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Warren volleyball takes sole possession of second place in Region 4

Warren’s Lex Nyquist serves during Tuesday’s contest against visiting Conneaut. Nyquist had 33 assists and 13 digs in the 3-0 Warren win.

Warren and Conneaut entered Tuesday’s Region 4 contest with just one region loss each – to defending state champion Corry.

With sole possession of second place on the line, it was the Dragons that came away with a crucial and highly-competitive 3-0 win – 25-20, 25-23, 27-25.

“They played Corry a lot closer than we did, so I knew they were going to be good,” said Warren coach Mike Dolan. “We played well … that’s as well as we’ve played all year.”

Warren (7-1) trailed 9-6 early in the first game, but freshman middle hitter Jordan Sitler keyed a 7-0 run with a pair of kills to put them up 13-9.

Conneaut (6-2) rallied, knotting it at 18-18, but Grace Wortman, Lydia Latimer and Ellie Lobdell all came up with big kills in the closing 7-2 spurt to close out the set for Warren.

Much like the first set, the second saw the Dragons get down early, 11-8. And once again history repeated itself, with a 9-3 run putting Warren up 17-14.

Five times after that the Eagles cut the deficit to one, but in each instance the Dragons had an answer, as Celia Chase, Sitler and Lobdell all came up with key kills. Conneaut cut it to one for a final time, 24-23, but Latimer put the set away with a vicious kill.

“I think we had confidence right from the beginning,” Dolan said. “They took confident swings and the passing was very good right from the beginning. Lex (Nyquist) is getting the ball up in the air for them. Jordan was taking some confident swings, she played well. Everybody did their jobs. Lydia and Ellie were very physical up there and Celia hit well.”

Like good teams do, however, Conneaut wasn’t going down with out a fight.

Neither team led by more than four during the highly competitive final set.

Latimer and Chase keyed Warren, each coming up with key kills to stifle potential Conneaut rallies. Warren got its biggest lead at 20-16, only to watch as Conneaut come back to tie it up at 23-23.

Lobdell came up with a big kill to put the Dragons up 24-23, but Conneaut staved off defeat not once, but twice, after Warren went up 25-24. They weren’t able to do it a third time, however, as, up 26-25, Wortman put away the match.

Leading Warren were Latimer (10 kills, 2 blocks, 13 digs), Sitler (6 kills, 3 blocks), Lobdell (6 kills, 17 digs), Wortman (6 kills), Chase (7 kills, 11 digs) and Nyquist (33 assists, 13 digs).

Coach Dolan also noted the strong connection with Lobdell and Nyquist.

“Ellie was the setter last year, so for her to be there, it gives us an advantage.

When Lex makes a dig, Ellie can set for somebody,” he said. “Those two work really well together.”

He also said this is the type of match that can serve as a big confidence builder.

“Hopefully this gets us on the right track,” he said. “We haven’t always played as well as we can. This is a team that really needs to play at that level all the time and hopefully this is the beginning of that kind of stretch.”

The JV team fell 25-8, 25-8. Hannah Shattuck had two assists, two kills and two digs.

Warren returns to action on Thursday, hosting Titusville.

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