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Parkway's Brittyn Bruns (3) hits the ground to save the ball during Thursday's match with Tinora at Defiance.
DEFIANCE - Neither Parkway nor Tinora wanted to end their season on Thursday night.
And the teams' Division VI district final went down to the wire.
Parkway came back from an 0-2 deficit to force a fifth set, but the Rams battled through to win 25-20, 27-25, 23-25, 24-26, 15-11 at Defiance High School.
The Rams (23-2), who went to the state final four for the first time in school history last season, travels to Fostoria next Thursday for an 8 p.m. regional semifinal against Buckeye Central, a four-set winner over Van Buren.
Parkway ends its season at 21-4.
"It was a battle all night," said Parkway coach Jordan Henkle. "We played them before already and knew they had two real great outside hitters. Our girls, after getting down 0-2 and losing 27-25, could have folded easily, but decided not to and keep plugging away."
"We knew we were going to be in a dogfight," said Tinora coach Bretta Hagerty. "Parkway was going to fight to the very last point, no matter what the score was. But we've been in those situations where we've been challenged. Sometimes we came up with it and a few times, we didn't. It was important that we fought together."
Tinora, which lost in four sets to Parkway in the season opener for the Panthers, was up 15-9 early in the first set thanks to an ace by Ella Schaublin. The Panthers battled back with an ace by KJae Stover cutting the margin to 20-19 before Tatum Creps got back-to-back kills to push the lead back to three en route to taking the first set.
Parkway's Hadley Stover (15) and Emmery Temple (6) keep their eyes on the ball against Tinora.
The Rams kept the momentum up in the second set, taking a 7-1 lead before Parkway started to come back. Solid service runs by Emmery Temple and Madelyn Stover got Parkway back to within one at 9-8. Tinora got a point back, but Parkway then tied it at 10- and 11-all. The Rams tried to pull away gain, getting up 17-13 on a Creps kill, and later made it 20-15 on a kill by Green Meadows Conference Player of the Year Paige Gamby. The Panthers battled back. Madelyn Stover helped get it to 21-20, then Hadley Stover served up an ace to tie the set at 23-all. The Rams reached set point at 24-23 and then 25-24, but Parkway found a way to score to tie it back up. Creps then ended the set with two straight kills to put the Rams a set away from the sweet 16.
"We told them they've got to keep believing," said Henkle about what he said to the team during the break before the third set. "Trust the process, pass better and get into system more."
The third set was a battle for survival with 16 ties and five lead changes as Parkway fought to keep their season alive. Tinora led 21-20 before Temple serve up an ace for the tie, then added a service winner to give Parkway a 22-21 lead. Tinora tied it, but a Ram hitting error gave Parkway the lead and the serve. Brittyn Bruns made it set point at 24-22 with a kill, but Gamby got a point back before Bruns got her fourth kill of the set to keep Parkway in the match.
Parkway kept up the pace in the fourth set, leading 15-11, only for the Rams to come back with Schaublin serving up four straight points to get the Rams into the lead at 16-15. The teams tied at 16-, 17-, 21-, 22- and 23-all. Parkway got to 24 first on a Colbie Smith kill, but Creps fired back with a kill to tie it at 24-all. A block by Naomi Knapke gave Parkway set point again, and this time Temple closed it out with an ace to send it to the first-to-15 fifth set.
Parkway's Bryn Schoenleben (10) and Naomi Knapke (11) go up to block the spike of Tinora's Tatum Creps during the Division VI district championship match at Defiance High School.
"We've got great leadership that kept everyone calm and going positive," said Henkle. "The belief was there all the time."
Tinora got the first serve in the final set and quickly went up 2-0. Parkway came back and took a 4-3 lead on a Cami Langenkamp block, then a Tinora hitting error made it 5-3. The Rams came back to tie it at 6-, 7-, 8- and 9-all before a Panther hitting error put the Rams in front at 10-9. Creps connected for back-to-back kills to make it 12-9 and forcing Henkle to call timeout. Knapke got a kill to get a point back and the serve, but another Creps kill made it 13-10. Knapke came up big again, this time with a block to make it 13-11, but the ensuing serve went out of bounds to give the Rams match point. Appropriately, it was Creps with the kill to end the match.
"At different crucial times in the match, there were people who stepped up and made tremendous plays when we needed them," said Hagerty. "Certainly, our goal was to get it to Tatum and Paige. Everybody knows where it's going."
Creps finished with 31 kills with Gamby adding 20 kills.
Bruns finished with 18 kills and 21 assists in her final match for Parkway. Knapke finished with 13 kills with Temple adding 10 digs.
"We've got four great seniors that have done a lot for the program," said Henkle, referring to Bruns, Temple, Smith and Bryn Schoenleben. "They had a lot to be proud of. The team really bought in. We've said all year we were '12 Strong' because we have 12 on the team. Everyone worked hard."
