Photo by Kim North Union Local’s Laken Vinskovich (22) spikes the ball against the defense of Navarre Fairless’s Betsy Hill (7) during their Ohio Division V Eastern District Tournament semifinal Tuesday night inside ‘The Hangar’ on the Union Local campus in Morristown. The Jets advanced in four sets to Thursday’s district final against Tuscarawas Valley.

MORRISTOWN — Union Local has made a habit of reaching the Eastern District Tournament finals in volleyball. The Jets have now flown there for the fourth consecutive season.

Tuesday night inside ‘The Hangar’ on the Union Local High School campus, the experience of playing in big matches came into play for Union Local in a Division V Eastern District semifinal match against No. 3 Navarre Fairless (18-7).

After a 25-16 victory in the first set, top-seeded Union Local (18-6) dropped the second set, 25-22 to the Falcons, before taking the next two by scores of 25-13 and 25-20.

“We played a tough schedule this season. If you want to get better, you’ve got to play better competition,” Union Local head coach Kaye Sechrest said. “They were a good team and we were able to come out on top. I’m proud of them … all of them.

“Sometimes the girls on the bench don’t feel like they are part of the team, but they really are,” she stressed. “They are the ones that come to practice every day and make the girls that play a lot work hard. Then, when we needed to sub, those couple of girls stepped up.

“We kind of thrive on being in these pressure situations.”

With the hard-earned triumph, the Jets advanced to the championship match on Thursday against fourth-seeded Tuscarawas Valley, which upset No. 2 Martins Ferry, 22-25, 26-24, 25-19 and 26-14, also on Tuesday in Tolbert Gymnasium. The site for the finals will be Buckeye Trail High School in Old Washington, with a 6 p.m. start.

The Jets have won the district title in 2024 (D-V and 2022 (D-II). They advanced to the Final Four in 2022. In 2023 they were the district runnersup in Division V.

Ameera Saunders led Union Local with a career-high 32 kills. The 6-2 junior added 13 digs, three assists and a pair of blocks.

“Ameera was on fire tonight,” Sechrest praised. “When she gets the ball, she smashes it, but somebody has to pass it to her.”

Seniors Laken Vinskovich, Delaney Butler and Myah Martin also produced some big numbers as the 6-1 Vinskovich 13 kills, a dozen digs, five blocks and two assists. Butler, meanwhile, charted 43 assists, 11 digs and an ace. Martin finished with 16 digs as Union Local had 62 for the match. It also finished with 57 kills.

“It was a total team effort, and it has to be that way in order for us to win,” Sechrest noted.

The winner of Thursday night’s match heads to Region 19 competition against the Southeast 3 winner at Logan High School. The Southeast 3 finals will be played Saturday at 11 a.m. and features top-seeded Frankfort Adena meeting No. 7 Chillicothe Southeastern at Waverly High School.