Western Boone Jr. - Sr. High School

COLUMBUS — Giving up isn’t in the DNA of the Western Boone volleyball team. So even when they were down 2-0 in the Class 3A South Semi-State on Saturday afternoon to top-ranked Providence, they weren’t going to make it easy on the Pioneers to qualify for the State Finals. The Stars fought valiantly to force a fifth-set to give themselves a chance at back-to-back state championship game appearances, but ultimately fell 3-2 (25-20, 25-16, 12-25, 23-25, 15-7). “I am just so proud of them that they never gave up,” Western Boone head coach Laura Bragg said. “We didn’t play well at all in the second set, but it doesn’t surprise me that we kept fighting. This team never stops, they always fight and they don’t stop until the whistle blows to end the match.” The Stars had all the momentum heading into the fifth. Down 2-0, WeBo took a 14-6 lead in the third set, before Providence cut the lead to 15-12. Elena Gubera then went on an impressive service run, scoring nine-straight points (including five aces) to send the match to a fourth set. The fourth was more back-and-forth. The set was tied at 10, 11, 12, 13 and 15 before the Stars surged ahead 20-16. Holding the lead 24-20, the Stars saw their lead cut to 24-23, but a serving error sent the match to a fifth set. In the fifth, the Stars could just never get on track. A 5-0 run by Providence gave them a 6-1 lead, and WeBo got no closer than four from there. “If you can get up like that in a fifth set, you are most likely going to win it because it is all about momentum,” Bragg said. “It can affect you mentally too, because you know it’s a shorter set and that’s the hardest part.” Bragg gave Providence credit for their Stars’ fifth set struggles. She said the Pioneers did a good job of building the momentum early and never letting the Stars get into a rhythm. “Their right-side hitter just came alive in that set,” Bragg said. “It was hard for us to stop her and hard for us to get in system. When we got in system, we were able to get some good runs, but they are such a good team and hard to play – and when they get in system it’s even harder.” That was also evident in the first two sets. The first set was a good back-and-forth battle. The Stars led 10-6 early, and led all the way up to 16-15. But Providence used a 6-0 run to go up 22-17 and finished it off from there. Set 2 was similar. The Stars trailed 16-14 in the second set, but Providence closed on a 9-2 run. “They just kept us out of system a lot,” Bragg said. “Their setter is really good and it’s hard to simulate something like that in practice. You play good teams with good hitters, but we really don’t play anyone with a setter like that. It just took us a little bit to get used to her flow and style, and that helped us in the third and fourth.” Raegan Durbin finished with 15 kills and 19 digs for the Stars. Alayna Christner had nine kills, with Audrey Dunn and Saige Terwiske having six each. Kennedy Kiger had five. Gubera had 27 digs and six aces. Chloe Gillan had 16 digs and Kendal Ramey had 13. Janie Ransom had 39 assists and 10 digs. It was the final match at WeBo for Dunn, Gillan, Gubera, Kiger, Ramey and Terwiske. They finished their four-year careers with 96 wins, three conference titles, the first two regional titles in school history as well as helping the Stars’ reach their first-ever title game last year. “Their work ethic was unbelievable,” Bragg said. “They lit that volleyball bug for everybody. They showed that you start club at an early age, you play all the time and play with intensity and to win. Now that is instilled in our program thanks to them.” Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.