SHADYSIDE SENIOR Gentry Brown hits between a pair of Linsly blockers during Tuesday’s match at the Stifel Fieldhouse on the Linsly School campus. Brown posted 20 kills and surpassed the 1,000-kill mark for her career.

WHEELING — Linsly head coach Ashlee Jividen knew Shadyside’s volleyball record was deceiving.

After watching her Cadets survive in four sets by scores of 23-25, 25-19, 26-24 and 26-24, the coach’s beliefs were confirmed.

“Shadyside is always a good program, so we expected this type of match,” Jividen said. “They were motivated and we love competing against good teams.”

The Tigers came right out of the gate with a purpose en route to winning the first set. They did so by utilizing the fierce hitting of senior standout Gentry Brown, who was taking big swing after big swing.

The strong early play was something that head coach Eric Mercer was excited to see.

“This season has been rough for us and different than we’ve had the last few years, but I don’t mind a loss to a good team when you compete,” Mercer said. “We competed well. We had some matches at times this year when we didn’t compete as well as I would want us to, but we definitely did (Tuesday).”

After falling behind a set, Linsly seemed to step its game up a notch in the second set and led wire-to-wire en route to evening the match.

“Volleyball is a game where you have to let go,” Jividen said. “We had to move to the next set and even the next point. We’ve been trying to work on that a lot as the season has moved along.”

The third and fourth sets were both back-and-forth. Linsly rallied to even the fourth at 24 before scoring the final two points to seal the match.

During the fourth set, Brown achieved a career milestone. She produced 20 kills in the match, which gives her an impressive 1,002 for her four-year stint with the Tigers.

“I am really proud of Gentry and excited for her (to achieve the milestone),” Mercer said. “She’s grown a lot over her career. She’s going to play in college and I wish her the best (at the next level) because she’ll be a true asset to whatever program gets her.”

Linsly was led on its stat sheet by Avery Sadlowski’s 13 kills. Ava Gainer added 12 kills and 43 assists and Rumer Beazel recorded seven kills. London Podobnik added 34 kills. Gainer also posted six aces, which was the same number that Celia Demarchi contributed.

Shadyside, meanwhile, was led once again by Brown’s production. Along with her aforementioned kills, she had eight digs, five aces and three blocks. Bayleigh Harman posted 16 assists and two aces. Ali Weatherson recorded five assists and three digs. Mady Violet had eight aces