselves a mere three points from victory.

The Blue Dons, however, displayed the heart of a champion, as they collected the final three points of the match — the last of which came on a block by Lacy Quering – enabling second-seeded Madonna to survive a scare from third-seeded Heartland Christian, 25-16, 25-17, 23-25, 16-25, 15-12,Wednesday night at Bill Barrett Gymnasium.

Madonna will take on top-seeded and defending champion Conotton Valley in the tournament final at 1 p.m. Saturday at the ECO Center in St. Clairsville. Conotton Valley advanced to the tournament final by sweeping fourth-seededed Wood County Christian in the other semifinal Wednesday night.

Heartland Christian was led by Makenna Wilson with 25 digs and 15 assists. Claire Liposky had nine kills and 16 digs, while Keagan Pruitt added eight kills, seven aces and 13 digs. Maddie Neville tallied eight kills, 11 digs and three aces. Addie Barrett contributed four kills, an ace and six digs. Sophia Kuzemchak recorded 12 assists and six digs, and Capri Drokin finished with three blocks and three kills.

The loss dropped the Lions to 12-9.

The Blue Dons struck first in Game 2, however, the Lions fought back and scored the next five points to take a 5-1 advantage. Keagan Pruitt produced a couple nice serves to help lead the turnaround. Heartland Christian continued to play well and caused Madonna head coach Jaedyn Hissam to call a timeout with her team trailing, 7-2. Madonna’s deficit grew to 8-2, but the Blue Dons began to turn the tide.

The Lions led 10-5, but some good serves from Geena Birkhimer helped turn the game around as the Blue Dons were able to regain the lead at 11-10. The two teams traded points before Heartland Christian was able to build a 16-12 advantage forcing Hissam to call her second timeout of the game.

The away team seemed to be in control of the game, however, thanks to some strong serving by Rylee Birkhimer, Madonna delivered 13 of the final 14 points of the game to win the game by eight points to take a 2-0 lead.

The Blue Dons were on the verge of a possible sweep, however, the Lions did not go to sleep. Instead, the Lions roared back to win the next two games before finding themselves three points away from victory before the girls in white were finally able to put them away.

Makenna Wilson got the comeback started as she served Heartland Christian out to a 7-0 advantage to start Game 3. Madonna ended up making a run behind the serving of Owens as the Blue Dons pulled to within 9-7 forcing Liposky to call a timeout in an effort to settle the troops.

The tactic proved effective as the Lions regrouped and pushed their advantage out to 12-7, however, the victors responded behind the serving of Rylee Birkhimer as Madonna came back to tie the score at 12-12. The Lions scored the next point to regain the lead, and some nice serves by Maddie Neville and Pruitt gave the Black and Purple a 22-16 lead.

Though down by six points, the locals did not go away as they closed to within two points at 24-22 on the strength of some strong serves by Owens. Lipsoky called another timeout with her team up by two. Her team’s lead got cutdown to 24-23 before the Lions were able to score the necessary point to win the game and stay alive in the match on a nice play by Claire Liposky.

Heartland Christian got off to another good start in Game 4, however, Owens once again served Madonna to the lead as the Blue Dons built an 8-4 advantage forcing Coach Liposky to call a timeout. The Lions were able to respond following the timeout, and they stormed their way back into the game behind the serving of Pruitt.

Ultimately, Heartland Christian was able to complete the comeback in the game as the Lions took a 15-12 advantage forcing Hissam to call a timeout. This time, the Blue Dons were unable to turn things around as their deficit continued to grow before the Lions sealed the deal in the game as they won it by nine to force and a fifth and final game.

Unlike the previous four games, the fifth game is only played to 15 points instead of the normal 25, so jumping out in front is crucial for teams.

In this one, the Lions scored the first point, but the Blue Dons answered and built a 6-3 advantage causing Coach Liposky to call a timeout. Madonna extended its advantage out to 9-5 before Heartland Christian stormed back and knotted the score at 10 forcing Hissam to call a timeout.

The two teams traded the next four points to even the score at 12-12 before the Blue Dons delivered the final three points to win the game and the match to advance to the tournament final.

The match was originally scheduled to start at 5:30 before it was moved back to 6 p.m. Once started, the match took nearly two hours to complete.