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By Jaclyn Yingling
For the Mirror
ALLPORT -- Up 17-10 in the third set against top-seeded West Branch, Portage looked like it might take one from the number-one ranked team in the state.
The Lady Warriors (37-3) had four hitting errors and a service error and eventually had their backs to the wall, trailing 22-17 on Wednesday night in the District 6 1A semifinals.
But a run of service errors by the Lady Mustangs allowed West Branch to stage a comeback, getting a four-point run from Shianna Hoover and a two-point run from Kyla Kephart to take the 25-23 win and sweep Portage (13-9).
"I think what took our momentum in that third set and let them get back in to it was the fact that we had three or four missed serves in a row," Portage coach Lauren Cordwell said. "That let them creep back into it.
"Without that, maybe that third set goes a different way."
Portage had given West Branch fits most of the night. Despite the Lady Warriors winning the first two sets 25-13 and 25-16, the Lady Mustangs got their hits in.
"I thought Portage played well," Lady Warriors coach Terry Trude said. "We scouted them and thought we could take advantage of some rotations.
West Branch took the first set quickly, as a big run from Bella Koleno helped give the Lady Warriors the 9-5 advantage.
Kyla Kephart also had four points in the set, as she and Koleno combined for 26 service points on the night.
The second set saw another big run at the service line from Koleno, but it also saw the Portage front row gain confidence.
The Lady Mustangs had eight kills in the second set, despite falling 25-16.
Three of those came from Brooke Bednarski, who finished the night with seven.
"We had a lot of kills," Cordwell said. "They worked hard. They knew that they had some blockers, so they worked hard to get around them and move the ball around."
The third set saw Portage trailing 7-4 until Annie Davis stepped to the service line and ripped off four straight points, helped along by kills from Calla Miko and Sierra Crum.
Portage led until West Branch tied it up at 23-23.
Kephart served up the final two points of the match, an ace and a Koleno kill that set the final at 25-23.
Trissa Smith had 13 assists, 12 service points and two aces for Portage. Bednarski added 11 digs, eight assists and seven kills.