The Warriors then defeated tournament host Ell Saline (26-24, 25-17). Bayleigh Clark made the play of the match in the first game, according to coach Darren Schroeder.
?After a long rally, Clark placed a nice dump along the sideline for the crucial winner to put us ahead 25-24,? he said. ?That set us up to win the next point and the game.?
Clark had 19 assists in the second game, setting up eight kills for Danielle Savage and five for Julie Wedel.
In the championship match against Goessel, Peabody-Burns bounced back from the brink of collapse to claim the title (25-23, 9-25, 25-22).
The first game see-sawed until Julie Wedel put the Warriors in front 13-11 with a 7-point serving run. Goessel tied the score at 23, but PBHS won the final two points.
But the Warriors fell apart in the second game.
?We just could not get anything going mentally or physically,? Schroeder said.
The third game was much more competitive, with Savage making a stronger impact at the net both offensively and defensively.
The Bluebirds took a 10-4 lead and carried it until, as Schroeder put it, ?we scratched and clawed our way and took the lead 18-17.?
?The score was tied at 19-19 when Bayleigh started her service rotation,? he said. ?After that it was 23-20.?
Goessel scored the next two points, but Clark set up Wedel to stop any thought of a comeback in its tracks. Becky Morris put away the final kill of the day, and Clark set up the winning point.
PBHS is 18-15 on the season and heads to Ell-Saline for substate on Saturday.
Goessel
The Bluebirds went 2-1 on Saturday in the lower division of the HOA tournament, beating Ell-Saline (25-22, 25-13) and Bennington (25-22, 25-13) to reach the championship match with Peabody-Burns.
Last Tuesday, the Bluebirds beat Bennington (25-21, 25-20) and lost to Little River (19-25, 20-25).
?Overall, this was a great week for our volleyball team,? coach Crysta Guhr said. ?We have really been pushing at staying consistent and not getting down when we're in tough situations.
?Our goal for the week was to go at least 3-2 and we did that,? she noted. ?I definitely feel like we're playing well right now heading into regionals and have more confidence in ourselves.?
Karina Harvey led the team in digs at the HOA tournament with 26. Jessica Goertzen had 46 assists and Rinda Duerksen led in kills with 15 and blocks with eight.
As a team, GHS put 98 percent of its serves in play. Amy Brubaker led with a 31-for-31 showing. Aspen Frey was 27 for 27 with four aces.
Goessel?s season record is 16-18. The Bluebirds hosted its regional tournament Tuesday.
Centre
The Cougars (13-14) last played Oct. 6, and spent the week preparing for regional play at Goessel. Centre?s first match was to be at 4 p.m. against White City (8-19).
The winner would have likely faced second-seeded Hutch-Central Christian (30-6), which played seventh-seeded Elyria Christian (3-20) at 3 p.m.
