UPDATED: Union, WRV fall in sectional semis

White River Valley senior Miranda Dupire prepares for a serve against Clay City at the Class A Shakamak Volleyball Sectional Saturday. The Lady Wolverines dropped their match to the Lady Eels in four games. (By Rick Curl/Greene County Daily World). [Order this photo]

JASONVILLE -- There were no upsets in Saturday's semifinals of the Class A Volleyball Sectional contested at Shakamak High School.

In the opening contest of the day, the host Lady Lakers rolled past Union (Dugger) 25-1, 25-8, 25-9 to advance to the evening's championship match.

Senior Marki Collins set the tone early in game No. 1 rattling off 20 straight service points before a kill attempt into the net ended the run.

A long season came to an end for the Union (Dugger) Lady Bulldogs at Saturday's Class A Shakamak Volleyball Sectional. Above, Union (Dugger) senior Jessica Davidson follows through on a bump as teammates Tori Martindale (13) and Taylor Bedwell (5) watch. (By Rick Curl/Greene County Daily World). [Order this photo]

After a lone serve from Union (Dugger) senior Jessica Davidson resulted in a kill by Shakamak's Mikayla Crane, freshman Kelsey Pilant served out the remaining two points.

"The girls played really good," Union (Dugger) coach Nikki McCoy said. "We worked on setting it up and hitting and they did that well -- Shakamak's just a good team."

Game's two and three were much the same story for the Lady Bulldogs, who finish their season with a 0-26 mark.

In the second set the Lady Lakers slowly and methodically worked their way to another big lead and never faded.

The only hiccup of the match for the two-time defending champs came in the third set when they struggled out of the gate and managed to fall behind before taking control midway through.

"We needed to get back and play offense a little bit," McCoy said. "We kept the serve two or three times and that helped out there."

The second semifinal of the day appeared to be ready to yield the tournament's first upset as the White River Valley Lady Wolverines took advantage of everything Clay City gave them and captured the first set of the match before things started to slip in the Lady Eels favor. Clay City advanced to the finals with a 22-25, 25-12, 25-15, 25-19 victory over the Lady Wolverines.

"I told them I really am proud of them," WRV (9-16) coach Kristi Graves said. "With the exception of the second game, they battled, they worked hard, moved, talked and did everything we asked them to do -- so as a coach there's really not a lot more you can ask."

After their successful opener, the Lady Wolverines became victims of a shift in momentum that helped Clay City turn a 13-10 margin into a 19-12 gap before another WRV rally knotted the score at 23-all.

But an inability to return serve by WRV and a service ace from the Lady Eels' Callie Dayhuff ended the rally.

Clay City never trailed in the remaining two sets and withstood another late rally from the Lady Wolverines in the clincher.

"I think from where we started we came a long way," Graves said in retrospect of the season. "Volleyball is a very mental sport. And that's a hard thing to learn.

"Today they really came a long way."

Shakamak Volleyball Sectional

Saturday's Semifinals

Shakamak vs. Union (Dugger)

Shakamak statistics

Amanda Gilbert -- 13 of 13 serves, 11 points, one kill, one ace, eight digs, 22 assists.

Mikayla Crane -- 2 of 3 serves, one point, 11 kills, 1 block, one dig.

Marki Collins -- 21 of 23 serves, 20 points, seven aces, one assist, two kills, five digs.

Stacey Durham -- 12 of 13 serves, 10 points, six aces, seven kills, one dig.

Holli Moore -- 1 of 1 serves, six kills, two digs.

Riley Montgomery -- 15 of 15 serves, 15 points, one ace.

Lacy Ashcraft -- one kill.

Kathleen Gilreath -- 1 of 1 serves.

Kelsey Pilant -- 4 of 4 serves, four points, one ace.

Kylee Grissom -- one dig.

Union (Dugger) statistics

Jessica Davidson -- six digs, 3 of 3 serves.

Conner Kendall -- three digs, 4 of 4 serves.

Courteney Collins -- one dig, 4 of 4 serves.

Taylor Bedwell -- two digs, 1 of 1 serves.

Tori Martindale -- two digs, one kill, 1 of 1 serves.

Audrey Morrill -- one dig, one block, 5 of 5 serves, one ace.

Kaitlyn Lewis -- 1 of 1 serves.

Semifinal No. 2

White River Valley vs. Clay City

White River Valley statistics

Miranda Dupire -- one ace, 7 of 8 serves, 11 digs, four kills.

Jaycie Gouckenour -- two aces, 5 of 6 serves, four digs, one kill.

Lydia Miller -- two aces, 4 of 4 serves, four digs, one block, two kills.

Amanda Mowery -- one ace, 12 of 12 serves, seven digs, two kills.

Paige Hoffeditz -- 2 of 2 serves.

Sydney Kail -- one ace, 6 of 6 serves, 12 digs, four blocks, 23 kills.

Jasmine May -- 23 assists, four digs, two kills.