No. 1 Owls win again, ride regional title to state tourney

ELGIN Elgin is headed back to the Class 4A volleyball state tournament after sweeping through its regional Thursday night. It is the third trip to the state tournament all time for the Owls.

Finals
Elgin took on Cement in the finals and defeated the Bulldogs in straight sets, 25-16, 26-24, 25-12.

"It feels fantastic, we're on our way to state!" an elated head coach Lindsey Mickley said. "It's a great group of girls. They're the reason we're going."

The No. 1 Owls (30-0) started the first set with a bang running out to a 10-3 lead behind kills from Jentry Holt (with two), Gabby Ramirez, Lindsay Delvecchio and Kaitlyn Holmgren. The Bulldogs got to within five at 13-8, but Holmgren, Ramirez and Holt quickly got the Owls back up by a wide margin. Holmgren closed out the set with a kill.

The second set was much closer as Cement really started playing well. The Owls committed all kinds of errors as Cement jumped out to a 6-2 lead. The Bulldogs were in control 12-8, but a Holt kill and a Magan Castlebury ace, along with some help from Cement, got the Owls back on top, 14-12.

The teams traded points for a while, before Cement's wheels started coming off. With the score at 20-19 in Cement's favor following a Tori Pierce kill, the Bulldogs committed a violation and four errors to give Elgin a 24-20 lead.

Cement (18-8) refused to go way. Elisa Coin got a kill, Elgin committed an error and Hope Mink got two tips to tie the score at 24. Cement then committed a violation and Holt got a kill to end the game. Holt's kill was set up by a poor return by Mink.

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