Troy swept the regular season series, defeating the Lady Hornets 3-0 back on September 17th and 3-1 two weeks ago, but Wellsboro wasted little time in establishing that they weren’t going to lay down for the league champs and took the first set Thursday, 25-22.

The Trojans rallied to win the next two sets .. 25-19 and 25-9 .. before the Hornets forced a fifth set with a 25-21 win in the fourth. A 15-13 win in the deciding set earned Wellsboro the program’s 8th District IV title .. their first since 2015 when Head Coach Darci Pollock was a senior for the Hornets. 

"I don't know the last time we came out like that in the first set against a team like that," said Pollock. "Usually we drop the first set and have to come back. But to lead the program that I went through and bring back a district championship is the best feeling I've ever had."

Wellsboro jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the opening set before Troy rallied to tie it up at 10-all and the two teams traded points until it was 17-17. The Lady Hornets went on a 4-0 run to go up 21-17 as Taylor Main had a kill, Troy hit into the net twice and Lexi Urena scored, but the Trojans scored the next four points to tie it up again at 21-all. 

After trading points again, the Hornets got kills from Blake Eckart, Paige Logsdon and Urena to take the first set 25-22 and a 1-0 lead.

Urena finished the title game with 12 kills, 7 points and 38 digs, while Logsdon had 11 kills, 5 solo blocks and 3 assisted blocks and Eckart added 8 kills, 7 points, and 20 digs. 

Main made 16 assists, scored 7 points with a pair of aces and had 2 blocks, Ellie Largey had 15 assists and Maddy Cruttenden had 26 digs and 18 service points with 2 aces.

Wellsboro started off the second set with 4 quick points before Troy scored 4 straight to tie the set up. Both teams battled back-and-forth .. neither leading by more than two points until late. Troy trailed 16-14 before outscoring Wellsboro 6-1 to take a 20-17 lead and closed out the set on a 5-2 run to win 25-19.

Troy completely dominated Wellsboro in the third set, winning 25-9. The Trojans took an early 7-0 lead, then pushed it to 14-4 before closing out the set on a 11-5 run to take a 2-1 lead in the game.

The fourth set started out much like the third, with Troy taking a 5-1 lead, but Wellsboro out scored the Trojans 7-3 over the next 10 points to tie things up at 8-8 and found themselves tied at 10-10. 

Adelyn Frantz tied the set at 12-12 with a hit and Urena made it 13-12 before the Hornets went on a run off two Urena kills and a Logsdon kill to lead 17-13. 

The Hornets pushed the lead to 23-21 and back-to-back Trojan hits into the net gave Wellsboro the 25-21 win to force a fifth set for the championship.

Logsdon gave Wellsboro a quick 2-0 lead in the fifth with a kill and a block and the Lady Hornets jumped out to a 6-1 lead, but Troy chipped away and eventually took an 11-9 lead. A Urena kill and a Trojan hitting error tied the set at 11-all. 

The Trojans went up 12-11 and a serve out of bounds tied the set at 12-all before Urena put Wellsboro up 13-12 with a kill. A Hornet passing error made it 13-13, but a Logsdon kill got the Hornets to 14-13 and Eckart finished the job with a kill to give Wellsboro the set and the title.

After winning only one set in their two previous match-ups against Troy, the Hornets were only the second team, along with 4A Williamsport, to take the Trojans to five sets all season.

“A lot of our girls have been fighting colds this week,” said Pollock of her squad, “and they weren't at their best .. so to see them fight through and get to the 5th set is incredible."

"We talked about us not winning in nine years,” Pollock continued about the Hornets title drought, “but this is just amazing.”

Wellsboro, now 18-4 on the season, earns a short trip to the State Championships with their District title, as they’ll host District II champ Holy Redeemer on Tuesday.

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