ATHENS — Wyalusing may have been the last team into the playoffs, but on Thursday they'll be playing for the District IV, Class AAA volleyball title after they bested Lewisburg, 3-1, during semifinal action Tuesday.

"I'm speechless," Wyalusing coach Elizabeth VanDerpool said after the match. "I'm just so thankful that all the hard work is paying off, and they've worked hard all season."

Every set was a nail-biter with Wyalusing taking the first two 25-19 and 26-24, while the Green Dragons rallied for a 25-23 third set win. In the fourth set Wyalusing rallied from a 22-20 deficit to put out a 25-23 win to punch their ticket to the finals.

"It feels amazing," Jalynn Herda said. "I knew our team had it in us."

Lewisburg showed off their strong hitters that got them to the final four but the Rams were a little cleaner in their play, and had a 13-6 edge in aces.

"Our serve game has been on this whole district time," VanDerpool said. "We're just going to keep working on that."

Defensively, the Rams had five blocks lead directly to points while their backline didn't give the Dragons anything easy.

"We've been working hard on our blocking, big time," said VanDerpool. "They were staying down and working together. It's the communication - you can see sometimes they weren't communicating, but when they communicate nothing gets past this group. We're great defensive to offensive - we're a threat, and we're coming for the district title."

In the opening set Wyalusing took a 3-0 lead behind a kill and block from Herda. Lewisburg rallied with four straight points, then, after a service error, scored three more for a 7-4 lead.

An Emily Johns kill got the side out for the Rams, and that set up a six point service run for Bristol Roberts, who had two aces during that stretch, giving Wyalusing an 11-7 advantage.

Three straight Lewisburg points cut it to 11-10, then after the teams traded errors, Johns went on a 4-point run to give the Rams a 17-11 edge.

Lewisburg would cut it to a 1-point deficit, 19-18, but then watch the Rams out score them 6-1 down the stretch, including three straight points at the end with Herda tying up the win with an ace.

The second set was tight early, with the teams tied at seven off a Herda kill, but the Dragons would score four straight after that to take an 11-7 lead.

The Rams rallied with four straight points of their own, including an Addi VanDerpool push kill, and a Ferris ace, for an 11-11 game.

Lewisburg surged with two straight points to make it 13-11, but after a Green Dragon hit into the net it set up a momentum changing service rally for VanDerpool. Opening with two aces, followed by two Herda kills, she put the Rams up 16-13. 

They kept that lead the rest of the way, building a 23-20 lead, but the Green Dragons went on a 4-1 spurt late to knot things up at 24-all.

Then came the kill of the night as Herda looped it over the Green Dragon defense for the far corner for a 25-24 lead. A Lewisburg counter attack on the next point ended up in the net to give Wyalusing the 26-24 win.

"I just full sent it, and that's where it ended up," Herda said about the precision hit. 

Lewisburg came out strong in the third set, taking a 6-2 lead only to watch Wyalusing's Roberts serve up six straight points - including two aces - to put the Rams up 9-6. Katelynn Roberts had two kills and a block during that run, as well.

A battle of wills broke out with the Dragons chipping away to take a 13-12 lead, but Herda kill tied things up at 13-all.

Two more Lewisburg points saw them go up by two again, but the Rams came back with two points of their own.

The Green Dragons once again took a 2-point lead, 17-15, but then saw the Rams rally, beginning with a Roberts kill.

Three straight Lewisburg errors allowed Wyalusing to take a 19-17 lead.

After trading points the Green Dragons went on the offensive, scoring five of the next six points for a 23-21 lead.

A Herda kill cut it to 23-22, but Wyalusing was called for a net touch that put them on the brink.

Lewisburg couldn't get the ball over the net on the next point, but did get the kill they needed  for the 25-23 win.

Nobody took an early lead in the fourth set until back to back kills from VanDerpool and Herda saw Wyalusing go up 7-5. 

After a Ram attack into the net made it a 1-point set Herda went off, getting two kills and two blocks in the next five points to put Wyalusing up 11-7.

A Lewisburg passing error extended the Ram lead to 12-7, and they were able to keep the at arm's length for the next nine points as a Roberts kill made it 16-12.

The Dragons rallied, though, for five straight points to take a 17-16 lead, getting three kills during the run.

Coming out of a timeout Roberts got a kill to knot things up and the battle of wills reached its zenith as the teams traded points to 20-20.

A Lewisbug kill followed by a Wyalusing handling error put the Green Dragons up 22-20, but a Johns kill followed by a Bristol Roberts ace made it 22-all.

The teams traded hitting errors for a 23-23 scored when Johns took the service line.

She served up back to back aces to send Wyalusing to their first district final since 2021.

"It was a lot of back and forth, and we just rally tried to finish," said Herda. "It feels really good to just to push through, get those points, and get to the final."

The Rams will face top seeded Wellsboro, who swept NP-Liberty 3-0 in the other semifinal.

They lost to the Hornets 3-0 in both their meetings, so they know it'll be an uphill battle, but that's what they've been doing this postseason.

Game time for the final will be 8 p.m. on Thursday back at Athens.

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