Andy Close
COCHRANTON, Pa. – Just two weeks ago, Warren lost to Meadville 3-1 on its home court.
Flash forward to Tuesday night and Warren flipped the script in the most important of times, earning a 3-0 win over the Bulldogs (25-21, 25-11, 29-27) in the District 10 Class 3A semifinals on Thursday.
With the win, the Dragons advance to their first D10 final since 2018.
“It feels awesome,” said sophomore setter Lindsay Madigan. “We recently lost to Meadville, so to come back and beat them in three sets, it’s really good and it felt really good.”
See Madigan’s full interview here:
Madigan set a balanced Warren attack, finishing with 31 set assists. Alexia Bowers had 11 kills, Carly Beers nine, Kylie Fehlman seven, and Maddy Jones five.
Warren coach Mike Dolan knew defending Meadville’s high-powered attack, led by Emma Parks, would be a key to the match.
“In practice, we really talked about how we’re gonna defend them,” Dolan said. “I feel like it was really working in the beginning. That gave us confidence. Anything we could do to stop her (Parks), just make some digs, slow her down a little bit and keep them out of system as much as possible. That was the plan.”
It was actually a kill by Madigan that gave Warren its biggest lead of the first set, 18-14. Meadville twice got within one, including at 20-19, but a Maddy Jones ace helped Warren close out the first set.
“We didn’t want to get overconfident,” Dolan said. “I’ve seen it happen a million times where you win the first one and then come out a little flat. Maddy Jones with her serving, Summer Lucks with her defense, Alexia’s hitting, Carly’s hitting, too – it was just an all-around effort.”
The second set was all Warren, as they jumped out to a 12-5 lead and never looked back. Jones, Fehlman and Bowers all had multiple kills in the set.
The third set was back and forth with huge momentum swings. Meadville claimed a 9-3 lead, prompting a Warren timeout. Warren went on a 12-1 run at one point and led 17-13, but Meadville came storming back, ultimately taking a 24-22 lead after a Chae Kennedy ace.
Warren didn’t relent, however, getting a kill from Beers and an ace from Jones to keep the set alive. Back-and-forth they went until a Beers kill gave the Dragons a 28-27 advantage, and they were able to close it out on a kill by Fehlman.
Lucks finished with a team-high 24 digs for Warren, while Madigan also had seven digs and Jones three aces.
Now, it’s on to the D10 final against top-seed Conneaut, and these two teams have some history in the postseason. Warren was the last team to beat Conneaut in the D10 playoffs, 3-1 in the D10 title game in 2018.
That year, Warren went all the way to the Class 3A state final.
“This is kind of a young team, too,” Dolan said. “I just want these guys believing in themselves because they’re good enough to do this. We’ve talked about that. I believe we’re good enough to take this thing.”
