Photo by Kim North Shadyside’s Sophie Boltz (11) returns a volley as Wheeling Central’s Helene Crall (22) prepares to block the shot during Thursday night’s action inside the Tigers Den at Shadyside High School. The Maroon Knights roared back from a 2-0 deficit to stun the Tigers, 3-2.

SHADYSIDE — After losing the final two sets by scores of 26-24 each in Wednesday’s volleyball sweep at Martins Ferry and trailing Shadyside 2-0 on Thursday, Wheeling Central could’ve hung its heads and moved on to the next match … but it didn’t.

The Maroon Knights (2-1), who fell by identical 25-19 scores against the host Tigers to start the match, stormed back with 25-16, 25-20 and 15-10 victories to tame the hosts in a 5-game thriller inside the Tigers Den at Shadyside High School.

“We just had to start connecting. We put people in different places because we are very versatile and it worked,” first-year Wheeling Central head coach Grace White said. “These girls trust each other and they compete. We just needed a couple of balls to drop our way. That seemed to happen tonight.”

The two teams were deadlocked 31 times in the first four games, but Wheeling Central led wire-to-wire in the fifth, and decisive, game.

“We jumped out to the lead and put our foot on the gas,” White added. “We never let up.”

In the fifth game, Wheeling Central jumped out to a 2-0 lead on back-to-back kills by Helene Crall and Morgan Miehle. After Shadyside made it 2-1, the Maroon Knights reeled off five of the next seven points for a 7-3 advantage. They led 10-6 before the Tigers pulled to within 11-9 on a kill by Giovanna Hines, but a pair of kills by Crall finished things off.

White said the win is something she hopes her team can build off of.

“These girls are committed. They are a great group to be around,” White added.

Meanwhile, Shadyside (2-4) head coach Eric Mercer thought his team had put an end to a three-match losing streak, only to see it extended to four straight.

“I’m not really sure what happened after the second game. Maybe we relaxed a little bit,” he explained. “We played really well in the first two games. We had control of the match, but then we relaxed and gave them the momentum. When you lose the momentum, it’s hard to get it back and they started playing better and got back into the match. We made some mistakes and errors. It’s tough, but you’ve got to hand it to Wheeling Central. They came. They fought and they never gave up.”

Crall and Morgan Miehle each charted nine kills, with Miehle adding three service aces. Teagan Peters had eight kills and Olivia Stephens 21 digs.

Shadyside was led by Ali Weatherson with 33 assists, nine digs, three aces and a pair of kills. Aubrey Nippert added 11 kills and nine digs, while Addasyn Melanko had 13 digs, eight kills and a trio of aces. Hines finished with eight kills and seven digs. Ava Mercer contributed 23 digs.