WEIRTON — The top-seeded Madonna Volleyball team and No. 4 seed Magnolia battled back-and-fourth throughout the match, however, the Blue Dons were able to win the first, third and fifth sets to defeat the Blue Eagles, 25-24, 22-25, 25-18, 17-25, 15-10, in a West Virginia Class A Region 1 Semifinal Thursday night on Joanna Bernabei-McNamee Court inside the Bill Barrett Gymnasium.

With the win, the Blue Dons (26-9-1) have advanced to the regional final Wednesday at home, while the Blue Eagles (8-13) drop down to the loser’s bracket. The Dons find themselves in the driver’s seat as Madonna only has to win one more match to win the regional title and advance to the state tournament. The road ahead is much more difficult for Magnolia as the Blue Eagles are going to have to win three-straight matches to advance to the state tournament, including beating the Blue Dons twice on their home court.

“It was a very exciting night, we had another great crowd and the girls were fired up to play,” Madonna head coach Jae Hissam said. “It was a great match by both teams from start to finish. We knew Magnolia was going to come to play tonight and we were going to have to work hard to get the win.

“This was a classic postseason battle and I am so happy with the way we stayed confident and played our game.”

Magnolia is set to return to the court Monday in the loser’s bracket final

The victors got off to a good start in the match as Madi Owens served them out to an 8-2 lead in Game 1 before the visitors were able to get back in the game behind the serving of Jessa Anderson as Magnolia closed to within a point. The visitors from Wetzel County completed their comeback and took the lead at 12-11. Pam Chapman’s team then built an 18-14 advantage only to see the Blue Dons battled back and pull within one point. Magnolia regrouped and took a 24-20 lead putting themselves one point away from taking a 1-0 lead in the match, however, the home team refused to throw in the towel as Madonna delivered the next six points to win the set by two to take a 1-0 lead.

The second set was also back-and-fourth. The score was knotted at 4 early on before the home team was able to build an 8-5 lead, however, the Blue Eagles countered and evened the score at 11-all. The Blue Dons were able to regain the lead as they built an 18-15 lead forcing Chapman to call a timeout. Magnolia’s deficit grew to four before the Blue Eagles were able to right the ship. They closed to within 22-21 forcing Hissam to call a timeout, however, Madonna was unable to turn the tide as Magnolia tallied the next four points after the timeout to win the set by three to even the match up at 1-1.

The Blue Eagles continued to have the momentum on their side early in set three as they led 4-2 resulting in a timeout. This time, the home team was able to answer the challenge as they responded and scored eight of the next 10 points to build a 10-6 advantage as Chapman called a timeout. Madonna’s advantage grew to 13-7 behind the serving of Geena Birkhimer. The Blue Dons were able to keep the lead as Owens served her team out to a 24-16 advantage. Magnolia scored the next two points, however, Madonna was able to score the next one to win the game by seven to retake the lead in the match.

The Blue Eagles led 6-4 after 10 points had been scored in set four, but Madonna responded and knotted the score at nine-all. The Blue Dons ended up taking the lead at 10-9 before Magnolia was able to get things going in its direction. The visiting team took a 17-13 lead forcing Hissam to call a timeout, however, Madonna was not able to turn things around. Magnolia took a 20-16 lead, Madonna answered to make it 20-17, however, the Golden Eagles tallied the final five points of the set to win it by eight to even the match at 2, setting up a fifth and decisive game.

Magnolia scored the first point in the fifth set, but Madonna ran off the next four to take a three-point lead. The Blue Dons pushed their advantage out to 6-3 forcing Chapman to call a timeout. The Blue Eagles responded to their longtime head coach as they scored the next three points to even the score at 6-6. Madonna answered with the next point to regain the lead, and its lead grew to 10-7. Chapman opted to not call her second timeout of the set, and her team responded by scoring the next two points to pull within one point.

The two rivals traded points to make the score 11-10, however, that is as close as the Blue Eagles were able to get as Madonna delivered the final four points of the set to win the set by five to win the match, 3-2.

Leading the way for Madonna was Sophie Brady with 38 assists, 17 digs, two kills and an ace, Madi Owens with 16 kills, 24 digs, two aces and an assist, Geena Birkhimer with 11 kills, 14 digs, five blocks, two assists and an ace, Danyka DeCaria with 24 digs and an ace, Breea Birkhimer with 22 digs, two aces, two kills and an assist, Rylee Birkhimer with 12 kills and 20 digs, Abigail Boyd with seven kills and a block and Lacy Quering with five kills and a block.

With the win, the Blue Dons are now 2-0 on the season against the Blue Eagles.

The match took around two hours to complete.

(Sports Editor Andrew Grimm contributed to this report)