STEUBENVILLE — The color of the day was blue.

The Catholic Central volleyball team took on Lisbon and Cameron in an OVAC Tournament Consolation Tri-Match Wednesday night inside the Mickey Barber Gymnasium. In the end, the night belonged to the Blue Devils as they took down the Crusaders, 22-25, 25-7, 25-12, in the opening match before sweeping the Dragons, 25-13, 25-23. Cameron rebounded to defeat Catholic Central in three, 25-9, 17-25, 25-16.

“We got ourselves into the consolations,” Lisbon (11-11) head coach Dana Blackburn said. “We did not play well against Toronto last Monday. That was a crucial game for us. That loss really hurt us. We were up on teams. We were banking on being in the top four since June.

“We played down to teams. We did not finish at times. We did not finish mentally. You have to be strong mentally. We have been working on our mental health. We have been working on our mental health since June.

“We play a tough schedule. We play a tough schedule with OVAC teams, and we play a tough schedule with our EOAC teams. We picked up D3 and D4 teams in East Liverpool and Youngstown Ursuline. We played in a huge summer league. We played teams three or four divisions bigger. We did all that to prepare us for tournament time.

“We have been off since last Thursday. We do not practice on Fridays. We did practice on Monday. We were supposed to play yesterday. We did not have a good practice Monday.

“We used these games to fine tune some things we needed to fine tune. We wanted to be consistent. We wanted to get ready for the Division VII tournament, but we did not do what we wanted. We played flat. We’re going to have to get going. We’re going to have to change things heading into the district tournament in Division VII where we will play much better teams. We will have to play the six seed and the two seed. It’s going to be a battle. We are going to have to fight our way through it in the Region 25 Division VII Northeast District.”

Catholic Central led Lisbon, 6-4, in the first game of the match, however, the girls in blue tallied the next nine points to take a 13-6 lead. The girls from Columbiana County built a 16-7 lead forcing the hosts to call a timeout. The Blue Devils extended their advantage to 19-7, and they appeared to be on their way to an easy win, however, the wheels fell off at that point as the Blue and Gold stormed back into the game.

Catholic Central collected eight straight points to force Blackburn to call a timeout with the score at 19-15. The girls in white closed to within 19-16. The Blue Devils scored the next point to temporarily stop the bleeding, however, the Crusaders were undeterred. Trailing 20-16, the girls from Jefferson County battled back and took the lead at 23-22 before scoring the final two points of the game to win it and to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

“The girls worked together,” first-year Catholic Central (2-20) head coach Kaylyn Cochran said. “They rallied. They wanted it.”

The Blue Devils regrouped in Game 2.

Addison Anderson got things rolling for Lisbon as she served the victors out to a 10-0 advantage forcing Cochran to call a timeout. Lisbon increased its advantage out to 17-3 causing Cochran to call her second timeout of the game, however, the Crusaders were unable to turn the tide as the Blue Devils went on to win the game by 17 points to knot the match at 1.

“We are dealing with a lot of sickness,” Cochran said. “Some of the girls battled, but they were not 100 percent. Volleyball is a constant game. We could not catch up. It was hard on the girls out there.”

The home team jumped out to a 3-1 lead in Game 3, however, the Blue-and-White countered with a 5-0 run to take a 6-3 lead. Lisbon extended its advantage to 11-3. Catholic Central attempted to battle its way back into the game, however, the Blue Devils were up to the challenge as they built a 19-10 advantage resulting in Cochran calling a timeout. The Crusaders were unable to slow the Blue Devils down, and Lisbon went on to win the game by 13 points to win the match, 2-1.

“Lisbon is a good team,” Cochran said. “They have a good coach. They have a strong coach. They have strong players.”

Following the win against Catholic Central, Lisbon took the court to face the Cameron, and the Blue Devils were able to beat the Dragons in two games to go on 2-0 on the night.

“I didn’t know much either way,” Blackburn said. “We played Catholic Central last year. Our bus driver took the wrong route by Toronto, and we had kids throwing up. This is a different Catholic Central team. I coached with Kaylyn. They looked a lot better than their record.

