EBENSBURG — Coming off a bye can be a challenge when you’ve been on the sideline for more than a week come playoff time.

The No. 3-seeded Central Cambria’s girls volleyball team has been off since Oct. 18 when they defeated Bald Eagle Area in the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference Championship.

For much of their Tuesday night District 6 Class 2A quarterfinal against No. 6 Southern Huntingdon, the Lady Red Devils held control for much of the night and didn’t look back.

The Lady Red Devils took the match against the Lady Rockets in straight sets, 25-16, 25-15, 25-20, at the Central Cambria gymnasium.

Central Cambria coach Leah Montgomery did feel that they needed time to shake the cobwebs off on their way to securing the sweep.

“It was a little slower pace and we’ve got to learn to keep playing our game, too,” she said. “Hopefully going into Thursday we can pick it up and be more excited. I didn’t think our enthusiasm is there. We were pretty quiet.”

Their reward is a road trip to Bald Eagle Area on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the semifinal with the winner clinching a berth in Saturday’s District 6 final, as well as the PIAA playoffs. It will be the third time that the two squads have met this season with BEA taking the regular-season match.

In the first set after some back-and-forth play, the Lady Red Devils sustained a run of 8-1, thanks to kills from Rowyn Ruddek, Allie Dziabo and Riley Kauffman for an 18-8 advantage. Erica Brouse’s finish to end set one gave the Lady Red Devils the lead.

Riley Kauffman led Central Cambria with 32 assists, while Ruddek had 13 digs followed by Brouse with 11.

The second set started comparably until the Lady Devils cashed in on five Lady Rocket attack errors, and four-contact errors. Dziabo, Pablic, and Riley Kauffman — who came up with 14 service points — each came up with finishes of their own to propel their team to a win in set two.

“They got the height, and they got great coverage,” Southern Huntingdon coach Mike Sellers said. “When you get up to these levels, it’s harder and harder to find holes. We weren’t attacking when we should’ve been, that didn’t help either. I told the girls if we don’t attack, they are. We wish them all the best. They’re a good team.”

Pablic finished the night with eight kills, six service points and nine digs. Katie Benko added eight finishes of her own.

Southern Huntingdon is a relative newcomer to the volleyball scene as it replaced its recently folded field hockey team. Sellers is embracing the challenge of building the new program.

“This is our fourth season, so we’re young,” he said,. “We don’t have the 8-10 years’ experience like other teams. We have a tendency at times to do a lot of unforced errors, give away a lot of points that we shouldn’t be giving away. They’re a good team, I’m not going to take anything away from them. At times, we’ve played a lot better. This is new territory for us.”

Montgomery is looking forward to the chance her team has on Thursday.

“It comes down to whoever has the least unforced errors,” she said. “They’re going to get their kills, we’re going to get our kills. You go to be ready (to cash in on opponent errors, too).”

SERVICE POINTS

CENTRAL CAMBRIA: R. Kauffman 14, Pablic 6, Dziabo 3, E. Kauffman 10, Brouse 2, Ruddek 1, Benko 1.

Records: Southern Huntingdon (19-4), Central Cambria (19-2).