Western Boone Jr. - Sr. High School

MONROVIA - Western Boone needed a spark early in its regional championship match against Guerin Catholic on Saturday night. The Golden Eagles jumped out to a 14-8 lead in the first set against the Stars, and Western Boone was struggling to get anything going. Enter Alayna Christner. The Stars junior middle sparked a 9-2 rally, getting two blocks and a kill, to give WeBo its first lead, and they never looked back in a 3-0 (25-23, 25-10, 25-18) victory to secure the regional title. "It's been amazing to see how she has come alive in the last month or so," Western Boone head coach Laura Bragg said. "Not just her blocking, but her quick hits too and that's helped us tremendously. With her and Saige (Terwiske), when we can have that presence in the middle they can't key on our pins." Christner finished the match with a career-high 11 kills, and added six blocks. They came at key moments. Down 15-11 in the first, Christner had back-to-back blocks to cut the deficit to 15-13. After a side out, she had a kill in between two from Audrey Dunn to help tie the match at 16. Later in the first, it was Christner's kill that put WeBo ahead for good in the opening set at 18-17. "It feels amazing just to see the impact that you can make with your team," Christner said. "This team is just incredible. On and off the court we are just best friends and it's incredible to do this all together." Christner had come into this season with 12 career kills. She has earned a bigger role this year, and had 111 entering Saturday's regional. The past month has been even better, as she averaged just under five kills a match in the last 12. "I just have a drive to get better, and this team is one of the big factors going into that," Christner said. "When I go out there, I want to win for them - I don't want it being my last time playing with them." Christner was just one of several standouts for the Stars. After the slow start, Western Boone was all business. After closing the first set out-scoring the Golden Eagles 17-9, they won the second 25-10. WeBo then won 10 of the first 14 points in the third set, making it a combine 52-23 run spanning the sets. "We were just trying to bang it too much instead of focusing on the smart shots and picking out their weaknesses on defense," Bragg said. "Once we did that, we did amazing. Kennedy Kiger was great, really opening it up and showing us where we can take advantage of their defense and then Alayna really stepped up too." Kiger said the Stars had been focusing on their mental toughness all year, and pushing through adversity. So when some popped up, they were ready. "We called a timeout in that first set and coach Bragg just told us 'we can't lose,'" senior Kennedy Kiger said. "That's kind of been our motto all year. They came out really strong, and we just had to push through those hard times and make sure we got every single point we could." Kiger had one of the best matches of her season as well. She had 11 kills, the second most she has had in a match this season. Five of those came in the third set, including four in the opening 11 points that helped the Stars build a lead Guerin couldn't come back from. "I didn't have many in the first set, but in the second and third sets I just saw the open shots and was trusting my teammates where they were telling me to hit," Kiger said. "I just wanted to keep pushing through every point, and if I didn't get a kill, just focus on the next ball." Bragg said that is the kind of ability that Kiger has. "It is just awesome for her," Bragg said. "She is one of our best hitters and does a great job of finding openings. She sees the court extremely well and that kind of opens the door for all our hitters when she plays like this." Raegan Durbin finished the match with 13 kills, with Audrey Dunn adding eight more. Janie Ransom had 45 assists. The team had nine aces, with Elena Gubera having three, and Durbin and Kendal Ramey having two. Gubera had 15 digs, with Durbin having 11, Ramey seven and Ransom six. It is the Stars' second-straight regional title, the only two in school history. It is also the first time in eight tries that they won a 3A regional title. Bragg said the Stars knew regardless of what class they are in that they would have to face a really quality opponent in the regional. But there still was a little extra excitement to win the first 3A regional title. "Last year, it was extra special because it was history," Kiger said. "But this year it's like a whole new realm of excitement. It just feels amazing, and I am so proud of the team. We have worked really hard to get here. At the beginning of the year, when we found out we were moving up to 3A we knew it was going to be a tough road, but we persevered through everything to get here." Western Boone will now face Providence in the semi-state next Saturday. The match will be at 4 p.m. at Columbus East High School. Bragg said that the experience last season has helped the Stars handle the pressure moments throughout the year, especially in some tense matches during the regional on Saturday. That is something they are going to focus on, and Kiger said that the Stars just have focus on what is in front of them and not think about what is ahead. "We are really going to focus in during practice and just focus on Providence," Kiger said. "We just keep focusing week by week, game by game." Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.