Raceland — Russell fought off a valiant effort from Rose Hill Christian, taking the match in two sets on Wednesday to advance to the 16th Region championship.

Russell wasted no time in setting the tone in the first set, and before it seemed the Lady Royals knew what had hit them, the Lady Devils had mounted a 15-3 lead to open up the match.

An early timeout by Rose Hill did little to hold the Russell onslaught at bay, but following another timeout later in the set, Rose Hill clawed back to make the score 22-17, forcing the Lady Devils to take a breather of their own. Russell would recover, finishing with a 25-18 victory in the first set.

Rose Hill, led by Rebekah Mayes and Maria Friley, would not go quietly, opening up the second set toe-to-toe with Russell and leading 14-11 at one point.

But the Lady Devils would storm back, taking back the lead momentarily before the game wound up tied at 20, and then again at 22. Russell tallied the final three points of the match to seal a 25-22 victory and a spot in the region championship game.

Russell was led by Lindsey Wolfe (18 kills) and Kylie Rice (12 kills), while Kelsie Hicks sparked the Lady Devils in the second set with a seven-point run of her own, which included five aces.

“I was real pleased with the effort,” Russell head coach Darrell Adkins said. “We beat a real good volleyball team tonight. Everybody showed up tonight. Kelsie served big, Kylie and Lindsey both hit the ball well, and Rachel (Ison) just runs everything for us.”

“It was a team effort,” said Wolfe. “We came out ready to play, which is a big thing, and we just passed the ball, set the ball, and hit the ball, and that’s how you play volleyball.”

Ashland also punched its ticket to the region final, defeating Rowan County in two sets to advance.

The Lady Vikings got off to a fast start, taking a 4-1 lead in the first set. But it was all Ashland after that, as the VolleyCats outscored Rowan County 24-6 for the remainder of the set, ending on a 10-1 run.

The second set saw Ashland take an early 4-3 lead, and it never again surrendered the advantage, stretching the margin to as much as 10. The Lady Vikings would put up a fight down the stretch, but ultimately fell 25-19 to give Ashland a berth in the final.

The VolleyCats were led by Sierra Crum and Emily Crick, who both ended the night with hit percentages over .450. Jordan Hensley added nine assists in the second set, in which Ashland posted 11 aces to just four serving errors.

“Emily and Sierra really stood out tonight,” said Ashland coach Jeffrey Huff. “Emily is very consistent about hitting the ball for placement, not power, and tonight she was on.

“It doesn’t get a lot of respect, but passing is the name of the game,” Huff added, regarding his squad’s keys to victory. “Our ball control really comes from our sophomores—Emily Preece, Katie Castle, Noell Conley, Sara Crumpton, Jordan Hensley.”

“We all put it together as a team,” Crum said. “If we play like this (tonight), it’s going to be a good game. This is probably the best game we’ve played. We were all on top of our game, and we all wanted this. We want to go to state and we’re ready to push ourselves there.”

Rowan County’s effort was led by Shandra Taylor and Adri Neely.

Ashland and Russell will face off tonight at 6 to determine the 16th Region champion.