ATHENS — Wyalusing ran into a hot Wellsboro team in the District IV, Class AAA Volleyball title game Thursday, falling 3-0.

The Hornets won the sets 25-8, 25-13, and 25-16 as Wyalusing wasn't able to get their serve receive down, allowing 15 Wellsboro aces. The Rams also had a few momentum hurting service errors, something they'd been able to avoid in their run to the district finals.

"Wellsboro, they're a tough team," said Wyalusing coach Elizabeth VanDerpool. "My girls worked hard but they just couldn't get the flow."

Being the third of a triple header saw the AAA title game not start until 9 p.m.

"It's tough playing this late at night," said VanDerpool. "We left the school at 5 o'clock, but it's tough coming out this late at night and playing your game but I'm proud of them."

A Jalynn Herda block gave the Rams a 1-0 lead in the first set then watched Wellsboro's Peyton Keane get three kills out of the next four points to put the Hornets up 3-2.

An Emily Johns kill knotted things up at 2-2, and after two more Hornet points, Johns had another kill for a 4-3 score.

After the two teams traded service errors, and a Wyalusing net touch call Katelynn Roberts had a kill for a 6-5 score.

That's when things went off the rails for the Rams as Wellsboro rattled off six straight points to take a 12-5 lead.

A Herda block ended the run, then an Addi VanDerpool kill cut the deficit to five, only for Wellsboro to score six straight points for an 18-7 score.

A Hornet hit that landed out gave Wyalusing their final point of the set with the Hornets claiming the final seven points for the win.

The Hornets took a 2-0 lead to start the second set with a Herda block cutting it to 2-1.

The teams would trade points and whenever it looked like Wellsboro would pull away the Rams would get a point - a VanDerpool kill made it 8-6, and a Johns kill cut it to 9-8 - but after that the Hornets got rolling again, out scoring 9-2 over the next 11 points to take an 18-10 lead.

The Rams cut it to 19-13 thanks to a Roberts block, but the Hornets rattled off six straight after that to take the win.

Wyalusing looked to have found their form to start the third as Herda served up six straight points to take a 7-1 lead. She had two aces during the run with Johns getting a kill, but the Hornets came back with a 14-point run of their own served up by Adelyn Frantz to go up 15-7.

The Rams would get the deficit to five, 17-12, thanks to kills from Johns and VanDerpool, but the Hornets out scored them 8-4 the rest of the way to claim the title.

This is the Wyalusing's first appearance in the title game since 2022, and their season isn't over yet as they face Pine Grove in a play-in game on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Williamsport.

"For the girls to get to a district final, and to second this year, and then having the opportunity to play Saturday to get into states is a huge blessing," said VanDerpool.

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