That’s been the motto for the Warren Area High School volleyball team this season, and that’s exactly what they were on Wednesday in the District 10 Class 3A quarterfinals against Hickory.

The Dragons dominated from start to finish in a 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-11) victory that looked remarkably similar to their semifinal win over the Hornets a year ago.

That was the start of a remarkable run that saw them win the D-10 title and finish second in the state. And this team is playing with the same type of confidence.

“It helps a lot,” said Warren coach Mike Dolan. “They saw what it took, even if they weren’t on the floor a lot. They were part of it in practice every day. I think it’s helping us and I hope it does moving forward. It didn’t look like we had any nerves out there at all. They played the way they’ve been playing.”

Hannah Shattuck (center) and the Dragons were all smiles as they swept Hickory.

Winners of six of their seven matches to close the regular season, that momentum continued.

Setter Lex Nyquist ran the offense to perfection, the hitters, led by Jordan Sitler’s career-high 19 kills, were taking big swings all night, and libero Katie Madigan dug out seemingly every Hornet attack.

Kills by Olivia English and Sitler sparked a big run in Game 1 that got it to 17-9 after a Meredith Morrison ace.

Hickory couldn’t recover, as Grace Wortman, one of two seniors along with Nyquist, closed it out with a kill and an ace.

“We were aggressive on our attacks all night,” Dolan said. “We were focused on our blocks, which is something we’ve been working on. And I thought the defense was really good. We didn’t let a lot of balls drop.”

Warren’s Meredith Morrison puts up a serve during Wednesday’s D-10 quarterfinal vs. Hickory.

The second set saw Warren jump out to a big early lead.

Sitler and Halee Mineweaser started it off with kills as the Dragons built a 9-2 advantage, prompting a Hickory timeout.

The visiting team on the scoreboard rallied after that, getting it to 13-all after an Isabella Stefanak kill.

That led to a Warren timeout, which led to a big run by the Dragons.

Nyquist made a great read on a tip ball and kills by Sitler, Wortman and English made it 23-16, with the Dragons able to close it out from there.

Warren's Halee Mineweaser (23) and Jordan Sitler get set.

After that, they smelled blood in the water.

Hannah Shattuck, Wortman and Sitler all had kills as they raced out to a 10-3 lead in Game 3, and it was never close again.

“When we control the ball like we did, we can run the middles a lot, and we did,” noted Dolan. “They took some nice swings and then we covered. Grace on the outside, Hannah took some good swings and Halee was effective on the right side. I think everyone looked good taking swings.”

Dolan was also effusive in his praise for Madigan, who has drawn comparisons to Nyquist.

“She just owns that libero spot,” Dolan said. “She’s doing so well with it. Especially having someone like Lex to get the ball to. They just work so well together. Lex has been a huge help. Katie is the same type of athlete. Just seeing Lex be all out the past few years maybe helps register for her that she can do that because she has the athletic chops for it.”

Warren middle hitter Olivia English goes up for an attack against Hickory. English had 9 kills in the 3-0 win.

Leading the way were Sitler with her 19 kills, Wortman (9 kills, 6 digs, 3 blocks, 2 aces), English (8 kills, 3 aces, 2 blocks), Mineweaser (5 kills), Shattuck (4 kills), Madigan (26 digs), Nyquist (32 assists, 6 digs) and Morrison (6 digs, 2 aces).

Up next for Warren is a date with either Conneaut or General McLane in the semifinals (they play today), with a site and time to be determined. The date for that match has not yet been set.

The Dragons beat Conneaut for the D-10 title last season.

“We’ve been watching things all year,” Dolan said. “The way we’ve been playing, we feel like this is a wide-open tournament. We like our chances, but we have to get the work done.”