“Cameron did not let off the throttle. They brought the whole time. They hit some big shots.”

The Blue Devils led the Dragons, 6-4, after 10 points and 11-9 after 20 points had been scored in Game 1. Lisbon took control of the game as it built an 18-12 advantage forcing Cameron to call a timeout. Unfortunately for the Dragons, they were unable to turn things around as the Blue Devils built a 24-12 lead before winning the game by 12 points to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Game 2 was tied early on at 5-5, and Cameron led 12-8 after 20 points had been scored in the game. The Dragons lead grew to 13-8 forcing Blackburn to call a timeout. The Blue Devils responded following the timeout as the closed to within 15-13 causing Cameron head coach Heather Hartley to call a timeout. Lisbon ended up taking a 17-16 lead before Cameron answered right back to tie the score at 17-all. The Blue Devils delivered three straight points to break the tie, and they took a 22-19 lead. Lisbon was three points way from victory, however, Cameron did not go away quietly as the Dragons reeled off three straight points of their own to even the score causing Blackburn to call a timeout.

The girls in the pink jerseys took a 23-22 lead putting themselves two points away from evening the match, however, the Blue Devils regrouped and scored the final three points of the game to win it by two to sweep the match.

“I played all of my kids,” Blackburn said. “I played freshmen to seniors. I gave our underclassmen and JV players a chance to play and get some experience.”

Lisbon – the No. 11 seed – is set to take on No. 23 seed Bristol in a sectional semifinal at 6 p.m. Tuesday at home.

The Blue Devils sweep set the stage for the Dragons and the Crusaders to take part in the grand finale.

“Not a thing, but they don’t know anything either,” Cochran said asked after the Lisbon match if she knew anything about Cameron. ‘We are going to go into it with an open mind.”

Cameron (2-11) came out strong against Catholic Central in the first game as the Dragons led by scores of 5-1, 9-2 and 13-4. The girls from Marshall County extended their advantage to 16-6 causing Cochran to call a timeout.

Cameron then increased its advantage to 21-8 causing Cochran to call her second timeout of Game 1. The Dragons would not be denied as they built a 24-8 lead before winning the game by 16 points to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Catholic Central came back in Game 2.

Cameron recorded the first three points of the game, and the Dragons led 4-3 as Cochran called a timeout. The visitors built a 9-3 lead, however, the Crusaders fought back and pulled to within 9-8 causing Hartley to call a timeout. Catholic Central ended up taking a 12-11 lead before Cameron evened the score.

The home team regained the momentum as they took a 20-16 lead on their way to winning the game by eight points to knot the score in the match.

“We are fighting sickness,” Cochran said. “We had two girls who were not able to play. We are dealing with a lot of sickness. We have had girls miss practice. It showed. We just ran out of steam.”

The Dragons raced out to an 11-3 lead in Game 3, however, the Crusaders refused to go away quietly as Catholic Central battled its way back into contention. The hosts cut their deficit down to 11-8 before the Dragons countered with a run to build a 16-9 advantage. Once again, the Crusaders fought back as they pulled to within 16-12 causing Hartley to call a timeout.

Catholic Central had the momentum, however, the Crusaders were unable to keep it on their side as the Dragons built a 22-14 lead before going on to win the game by nine points to win the match, 2-1.

Catholic Central – the No. 10 seed – is slated to play No. 6 seed Toronto in an Ohio Division V Eastern District Sectional Semifinal at 6 p.m. Monday on the road inside the George J. Kunzler Memorial Gymnasium.

“We will be ready,” Cochran said. “We are going to get healthy. I have a very talented group. I have confidence in everyone of them on the bench that they can step in and do the job. We just have to get healthy. We’re going to put a lot of work in.”

The meeting is the third between the two Jefferson County rivals this season. The Red Knights swept the Crusaders during the regular season.

Cameron is scheduled to play Linsly Tuesday at home with the JV match set to start at 5 p.m. with the varsity match to follow.