In their District IV finals win last week, the Hornets took a 1-0 lead before dropping a pair and rallying to win the title by winning the 4th and 5th sets, while Tuesday night Wellsboro dropped the first two sets .. 20-25 and 21-25 .. before battling back for a third set win .. 25-20 .. and came within two points of tying up the match in the fourth. But Holy Redeemer, the District 11 champs, secured the first round win with a 25-23 victory in the fourth.

The Hornets never led in the first-set loss as the Lady Royals pulled away from an early 4-4 tie, led by as many as seven at 21-14 and won 25-20. 

In a back-and-forth second, the teams traded points and leads up until the set was tied at 18-all. The Hornets kept it close at 20-21 but Holy Redeemer again pulled away and went up 2-0 with a 25-21 win. 

Wellsboro battled back in the third set and led 5-2 early on a Paige Logsdon block before the Royals came back to tie the match at 9-all and then take a 10-9 lead. A Logsdon kill tied it at 10-10 and Lexi Urena then served up seven straight points to give the Hornets a 17-10 lead. 

Back-to-back kills from Logsdon and Alyssa Chilson made it 19-12 and another Logsdon slam gave the Hornets their biggest lead at 21-13. Wellsboro then held off a Holy Redeemer surge and won the set 25-20 to extend the match.

The Lady Hornets used the momentum and took an early 3-0 lead in the fourth, and back-to-back kills from Logsdon and Chilson gave them a 7-4 lead, but the Royals ran off four straight points to take an 8-7 lead.

One of Logsdon’s three blocks on the night tied the set at 8-all and the teams traded points and leads back and forth until the Hornets found themselves up 20-18. A 4-0 Holy Redeemer run put the Royals up 22-20 before Wellsboro again fought back and a Urena push tied the set at 23-all. 

The Royals benefitted from a questionable in-bounds call on a long kill to take a 24-23 lead and then sealed the 25-23 win as the Hornets mishandled the final point of the night.

Logsdon finished the match with 17 kills and three blocks, while Urena had eight kills, 17 digs, 12 service points with three aces and a block. 

Blake Eckart had five kills, Maddy Cruttenden had 17 digs and seven points with two aces, Taylor Main had nine assists, eight digs and eight points with two aces and Ellie Largey had 10 assists. 

The Lady Hornets finish their season with an overall record of 18-5, which includes a 12-2 mark in the NTL and a District IV Class 2A title.

_____