Photo Provided PICTURED IS the state bound Union Local volleyball team. Front row, from left, are Julie Broussard, Emily Kellaway; Lydia Lash and Alex Koscoe. Back row, from left, are Kelly Gress, Torre Kildow, Ella Pietranton, Emma Yager, Olivia Wortman, Alli Briggs and Laken Vinskovich.

MORRISTOWN — Belmont County sports history will officially be made Friday afternoon in Fairborn at Wright State University.

And the Union Local Jets couldn’t be more excited or proud to be the team to carry the county and Ohio Valley’s banner.

Union Local will take on perennial power Chardon Notre Dame Cathedral Latin (17-7) at noon on Friday in a Division II semifinal match as part of the OHSAA’s State Volleyball Tournament.

“The girls are excited and ready to go,” sixth-year head coach Kaye Sechrest said earlier this week. “We’ve had a good week of practice just trying to fine tune some things and we are prepared as we possibly can for what’s ahead.”

The 26-1 Jets are the first Belmont County team to reach the state tournament in volleyball and it’s only the second time in their school history that any of their athletic teams has advanced this far into the postseason. The other was the girls’ basketball team, which advanced to the state semifinals just eight months ago.

Taking the Jets’ accomplishment to another level, Union Local is the first Ohio Valley Athletic Conference member to get to the ‘Final Four’ since 1998 when Indian Creek finished as Division II state runnerup.

“We’re going to go and try to do our best to represent the Ohio Valley as well as we can,” Sechrest said.

Union Local, while excited to be going, is approaching this as a business trip. They want to be playing on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the final game of the Division II season against the winner of Friday’s second semifinal, which pits Hamilton Badin against Gates Mills Gilmour Academy, which is ironically just 12 miles from Chardon.

“I’ve tried to talk to a lot of coaches and athletes who’ve played in state-level games and all of the advice I’ve received is to go out, have fun and enjoy it, but don’t lose sight that it’s not just a chance to go away and stay in a hotel. We’re going out there to play and play our game.”

Other than seniors Torre Kildow and Emily Kellaway as well as sophomore Ella Pietranton, none of the other Jets players have any state-level experience to draw from. However, Sechrest continues to impress upon her team that it’s the same game they’ve been playing since August.

“Whether we’re playing in our gym at Union Local or at Wright State, the court is the same size and the net is the same height,” Sechrest said. “We just have to play our game.”

As for Notre Dame Cathedral Latin, it’s making its fourth trip in their school’s history to the state tournament. It’s never lost in the semi-final round and comes into this event after a regional-final sweep of Bay Village Bay last Saturday night by scores of 25-18, 25-19 and 25-18. The Lions have lost only one set in the entire tournament.

“Obviously, NDCL is a quality program and we’re going to have play our best match,” Sechrest said. “We’ve watched some film on them and they’re tough. We have to know where their best players are and we can’t afford to get down on ourselves if something doesn’t go our way. We have to keep plugging away and get to the next point.”

The Lions are led by Division II All-Ohioan and Nebraska commit Caroline Jurevicius. She has 314 kills this season and hits at a .350 clip. She also has 105 digs and 35 blocks.

Senior Sophia Morano leads NDCL with 185 digs, while senior Lauren Janosy has 128 kills. Junior Emma Blankenhip has 105 kills.

“We can’t afford the little, mental mistakes that we may have made in other matches,” Sechrest stressed. “We have to be able to hit it where they’re not and keep serves in play. We know they’re going to make plays and it might be tough at times, but we have to keep each other up and stay positive.”

On the other side of the nets, the Jets obviously boast one of the state’s premier players, too. Ohio University commit Torre Kildow, who was recently named to the All-Ohio First Team, leads the Jets and all of Division II in Ohio with 638 kills. She sits at 1800 kills for her career.

Sophomore Olivia Wortman has developed into the Jets’ second hitter with 177 kills. Junior Alli Briggs (85), sophomore Ella Pietranton (80) and freshman Laken Vinskovich (77) round out the top five on the team.

Junior Julie Broussard leads the Jets with 414 digs, while Kildow sits second with 280. Senior Kelly Gress, who is the Jets’ setter, has 176 digs and an astounding 904 assists. Gress and Wortman leads the team with 47 aces.

Kellaway is an impressive server as well with 27 aces. Sophomore Emma Yager is also a key contributor for the Jets with 240 serve receptions.

“I can’t say enough about these girls and the season they’ve had,” Sechrest said. “It’s a great group of kids that’s fun to be around. I actually get emotional thinking that no matter what happens (at the state tournament), it’s the last weekend we’ll all be together. These seniors have provided great leadership and buy in”

On top of the players, Sechrest pointed out the appreciation she has for her assistant coach Julie Kildow as well as team statistician Karen Gress.

The Jets, who will depart for Wright State this afternoon, plan to take in a Division III semifinal which involves Meadowbrook this evening upon arriving.

Sechrest hopes that helps to acclimate her players to the spacious confines of the Nutter Center as much as possible before they arrive on Friday.

“We think by watching Meadowbrook, the girls will get a sense of the environment and atmosphere and kind of have an idea of what to expect,” Sechrest explained.