Warren beat Youngsville on Thursday in a key Region 4 match at Youngsville High School.
It may have been more key for Youngsville, which is just behind Eisenhower as the top Class A team in the region, but both the Dragons and Eagles are battling for their playoff lives.
Warren - in third place in the region - topped Youngsville in four, 25-17, 22-25, 25-22, 25-21.
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Youngsville’s Abbey McLaughlin spikes the ball during a Region 4 volleyball match against Warren on Thursday at Youngsville High School.
"We played pretty decent tonight," said Warren coach Mike Dolan, whose Dragons are 7-5 overall and 7-4 and in third place in the region. "I wish we would have attacked more efficiently, but Youngsville is a good defensive team, it's hard to put the ball away on them. We need to play tougher and finish games when we have a lead. Overall, we played solid defense and we served tough. It was a good win. Youngsville played tough. I'm happy with outcome."
Titusville is unbeaten in the region as the top Class AA team with Franklin right behind.
The first game was close throughout. With the score at 21-17 Warren late in the game, Warren stepped up on defense and rallied off four consecutive points to take the opener.
After they switched ends for the second game, the Eagles had a chance to regroup and broke away from a 22-22 tie for a 25-22 win.
The third game was a mirror image of the second until the end. Youngsville kept it close, but with the game at 23-22, the Dragons finished it off with two big points for the two games to one lead.
With a 2-1 lead the Dragons were looking to put away the home team with a strong fourth game. The Dragons faced the pressure and used consistent serving and solid defense to take a 25-21 fourth game win for the match.
Amber Fox had 31 assists and 13 digs for the Eagles Savanna Schoedel had nine kills and 19 digs. Arielle Clark had 15 kills and 12 digs and Julie Jameson had 19 digs and 10 service points for the Eagles (4-8 overall and 3-8 in the region as the second Class A team).
"We wanted the seniors to win tonight for senior night and they played well in an emotional match," said Youngsville coach Terry Schrader. "There were a lot of good moments, but some service errors and bad service receives did us in tonight. Warren is an impressive team and we need to be more consistent to beat a team of that caliber."
For Warren, Rachel Lasecki had nine kills; Valerie Latimer six kills, four aces, and five blocks; Brittni Merenick four kills; Rachel Hasselman six aces and five kills, and; McKenzie Merenick 22 digs.
In Junior Varsity action, Youngsville beat the Dragons, 25-16, 25-23. Jennifer Daugharthy had three kills and one block for Warren. Madalyn Harding also had four kills.
For Youngsville, Kailey Geese had nine service points in the win.
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ECC 3, Sheffield 1
Sheffield showed exactly what it's capable of during the third set of Thursday's home volleyball match with Elk County Catholic.
Unfortunately for the Wolverines, the other three games didn't go well in a 3-1 loss to the Crusaders. Sheffield dropped the first two sets 14-25, 6-25, won the third set 25-22 and dropped the fourth and final set, 7-25.
"They played very well in that third game and they can play that well," said Sheffield coach Tracey Vile. "If they played with the confidence they showed in the third set, we'd come out on top a lot more than we have been."
Sheffield trailed 17-10 in the set they won before Marlea Sprandle clicked off eight straight service points. All told, Sprandle lead the team with nine service points.
The junior varsity team fell in three sets, 18-25, 25-14, 9-15. Skyler Overbeck led the team with nine service points.
Sheffield will try to record the season's first win Thursday when it hosts Ridgway.
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Eisenhower 3, Rocky Grove 0
Eisenhower moved one step closer to a District 10 Class A playoff berth with a 3-0 victory over the visiting Rocky Grove Orioles.
The Knights saw the gap shrink in each set, but were still able to escape with wins of 25-17, 25-21 and 25-23.
According to Ike coach Tom Firth, Jessica Byrd played "an outstanding defensive game" and also finished 20 total service points and four aces. Teammate Marion Sherer also contributed 16 service points.
Lexi Dalrymple added four kills and five blocks and Courtney Flynn finished with nine kills.
Ike's junior varsity team was a 2-0 winner, 25-22, 25-23. Kristen Williams finished with 10 service points to lead the winners.
Eisenhower (6-8) returns to the court Tuesday at Oil City.