COLUMBIANA – In what was billed as a duel between two of the Mahoning Valley’s more stellar squads, Tuesday’s contest felt like more than a district semifinal. With two huge student sections, viewers could think it was November already.

The visitors from Girard walked into Columbiana knowing the task at hand was challenging. For the seniors, any game could be their last, a fact that carries even more meaning with Indians coach Phil Walters intending to retire after this campaign.

But they met the challenge and came away with a 3-1 win over the Clippers at Columbiana High School.

Girard made a statement early, earning a 1-0 lead following a 25-15 win before the Clippers knotted the score at 1 with a 25-21 victory. Down double digits in the third set, the Indians climbed back to snag a 26-24 set before a 25-19 score in the fourth game led to a triumph over a senior-laden Columbiana team.

The fifth-seeded Indians (19-5) earned the right to play for some hardware in the Division V Northeast 2 district title against 21st-seeded Chippewa at 5 p.m. on Thursday, hosted by Magnificat High School in Rocky River.

“I know (Columbiana) has a really good team, they had a great record with only one loss on the year, to play them in their home court made it even a little bit harder. They played amazing, they came at us hard even after beating them in that first set, they came in hard in the second set,” Walters said. “I told them, we’re not going to walk through them, this is a strong, tough, match. I applaud the girls for overcoming that deficit we had in that second set and being able to come back in that third, they did a great job of playing above them.”

For Walters, creating a treacherous schedule prepared the Indians for exactly the type of game they found themselves in Tuesday night.

“Our NE8 is strong, and we got our butts kicked by a few really good teams, we learned a lot from getting our butts kicked. How to face that adversity, be down and play through it,” Walters said. “We’re a team that, for a lack of a better term, we go away. We have a tendency to play strong for a little bit and then we just start doing silly stuff.

“It happens all the time, and we’ve learned from it, and I told them you have to play through this, this team is not going to go away, and they started playing stronger and they were louder. For us to be able to play through that kind of adversity in this loud gym in this setting, that says everything.”

Senior outside hitter Nico Cochran, who had 17 kills, 14 digs, and five aces, shared similar feelings.

“We called our timeouts early and I think, like Coach Phil was telling us, it was us versus ourselves, it was our errors after our errors. We knew if we cleaned up our errors, we were still in the game no matter how far we were down (in the third set),” Cochran said. “It helped our energy a lot more, once we got that set out of the way, it was like no matter what the deficit is, we can fight through anything being that much, always fighting.

“Our postseason is what matters the most, our (regular) season is like our summer league. We’re just playing these teams, it still matters, winning the conference, playing those teams definitely helped our momentum today.”

Fellow senior Bailey Walters led Girard in kills with 20, alongside 24 digs and two aces.

Returning to the district title match means the world to Walters as one of the three seniors.

“In the third set, it was the realization that our season could end right here, especially us seniors, but the rest of the team, we figured out how to push through and work together as a team to fight. We can’t fight our own battles, we have to fight everything together,” Walters said. “It was an amazing game, each play was more exciting than the next. I feel like the atmosphere and how loud it was really played a huge role in how we played. We knew the pressure was on us, the pressure was on them. We had to play to the best of our abilities to be able to finish one top.

“It’s a really big deal for us, we want to be able to finish on top, especially us seniors, we’re super excited and want to be able to win that district championship. It lets us play with confidence, especially to have fun. Everything is stressful, but as long as we’re having fun, knowing maybe this is our last game, if we have fun and play our game, everything goes well.”

Senior Alexis Pieton led her squad with four blocks, freshman Chloe Plant tallying 39 assists for the Indians.

Phil Walters wants to see his girls put together a historic season in his final year along the sidelines.

“This is my last year, I haven’t denied it, I told the kids, so to get back to the district title game, it’s something you strive for every year,” Phil Walters said. “We still have work to do, I’m not ready to stop right now. Ultimately, I told them this is huge. This is a big accomplishment, if we were to win this next match, it puts another number on the wall for us. It’s something that’s going to go down in history, they could come back to the gym in 20 years, and tell their grandkids, hey I was a part of that.”

As is the case in the postseason, while one journey continues, another concludes. Columbiana ends its season with a record of 22-2, posting their second straight 20+ win campaign.

Nine seniors are leaving some pretty big shoes to fill come next year, especially as a class that helped guide Columbiana to its first league title in over 30 years last fall, but coach Jennifer Martin couldn’t have been more proud of the battle her team showed against a quality Girard team, especially in front of a packed house at Columbiana High School.

“That first set, I know we were nervous, this has been a big game on our radar, and this is what happened last year in the district semifinal. It was nice to have the home court advantage, we had a nice crowd here and they had a little bit of nerves in the first set, but they relaxed and starting playing their own game,” Martin said. “I was really proud of how they played in all four sets. Truthfully, that second set is where we really came on and worked together.

“This senior group has really impacted this game and this school. They have mentored the young girls, we paired them up at the beginning, and they mentored the freshman and sophomores. I have sixth graders that come in and ask if they can watch the games with me because they love watching these girls. They’ve been with me since they were freshmen, and they’ve really grown as players and given their best and we’re definitely going to miss them, but they’ve definitely made an impact on Columbiana volleyball in terms of history and just being remembered.”

Senior Danica Halas led the Clippers with 12 kills, fellow senior Ellie Jackson adding seven kills, a team-high 22 digs and 13 assists, alongside Ava Heninrich’s 16 digs and two aces. Cameron Perkins led Columbiana in assists with 14.

Jackson, following her final match for the Clippers took time to reflect on her time with Columbiana.

“Girard is a team with really good hitters, going into that second set, we had to switch our defense and kind of play around them because they had a strong front row, and when their girls are in the back row they’re really good at hitting ten balls, so we just had to come together as our team and work our defense around that,” Jackson said. “It was definitely really emotional trying to stay calm with the crowd too, both student sections, we had a lot of fans on our side, they always support us, and we knew we had them behind our backs.

“This season has meant a lot, playing with the nine seniors all the way since seventh grade, it just means a lot to finish out strong and have nothing to hold our heads over.”