CADIZ–St. Clairsville and Harrison Central entered Thursday’s Buckeye 8 volleyball showdown in Cadiz with identical 4-11 records.

The Huskies were coming off a five-set marathon victory against Edison, avenging a 3-1 loss at home the week prior.

St. Clairsville, meanwhile, was mired in an eight-match losing streak, stretching all the way back to a Sept. 11 win at home–3-0 against Harrison Central.

Head Coach David Williamson’s outfit faced some stiff competition during that span, including Beaver Local, Buckeye Trail, and two matches with state-ranked Union Local.

“We’d been on an eight-game losing streak and we’ve kind of had it rough the last couple of weeks,” said Williamson after watching his team break said streak with a five-set defeat of Harrison Central. “We are starting to get out of our shell and realizing we can play.

“When we play to our full potential, we can compete with these teams. I don’t think we did anything different, but we went out and played hard.”

After St. C. took the first set 25-20, Harrison took away any thought of a repeat sweep as Lauren Doane led the charge.

Harrison jumped up early, but St. C. battled back and cut the deficit to 22-17 on a successful attack.

But Harrison received the serve and junior Maddie Sedgmer hammered home a deep angled shot for the 23rd point. Leah Grady’s ace gave Harrison 24 and an attack error from St. C. gave the homestanding Huskies the second set.

The two teams traded the next two sets, with St. C. winning 25-16 in the third before Harrison had to grab three extra points to secure the margin of victory in set four, 28-26.

St. C. played well, but had momentary issues with service and attack errors, not allowing them to pull away.

“Sometimes we’re up and down and all over the place,” Williamson said. “When we focus in and trust each other, we can play with anyone. There potential is there.”

A timeout was called with St. C. leading 9-7 in the fifth and deciding set. One final service error plagued the Devils, narrowing the gap to 9-8 and giving the Huskies the serve.

It was then the Devils started going to their senior outside hitter in Brooke Biancarelli to bring the match home.

Biancarelli was set nicely on the next point and she hammered it home for a 10-8 reading. Following an ace from Jenna Gorza, setter Rachel Finnical hit a long attack that was dug off balance and sent out of bounds.

Gorza recorded another ace before hitting long on an attack, giving HC life once more at 13-9.

A fault at the net gave St. C. its 14th point and the serve once more.

A volley ensured, and three times did St. C. set Biancarelli for the potential final kill and on the third her attack rang true, as a diving dig attempt was unsuccessful, giving St. C. the win.

Biancarelli finished with 14 kills while Finnical and Ella Carpenter had five apiece with Finnical adding 24 assists. Makenna Moran added six kills.

St. Clairsville d. Harrison Central 25-20, 17-25, 25-16, 26-28, 15-9

S–Biancarelli (14 kills, 16 digs); Carpenter (5 kills, 8 digs); Finnical (5 kills, 24 assists, 19 digs); Moran (6 kills, 4 blocks).

H–Doane (12 kills, 3 blocks); Tonkovich (17 assists); Culver (14 digs); Zeroski (17 pts)